Collegiate Times

Thandiwe Ogbanna/Collegiate Times

As budgets face cuts and enrollment numbers continue rising, the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management has scrambled to address a shortage of faculty and available classes that threatened to prevent students from graduating on time.

On Nov. 4, Rick Perdue, professor and HTM department head, sent an e-mail to HTM students notifying them of insufficient faculty to teach required courses. This would possibly require students to take these courses during the first summer session or during another year.

In the following weeks and months, department administrators have grappled with how to find more resources for class sections despite decreasing funds and an expanding student body.

“There has been dramatic growth in enrollment over the last three years,” Perdue said. “We have not had corresponding growth in the number of faculty.”

The numbers of students in HTM have almost doubled in the past three years, but the budget has remained steady. Consequently, more students are being served with the same budget and fewer faculty members.

As a first step, Perdue, working with Pamplin College of Business Vice President Daniel Wubah, gave top priority to students planning to graduate this spring for registration in classes required for graduation. Juniors are guaranteed to get at least one of their required classes.

Casey Ademski, a senior HTM major, would have been one of the students most affected by the shortage. “I was really worried when I got the e-mail from Perdue,” he said, “but I ended up being fine. I only needed a few classes and I got them.”

A second strategy being pursued is adding additional class sections, Perdue said, in order to eliminate prolonging any student’s graduation date or forcing anyone to attend summer courses.

Additionally, extreme demand for a short supply of class sections contributed to overworked advisers, who faced a flood of students locked out of a required course.

“The major issue was that people had to spend every other day in their adviser’s office trying to get approved for classes,” Ademski said. “It took hours and it was a big inconvenience.”

“In any department, if you have a growth in the number of students and you don’t have the faculty resources, they will face that pressure,” Wubah said.

Six years ago, total student enrollment at Virginia Tech was projected to be 29,000 in 2012. However, by 2009 the enrollment was already about 30,000, Wubah said.

Tech has tried to cut down on enrollment numbers to ensure students will get the classes they need. The freshman class of 2012 was 5,400. This year’s freshman class was cut to 5,000. Only 5,000 of the 21,000 applications received were accepted.

This move took place despite the state’s intentions that public universities maintain enrollment numbers regardless of diminishing financial support, Wubah said.

“If there were no budget cuts, we would be able to add in faculty to those departments,” he said.

Since 2007, Tech has gone through five budget cuts, taking away a total of $68 million and more than 33 percent of state funding from the university. Tech’s operational budget for the 2009-2010 school year is $1.1 billion, with the state supplying less than 20 percent of that amount.

Increasing class size alone would not have solved the problem, Perdue said. As classes become larger, the size affects what can be done in the classroom.

Any class that depends on writing, case studies, a laboratory component, or analytical studies cannot be taught in large group sections.

“There is also a reality that there aren’t a lot of big classrooms on this campus,” Perdue said.

“In order for students to get a quality education, they should get engagement with faculty members,” Wubah said.

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