EUGENE, Ore. — The University of Oregon president says 79 non-tenured faculty members will not be returning during the coming academic year.
The Register-Guard reports that President Michael Schill issued the contract non-renewals Monday as part of his plan to focus on the university’s newly sharpened priorities.
Schill plans to hire 100 new tenure-track faculty members over the next five years and make it easier for students to graduate on time. He has expressed concern that some departments hire more non-tenure track faculty to teach while tenured professors skimp on their workloads.
The 79 faculty members all worked in the College of Arts and Sciences, but UO Provost Scott Coltrane says the changes will probably affect other schools in the future.
About 60 percent of the jobs cut were in the humanities.
