U. Iowa adminstrators are going on a hunt for more professors and teaching assistants to take on an increase in the number of course sections offered this fall, when class sizes are expected to jump because of the largest-ever number of incoming freshmen.
To accommodate all the new students, the cap size for each discussion section will be increased by two to three students, in turn allowing the size of lectures to go up as well, said Beth Ingram, the UI associate provost for undergraduate education.
University officials said they do not have an exact number of people they will hire, and they will not know until freshmen finish the registration process at the end of Orientation. Once this is completed, they can gauge how many teachers are needed and in what departments.
UI Provost Wallace Loh estimated around 4,500 incoming students will join the UI in the fall, compared with the 4,063 freshmen entering in 2009, according to the Registrar’s Office. Loh said the new students’ tuition will be enough to cover the costs of hiring new teachers.
“We will come up with the money,” he said. “It’s now the departments’ job to make sure every student has a seat in a class.”
Potentially having more teaching jobs is a change from last year, when budget cuts forced the UI to lose many teaching- and research-assistant positions.
The UIhas also committed to hiring 100 new faculty over the next five years in special “clusters,” including water sustainability.
With all of the changes that accompany a bigger freshman class, Ingram and other officials set up a Fall Enrollment Planning Committee in May in response to a request from UI President Sally Mason.
The committee, which meets every two weeks, is designed to address potential challenges with more students, including housing concerns, course availability, and increased Orientation size.
The committee does not have set members. Instead, its meetings are open to any representatives from a range of departments who want to attend, including the Academic Advising Center, Admissions, the Center of Diversity and Enrichment, and International Programs.
“The committee is not exclusive,” Ingram said. “It is just a way to get people together.”
Pat Folsom, the director of the Academic Advising Center, said that while class sizes will be going up slightly, students will most likely not feel the difference.
“People have been working very hard to ensure a positive experience for the incoming class,” she said.
Folsom, who sits on the planning committee, said her part of her job in the Academic Advising Center is to look into course needs following each Orientation session. She has seen a high demand for classes in the large enrollment majors, such as those involving math and science. Students need to take these classes to progress quickly through their majors, she said.
Different issues have been brought up at each of the meetings, one of which deals with how the influx of students will affect the dining halls, Ingram said.
Von Stange, director of University Housing, said the residence halls will need to purchase a greater amount of food, and the increased number of students will result in more purchased meal plans and would offset the extra costs.
Ingram said the planning committee’s job is nothing new at the UI, and the group is simply addressing “pressure points” where programs might need help.
“We do this every summer,” she said “This summer is unique because we anticipated more students.”