More than 30 faculty positions across eight University of Akron departments are on the chopping block, including the total closure of the anthropology and physics departments. The proposed cuts are part of a process to save money as the university sees falling enrollment and financial problems “so severe that they threaten the University’s ability to maintain its operations at an acceptable level of quality.”
Additionally, the university has proposed merging the Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering department; the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering; and the Chemistry department to create a new department. The merger could result in the loss of between five and 15 faculty members, including three in the Corrosion Engineering program, according to an email sent by Toni Bisconti, the local professors’ union president, informing members about the cuts.
Signal Akron has requested clarification on the total number of faculty members who could be affected by cuts, but the list appears to include:
- Five in Art
- Two in History
- Three in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Three in Chemical, Biomolecular and Corrosion Engineering
- 10 in Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering
- And an unclear number in Chemistry
The proposed closure of the Anthropology Department would affect six full-time faculty members, according to numbers on the department’s website, while five full-time Physics professors would have their jobs eliminated, according to the faculty listed on that department’s website. A university spokesperson said in response to questions emailed after 5 p.m. Wednesday that the university would respond Thursday morning.
Why is the University of Akron cutting faculty?
The proposed cuts are part of a process called retrenchment, a contractual process that the university can go through because of financial exigency, significant enrollment reductions over five or more academic semesters or other reasons, according to the union contract. This fall, the university had 14,813 students; in 2010, there were a record 29,251 students enrolled in the university, a decrease of nearly 50%.
The university initiated the retrenchment process Tuesday, after discussing the possibility with faculty members for weeks.
The retrenchment process is coming after the university already sought voluntary separations from faculty, a process that will continue through the end of December. Voluntary separations that meet the goals would “most likely” keep the university from eliminating other faculty in those departments, University President R.J. Nemer said in a Tuesday letter to the provost, John Wiencek.
One professor from a department that may be eliminated, who was granted anonymity by Signal Akron to speak candidly about the cuts because he was not authorized to speak to the press and because it is still possible their department will not be closed, said in an interview Wednesday that the decisions were “demoralizing,” especially for young faculty members.
“What self-respecting university has no physics department?” the professor asked. “… I had been losing confidence almost continuously for many, many years.”
Nemer’s letter said that the university needed to “adjust our workforce, including in the academic units” following years of declining enrollment. Normal attrition has not been sufficient to cut the number of positions necessary, Nemer’s letter said. The president did not immediately return a Wednesday evening phone call requesting comment.
What has the University of Akron already done to manage its budget?
At the same time, the letter said, the university needs to “prioritize and focus on growth.” Nemer highlighted several cost-cutting or revenue-enhancing measures he said the university had undertaken, including:
- Privatizing parking services.
- Reducing the athletics expenditures by about $1.7 million for 2025.
- Significantly cutting the president’s budget through reduced spending and a reduced number of positions.
- Transferring the police department’s dispatch operations to the City of Akron.
- Revising the scholarship model to increase tuition revenue.
- Exploring the privatization of residence hall operations.
The University of Akron Board of Trustees’ Finance & Administration Committee on Wednesday scheduled a meeting for Friday morning.
The proposed cuts are not definitive. The union, the American Association of University Professors, has 10 days to offer alternative proposals about how retrenchment should be carried out, according to the contract. In her letter, Bisconti said she had requested an extension to that timeline but had not yet heard back.
“For those of you in affected units, we are with you,” she said in an email to members. “We will work around the clock to hold the University accountable to our shared governance principles.”
A Joint Committee on Retrenchment must be formed within five days, according to Nemer’s letter and the contract. The AAUP will name three members to the committee; Nemer named
Senior Vice Provost Gwen Price, Dean Dan Friesner and Dean Emily Janoski-Haehlen to the committee.
The committee’s advisory recommendations must be submitted to Nemer within 30 days, his letter said. He will then send the committee’s recommendations, along with his own, to the Board of Trustees so they can make a final determination.
University priorities questioned after proposed cuts
In another message sent Tuesday, Wiencek, the provost, said he was committed to working collaboratively with deans “throughout this difficult process.”
“We understand that retrenchment is difficult and causes much anxiety and stress for our faculty colleagues, as well as others on campus, but we are forced into this process by our current imbalance between student enrollment and faculty members in some areas,” Wiencek wrote.
The decision to make deep cuts across academics, especially in science and technology fields, deviates from the priorities a research university should have, the professor said — even as the athletics budget remains high. As of September, the university was expected to lose more than $17 million on athletics in fiscal year 2025, according to budget documents provided in that month’s Board of Trustees meeting.
“Football is not a core mission of the university, whereas I would think that science is and physics is an integral part of science,” the professor said.
The university announced earlier this month that the athletic director, Charles Guthrie, would be leaving the university. Guthrie made $300,000 annually when he was hired in 2021, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported.
Nemer, who inherited a $27 million deficit, said he previously eliminated $800,000 from the Office of the President. The new president signed a four-year $1.9 million contract in September. He came into the role after the Board of Trustees had already agreed in May to reduce expenses in light of the university’s high debt burden, saying they would take “all steps necessary” to “substantially reduce the university’s budget challenges in the next two fiscal years.”
Jill Bautista, the interim CFO and vice president of operations for the university, said then that that likely did not include a reduction in force. The university has also raised tuition and fees.
The professor said the decisions of the university leadership were “ridiculous.”
“At this stage I don’t really care all that much about what happens to the university,” the professor said.