A University of Alaska Anchorage report evaluating every one of its hundreds of academic and support programs to determine whether they should stay or go was released Tuesday amid budget concerns prompted by low oil prices.
Despite the state financial climate, the report didn't aim to suggest drastic cuts, said Samuel Gingerich, UAA interim provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs. Instead, he likened the effort to cleaning house and getting rid of "dust bunnies."
Many of the academic degrees, certificates and minors up for elimination are "artifacts in the curriculum" with few, if any, human resources tied to them, he said. Other programs were flagged as too costly or too similar to other offerings.
Because of their low enrollments, the programs likely would not generate significant financial savings if eliminated. Diane Hirshberg, president of the UAA faculty senate, said the report did not appear to have "a lot of implications for faculty positions."
Bill Spindle, UAA vice chancellor for administrative services, said the report resulted from an unprecedented process called "prioritization," which the university embarked upon in spring 2013. After years of growth, the university "wanted to take a look at everything we had and clean up anything that had to be cleaned up," he said.
In the first phase, two committees of faculty and staff members sorted through 313 academic programs and 178 support functions, corralling them into five categories ranging from expansion to deletion.
In the second phase, the university's chancellor and his cabinet took a further look at the committees' recommendations and completed the 51-page report released Tuesday. The report does not call for the deletion of any one department, nor does it focus eliminations in any particular area. It flags many programs as needing more resources.
A sampling of its wide range of recommendations includes:
• Revising or eliminating the undergraduate degree in music, which according to a June UAA report had produced four graduates in three years.
• Revising or eliminating the graduate degrees in engineering management and science management, which have had "weak student demand" and appear similar to other degrees within the program, according to the report.
• Increasing space for the dental hygiene and culinary arts programs.
• Adding tenured or tenure-track positions to the Russian, French and philosophy programs, among others.
Programs potentially slated for elimination will have to go before the University of Alaska Board of Regents, which will make the final decision on their fate. A decision could be anywhere from three months to two years away, Gingerich said.
On the support services side, the report set more specific deadlines for change, including:
• The Office of Academic Affairs must develop a business plan for the Alaska Quarterly Review literary journal by June 30. The plan will eventually eliminate the magazine's dependence on university funds.
• By June 30, academic advising services for all first- and second-year students will be located in a central hub. The report also recommends UAA form a task force by that date to increase the efficiency of its IT services.
• By Sept. 1, it asks for the College of Arts and Sciences to look at the feasibility of using a single music production team for all campus productions.
In total, the consolidations, realignments and deletions could amount to between $1 million and $2 million in savings, according to an email sent Tuesday by UAA Chancellor Tom Case to faculty, staff and students.
While UAA began the prioritization process when it did not have a budget deficit, it has since found itself in a very different financial situation. Spindle said that next academic year, UAA could face a $15 million to $18 million shortfall, if Gov. Bill Walker's proposed budget remains unchanged by the Legislature.
"What we know (what we could not know as we launched this realignment effort) is that any savings from prioritization will not be nearly enough," Case wrote in the email. "This fiscal environment has declined more rapidly than we imagined and will impact us significantly."
Hirshberg also said that in light of the anticipated budget gap, the report findings raise a question of "Well, where can we cut?"
"So there's this kind of scary reality that is: What are we going to do? How are we going to cut money," she said.
Spindle said the report will help inform budget decisions. Instead of making across-the-board cuts, he said, the university will look at the report's rankings.
UAA will host a series of public question-and-answer sessions on the report. The first will be at 2 p.m.Thursday in the Student Union's South Cafe.