To Our Alumni
Let me begin by sharing some news of an administrative reorganization at UNI. In January of 2010, I was named dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, adding this position to my other assignment as dean of the College of Natural Sciences, with the charge of facilitating the merger of CHFA with CNS by July 1, 2011. This new college, the College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, will enroll one third of UNI’s students in its majors and programs. The faculty will teach 40% of the student credit hours of the entire institution. The opportunity to create a new college is a rare opportunity in academia; this is the first change in the college structure at UNI since 1989. It is clear is that the combination of CHFA and CNS will be a very strong entity.
This past year was filled with successes and challenges. The enrollment at UNI was up in 2010-11 for the fourth straight year, with 13,201 students choosing to continue their education with us, an increase of 121 from the year before. Within the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the College of Natural Sciences, our enrollment reached the highest level in at least the past five years. Our faculty and staff remain convinced of the critical need to educate a greater number of citizens with a sound liberal arts background, so we are delighted by the challenge presented by this increased enrollment.
Faculty and students continued to work together to benefit students’ learning and the cultural, social and economic development of the state. We remain committed, too, to producing well-qualified secondary teachers. Our role in the liberal arts core, producing a well-educated citizenry, is a point of pride among our faculty. In short, the College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences is successfully participating in the mission of the University of Northern Iowa, and you can be proud to be one of our alumni or friends.
That is not to say that there weren’t challenges last year! The continued decline in state support for public higher education forced all university employees to take salary cuts or unpaid furlough days. We were unable to replace a number of faculty and staff that chose to retire last fall. One-time stimulus dollars helped to ease the pain for our students, but there is little question that, without additional state support, the quality of education offered at the Regents institutions will suffer. We cannot in good conscience ask students to pay a greater amount for their education—many Iowa students simply cannot afford to pay higher tuition. As President Allen has noted, between July 1, 2008, and fall 2010, state appropriations to our base budget have been cut by 22.3%. The total amount of the cut was $23 million. For some perspective, the total budget for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts for 2010-11 was just over $20 million. That is to say, UNI had to cut its total budget by more than it costs to educate all the students in all the classes in CHFA for a year.
I am very grateful for the financial support from our alumni and friends at UNI, although of course it does not fully offset this kind of budget cut. The UNI Foundation received pledges and donations of some $32 million in the past year; thank you for this!
Please do continue to write to us with your news. Stop by campus when you can to say hello. If someone here has made a significant difference in your life, drop them a note or an e-mail to let them know; e-mail addresses are available on the UNI website. Finally, but just as important, if you are able to continue or to begin offering your support to CHAS students through contributions to the UNI Foundation, be assured that we will provide excellent stewardship of your gift.