Strategic Hiring Initiative brings new hires to COLA

Despite continued budget cuts at public universities across the state, SIUC's College of Liberal Arts is bringing in five new faculty members this fall through the University's Faculty Hiring Initiative.

The Economics, Philosophy and Geography departments will receive the new hires. "It's a wonderful way for the upper administration to show support of our teaching and research needs," said Leslie Duram, chairwoman of the Geography Department. The Faculty Hiring Initiative was first unveiled in 2002 by Chancellor Wendler to help increase the University's research activity. The initiative is designed to follow the goals of the "Southern at 150" plan, which is SIUC's plan to become a top 75 public research institution in the nation by its 150th birthday in 2019.

It is also supposed to help lower the student/faculty ratio. According to the Faculty Association contract, the University must maintain a 26:1 ratio of students per represented faculty. One of the new hires is Douglas Anderson of Penn State University, who will be added to the Philosophy Department. Anderson will teach in the American philosophy specialization.

"His presence on our faculty should help us fulfill the 'Southern at 150' goal," said Shirley Clay-Scott, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. The department also has filled a vacancy in medieval philosophy and history philosophy by hiring Jed Delahoussaie, an assistant professor, Scott said. The hiring initiative also gives colleges additional money to attract more faculty. In the fall, Wendler promised to commit an additional $1 million to the initiative every year. The newest installment is beginning this spring.

"That department will have two new faculty instead of the one it would have without the hiring initiative," Scott said. George Schedler, chairman of the Philosophy Department, said these hires should help the department become nationally known. "We are going to be one of the premiere, if not the premiere, departments in the country for students who want to pursue graduate work in American philosophy," Schedler said.

The Geography and Environmental Resources Department also will be helped by the initiative by garnering one professor to focus on environmental risk and global environmental change and another in meteorology. Duram said although the search is not complete for environmental risk and global environmental change, it is narrowed down to three individuals, and the person will be in place for the fall semester.

Scott brought in a team of outside consultants to review the Economics Department, and the group concluded that it has many strengths but that more faculty were needed to gain further success. The team suggested the program would benefit from having a researcher in the field of environmental economics, Scott said. The second hire will be Basharat Pitafi, an economics professor from the University of Hawaii, Scott said.

Pitafi's expertise is environmental resource economics, an area of economics the department had nearly 10 years ago, but he was unable to retain a professor to teach a regular course, said Richard Grabowski, chairman of the Economics Department. The course has been in the University's catalog for six to 10 years but has only been offered for once or twice, Grabowski said. With this hire, the course will be offered every semester, Grabowski said.

"He brings an area of expertise that we do not have," he said. Scott said these faculty hires are essential to COLA and will help add to the strength of the departments. "The line from the Faculty Hiring Initiative and the regular line will increase the size of the faculty and aid the research and teaching mission," Scott said.