Layoffs in the College of Agricultural Sciences have entered the second of three waves expected this fiscal year, Penn State President Graham Spanier confirmed Friday.
Speaking with reporters at a university trustees meeting, Spanier said the layoffs — necessitated by a nearly 20 percent state-funding cut finalized in June — are claiming 25 to 30 jobs in the current round.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many jobs were lost in the prior round, or when the third round may begin. But agriculture Dean Bruce McPheron, in a state Senate hearing Wednesday, said the college will see a total of 70 to 100 layoffs overall in the fiscal year that began July 1.
That’s in addition to 82 staff-member retirements that the college is seeing this year, as a number of workers take advantage of an early-retirement option, McPheron testified.
He said the reductions will be key in helping bridge a $4.5 million budget deficit opened primarily by the state-funding cut. The changes, paired with other reductions logged in 2010, will leave the college with about 200 fewer employees than what it had two years ago, McPheron said.
At that point, the college employed more than 800 people overall, according to a university presentation.
The agriculture cuts have been centered heavily in Cooperative Extension and agricultural-research functions, as those areas rely mostly on state monies to fuel their operations.
Other areas in the college — and in the university at large — have not been as dramatically affected by the state-funding drop-off this year, since their revenue sources are more diversified. Still, layoffs and other varied cutbacks have been reported across the university system, due mostly to the $68 million state-funding decline for 2011-12.
Penn State announced in mid-summer that its internal cost-trimming measures had achieved nearly $30 million in savings in the past three months alone. But the university, which employs more than 17,000 people statewide, has not reported any overall, system-wide layoff totals. Spanier estimated earlier this summer that the ultimate figure would involve scores of positions.
In other news at Friday’s trustees meeting:
- The trustees finalized the university’s state-funding request for 2012-13, setting the number at $293.7 million — up $14.7 million from the 2011-12 state-funding level. Some details of the request are included in this earlier post. Check back with StateCollege.com for a more thorough report about that budget discussion.
- The trustees approved the engagement of Boston-based Ann Beha Architects to oversee repairs at Old Main. The firm, according to a news release, will be involved with the conservation of the Land-Grant Frescoes, plumbing upgrades and a heating-system replacement.
University Treasurer Al Horvath said Old Main — which is 82 years old — has endured some deterioration and wear-and-tear that have compromised ‘the preservation of some of the building’s original features.’
He said utility-infrastructure replacements and upgrades are necessary to prevent critical failures in the building’s heating, cooling and plumbing systems, according to the news release. (Earlier coverage of this subject is available via StateCollege.com.)
- The trustees agreed to name a new laboratory building the Eva J. Pell Laboratory for Advance Biological Research. Pell, a former senior vice president for research and Graduate School dean, is now under secretary of science for the Smithsonian Institution. The 20,000-square-foot building, to be built at University Park, is scheduled for completion in summer 2012.
- Trustees heard a report that the university’s endowment and similar funds have reached an all-time-high value: $1.83 billion. Fiscal year 2011 marked a record year for gifts to the endowment, as the university logged $136.3 million, according to a presentation. The endowment’s value has climbed about 9.6 percent since June 2007.
- Spanier, who just finished his 16th year as Penn State’s 16th president, delivered his annual State of the University address. Available online, the roughly 30-minute talk centers in part on the challenges faced by higher education. Spanier said Penn State will continue striving to be the ‘top student-centered research university’ in the U.S. He also underscored the university’s emphases on academic quality; its work to become more of a global institution; and its focus on access, affordability and diversity.
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