CVMBS takes $1.6 million cut
CSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Science
endured a $1,609,960 reduction in state funding for this academic
year, according to the college’s dean.
The cuts forced the college to cut 3.5 full-time faculty
positions and 22.25 staff positions, said Lance Perryman, the
college’s dean. Faculty salary raises were frozen university-wide
for this year.
“Not being able to grant pay raises certainly has an impact on
morale,” Perryman said. The dean said that was understandable since
faculty was being asked to do more work without a salary increase.
The college lost some high-quality faculty due to the budget
problems and salary freezes, Perryman said. “If this goes on for an
extended period of time even the most loyal faculty will find it
difficult to stay.”
Total state funding to CSU fell 27 percent, $34.2 million,
because of the state’s revenue problems associated with a slow
economy. Due to complex restrictions under Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill
of Rights, it will take years for the university to return to that
level of funding even if the economy improves.
Perryman said that the college did not eliminate any class
sections but students could expect larger class sizes.
Caryn Cooper, a microbiology second bachelor’s student, said she
was not aware of the budget cuts. Cooper said she felt that class
sizes were appropriate and that she had no problems with the
quality of education she was receiving.
Perryman said he had absorbed 57 percent of the cuts in the
dean’s office but the pain of cuts was fairly consistent across the
college’s departments. The College of Veterinary Medicine and
Biomedical Science consists of four departments: biomedical
science, clinical science, environmental and radiological health
science, and microbiology, immunology and pathology. Perryman said
that all four departments and the teaching hospital had noticeable
reductions in budget.
“The cuts have been painful for everyone,” Perryman said, adding
that he was proud of how his staff and faculty were handling the
situation.
The CVMBS has 565 undergraduate students and approximately 325
graduate students. The college also serves 536 members of the
professional veterinary medical program. U.S. News and World Report
ranked CSU the second best veterinary medicine school in the
country.
“Everything seems fine,” said Heidi Jones, a freshman
microbiology major. Jones said she was confident the school would
take care of the budget problems, and she said she was not worried
about the future of the college or her education.
Another victim of the college’s budget cuts was the dentistry
service at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The
dentistry service as a stand-alone program was eliminated. Students
will still get the dental training they need and clients will still
have routine dental services available, according to a dean’s
office newsletter. According to the newsletter the main loss will
be the ability to perform major dental reconstructive surgery at
the hospital.
Like other deans across the university, Perryman stressed the
importance of finding other funding options. Perryman said the
CVMBS had approximately 202 faculty members, with 132 of those
being tenured positions. So about 70 positions are funded through
grants and awards. This year the college received more than $44
million in research grants and awards, according to a university
news release.
A CVMBS October newsletter singled out Simon Turner as an
example of faculty who do not rely on state funding. Turner, a CSU
faculty member for 12 years, is fully funded by grants from
pharmaceutical and orthopedic companies. Turner pays part of the
salaries of two assistant professors and one full professor from
his industry-funded research programs, according to the
newsletter.
“I got out of the mindset that the only ‘clean money’ is
government money,” Turner said in the newsletter. “Once you break
free of that mold, you can be very creative in the research work
you do and the opportunities you are able to create for yourself
and those around you.”
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