KU to add new faculty positions for 2003-04

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Dec 18, 2002 by J. R. Mendoza Capital-Journal

By J. R. Mendoza

The Capital-Journal

The University of Kansas plans to add 18 new faculty positions next year that it says are important for the state's economic recovery and for understanding global issues.

The new positions will be created in 2003-04 at the Lawrence campus in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the law, engineering and pharmacy schools.

The university will allocate $1.5 million of about $10 million it expects to collect in higher tuition fees to finance the new faculty.

"The intent is to focus these on really key areas of research for the university," said Kevin Boatright, spokesman for KU. "The intent really is to look at where our strengths are and then invest in key positions strategically in a way that actually does enhance the university and also serves the economic development theme we are trying to promote."

Of the new positions, 13 will be in life sciences and five in international education.

Boatright said adding positions, especially in life sciences, could help attract businesses to the Kansas City area where the university works with other organizations doing research as part of the Kansas City-area life sciences initiative.

The university will use some of the added life science positions in the area of bioinformatics, a field of science combining biology, computer science and information technology.

Bioinformatics is a field that has many job opportunities for KU students, Boatright said.

If the university is able to develop that area on the campus, it will directly benefit the students who take that course work and then find themselves immediately employable when they graduate, Boatright said.

Because of Gov. Bill Graves' budget cuts this year, the Lawrence campus has lost $11.4 million in state funding that has resulted in the elimination of some non-faculty positions and scaling back some programs.

KU has 930 full-time faculty positions in Lawrence, a number that has remained the same while enrollment has increased.

The 18 new positions were chosen from more than 150 positions proposed by deans earlier this fall.

The university says it hopes to hire more faculty in the next four years using money raised by the higher tuition.

Boatright said the additional tuition money had been important for the university.

"This is especially true in a year in which we've had to really tighten the belt in many ways to try to adapt to the budget reductions that have been imposed upon us," Boatright said. "The tuition funding really has been the only source of income we've had to help us develop and grow the University this year. The ability to use tuition dollars to actually enhance the education of our students has been something I know that our students really appreciate."

KU this fall raised tuition for resident undergraduate students by $294 (25.2 percent) per 15 credit hours for the 2002-03 school year.

J. R. Mendoza can be reached at

(785) 295-1186 or jmendoza@cjonline.com.

Listen to a KU spokesman discuss the importance of tuition increases and why the university will hire more faculty.

www.cjonline.com