MEGHAN GUATTERY
Managing Editor
Picture waking up on the first day of classes, eager to begin a new academic year, only to receive an email stating that a scheduled class had been canceled.
While Interim Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Roger Byrne said it is a rather uncommon situation, two unexpected resignations occurred in the School this summer.
“It’s always unfortunate when a faculty member who is scheduled to teach a class, for whatever reason, can’t do it,” said Byrne. “The later that occurs before the start of classes, the more challenging the problem becomes.”
In the Politics and International Affairs Department, adjunct lecturer Eric Hanson resigned his position near the start of the summer. He was scheduled to instruct one section of U.S. Foreign Policy, two sections of U.S. and World Affairs, and one section of American Politics.
Fortunately, department chairperson Dr. David Rankin was able to find replacements for three of Hanson’s four classes.
Professor Vassoler would now instruct the section of U.S. and World Affairs and also teach the section of U.S. Foreign Policy, while Professor Jankowski would instruct Hanson’s American Politics course.
Since Hanson’s second U.S. and World Affairs class, which serves as a Social Sciences College Core Curriculum (CCC) course, had low enrollment, the class was canceled. However, an additional section of American Politics, which is also a Social Sciences CCC, was added to the schedule. This class will be taught by Professor Ray Rushboldt.
“Without the flexibility and important assistance of these faculty members,” said Rankin, “we would likely have had to cancel these sections.”
Rebecca Schwab, an adjunct professor in the English Department, was the second to inform the School of her resignation. Her notice, however, came much later in the summer.
“We had a very short timeframe … to be able to find qualified replacement instructors so that we wouldn’t have to cancel the classes,” said Byrne.
Three of Schwab’s courses were able to be taken over by other professors.
After Professor Colin Craig took over a class for Anne Fearman, she was able to take on Schwab’s English Composition course. Professor James Daly and Professor Patrick Doyle, a newhire in the department, were able to take over two of Schwab’s Creative Writing courses.
Overall, the departments were able to find replacement instructors or courses for seven classes. However, there was one that slipped through their grasp.
In addition to the two sections of Creative Writing that the department was able to cover, Schwab was also scheduled to teach a third section of the course.
In accordance with the Handbook for Appointment, Reappointment and Promotion (HARP), the department was required to first put out a call to current faculty to allow them to take advantage of the openings.
After the current professors had rearranged their schedules to accommodate the extra courses, in the words of English board chairperson Bruce Simon, it was time to “alert the troops.” He sent emails to schools like the University at Buffalo and Penn State Behrend, and the search for new professors was on.
“You could hear the increasing note of urgency in my tone,” said Simon. “So, it went from ‘possible openings for a couple of sections of Creative Writing,’ then it became ‘probably’ and then it became ‘urgent.’”
Since schedules may vary from student to student, moving the course to another time, one when another professor was able to teach it, may not have allowed all of the enrolled students to participate in the course. According to Byrne, moving the course to a different time or day of the week, one where a current professor could take it over, was not possible.
“We did contemplate if instructors could raise the (student enrollment) limits a little bit on the other
sections,” said Byrne, “but this is a very writing intensive type of course with a lot of grading and a lot of evaluation throughout the semester. So, adding more students into a class beyond its cap is largely detrimental to the students who are in that class and certainly makes it much harder for the instructor to do their job.”
After exhausting all of their options, the department was left with no choice but to cancel the section.
“Up until Saturday before classes began on Monday, we still had a chance of finding somebody and we didn’t want to cancel it until we were sure we couldn’t fill it, but we didn’t want to cancel it on Monday,” said
Byrne. “We wanted to at least give the students who were enrolled in the class some heads up that we can’t find someone to do it.”
Prior to receiving any sort of information from the department, students were left to fend for themselves.
“Students weren’t informed until it was too late,” said senior criminal justice major Dylan Forman. “As a senior, I needed Creative Writing for my Arts CCC to graduate, and I had to find out by going through YourConnection and simply seeing that I was no longer registered for her course.”
Much to both Byrne and Simon’s dismay, an unfortunate series of events occurred, leaving the students in this position until nearly noon on Monday morning.
“By the time we made the decision, it was after working hours,” said Simon. “So it wasn’t until Monday that [the Registrar’s Office] was able to give me permission to get into Rebecca’s section of Angel and email the class.”
Students affected by the canceled course were given the options of being put on a waiting list for another section this semester or a priority list for a section next semester.
Simon, who just recently took over the position of English Department chairperson in early August, would like to implement better policies in order to avoid a situation like this in the future.
“Looking at the weaknesses in our department handbook and the vagueness in the HARP guidelines, one thing I would like to do is work with the department on a better policy for filling seats that become vacant and for better anticipating student demand,” said Simon. “I think we could do better with big data and try to find out more systematically how many students are being turned away.”
Any students affected by the schedule changes with questions or concerns should direct them to Bruce Simon via email.