Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508230003
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS PAGE: WS-14 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Students blessed by computer registration still are cursed by university cutbacks. Years of state budget cuts, mandated restructuring and a huge freshman class at Virginia Tech mean university registrars and deans have had to juggle class sections.
"We are certainly scrambling a little bit," said Michael Ogliaruso, associate dean in Tech's College of Arts and Sciences and one of the key builders of the freshman class schedule.
The influx of freshmen means a need for more English, math and biology courses. On top of that, biology is "by far" the college's most popular major, Ogliaruso said. As a result, a few additional instructors in these courses have been hired, and faculty have been prevailed on to teach lower-level classes.
"What we're doing is taking instructors who teach high-level courses, combining two sections, and asking that instructor to teach a lower-level course," he said.
But it's a problem. "Stop-gap," Ogliaruso said. "We can't continue to do that. It's going to get to the point we absolutely need those instructors."
A university-sponsored buyout has thinned the professorial ranks, and accompanying state budget cuts have put the kibosh on more hiring.
At Radford University, criminal justice, the most popular program, actually hired a tenure-track faculty member and expects to hire another one next semester. That's refreshing, given that diminished funding and staff have become the norm.
The criminal justice program enrolled 589 majors last fall. Given its popularity, entry-level courses have been trimmed back so nonmajors don't fill them up.
"They're never immediately available for anyone who would want to get into them," said Paul Lang, head of the department. "When you have lines of students standing outside your office at the beginning of the semester trying to get into classes, you have to have some flexibility."
As always, at both schools, seniors register first. Ostensibly, they've completed their general course work, are well into their majors, and deserve first shot at the classes that will allow them to graduate come spring.
The people who tend to have the toughest time lining up classes are second-semester sophomores. That's because they've finished with their general course work, are ready to start with their major classes, "and they're left with very, very few classes oftentimes to get into," Lang said.
Class size has a lot to do with course availability. Some courses, such as computer science, include a lot of lab work and can include as many as 50 to 70 students at a smaller school such as Radford.
Upperclassmen in their majors should expect to have smaller classes.
Students shouldn't worry too much about getting their general courses at Radford, said Steve Pontius, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
"We can plan for the number of sections based on enrollment projections," he said.
This year, for instance, reduced enrollment means fewer English composition classes.
"With computer science, there's an increasing demand," Pontius said. The college is adding four sections.
But the juggling act is getting more and more difficult.
"There's not been sufficient funds in the last four years; it's a problem across the state of Virginia," Pontius said. "There certainly continues to be insufficient funds.
"A downturn in enrollment means a downturn in funds."
by CNB