My situation here is different. Yes, we are increasing enrollment. Enrollment is a direct source of income for the university and since state cuts have been increasing for the last decade, they need every source of income they can find. The difference, though, is they are not cutting faculty, they are cutting administration and staff. That means me. I have been cut to part time, about half of my previous hours and income. Oddly enough, my parts budget is untouched, faculty are getting a 1% raise, and we are somehow purchasing a Steinway grand for a faculty studio. I am told that the cuts are more or less permanent and to expect more cuts next spring. So more on the topic of discussion, yes, enrollment is up and we have more pianos. I couldn't keep up with 116 pianos on FTE. How's that going to work on part time? I have very deliberately spelled out my job description and had it approved by the director. They are not expecting me to do as much as I used to do, on paper at least. We'll see how much that changes when my cuts directly effect recitals and faculty studios. Maybe I'll get a sign "Will tune for food" and stand out by the highway... Chris On Aug 19, 2010, at 11:44 PM, Fred Sturm wrote: > On Aug 19, 2010, at 9:16 PM, Israel Stein wrote: > >> First we followed the same "do more with less" as you are now attempting to do > > > Interestingly, I am lucky enough to be in a position to do more with more, because I am (ie piano service is) entirely supported by course fees, which rise as enrollment rises. The faculty may face some form of furlough (perhaps a pay cut balanced by some number of non-work days - applied students would likely get one or two fewer lessons, classes would meet one or two fewer days, that sort of thing). Part time adjunct faculty will likely be reduced if not eliminated. But I would probably not be affected. I have the same budget I have had for the past eight years or so, based on $5 per music department credit hour. It is dedicated to its purpose by "fiat from on high" (the department lobbied to get the fee to meet a need, and it was granted with strings firmly attached) and subject to audit from time to time to be sure the conditions are met. (Not that decisions from on high might not change, but it is relatively secure, and my chair is very protective of it). > Which is a good thing, because we just expanded into some rooms vacated by theater and cinema (they took over a building that once housed Architecture, which got a new building three or four years back), and I need to come up with six new pianos for additional faculty studios. For the moment, the practice rooms are feeling that pinch. Well, actually there are more practice rooms available for the students, as a few are being vacated by faculty who had been given them as "studios" for lack of anywhere else. But quite a few now lack pianos, as they were moved to the new studios. So I will be purchasing pianos, and will continue to buy parts and pay for contract tuning, etc. as usual. It is a strange situation, more or less "plenty in the midst of famine," but I'm not complaining. It is clear just how good an idea that was to institute that course fee. I am considering the possibility of increasing my FTE a bit - which I think my chair would be happy to do, since my salary also comes from the course fee. It would simply be a matter of shifting the priority from replacement to maintenance, which is something we have discussed doing for some time (we needed to do a good bit of purchasing at the beginning, partly to retire the loan program, partly to replace the dogs in the inventory). At this point, the inventory is at a fairly good level, and just needs to be kept steady. > > Regards, > Fred Sturm > fssturm at unm.edu > “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Brecht > Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T. Registered Piano Technician School of Music, Ohio University Rm. 311, Robt. Glidden Hall Athens, OH 45701 Office (740) 593-1656 Cell (740) 590-3842 fax (740) 593-1429 http://www.ohiou.edu/music -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100820/0ef032ac/attachment-0001.htm>
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