WNC budget - Lucey: Cuts deep, some faculty now at risk

Western Nevada College President Carol Lucey told the Board of Regents Friday her college has lost a quarter of its faculty as well as numerous administrative positions in the past year.

"When I came, there were 80 faculty," she said. "Now we're close to 60. The college can't sustain that kind of loss."

She said most of her reductions to date have come by not filling vacancies created by voluntary resignations and retirements. She said she had to eliminate personnel at most outlying rural centers including Hawthorne, Yerington, Fernley and Lovelock.

In the second year of this biennium, she said, the potential cuts will be deeper.

"There are seven tenured faculty at risk," she said.

Lucey said further cuts will impact areas including remediation programs "and certain programs that are very nice programs but they don't produce college graduates."

Regent Ron Knecht questioned why WNC was cut 16.6 percent - more than almost every other institution and the system as a whole - even after funding was added back at the end of the Legislature.

Lucey blamed in part the tremendous growth in WNC's enrollment over the past few years.

"When the executive budget was developed it was thought revenue from enrollment would cover it," she said. "The irony is I now have a 25 percent enrollment shortfall (for the coming semester)."

Regent Kevin Melcher said he was concerned the cuts are reducing rural access, making WNC much more "Carson based."

Lucey said in the original budget plan, there were deep reductions in the rural areas. With the money added back to her budget, she said, "we're going back to review how we support outlying centers."

She said there have always been services in campuses such as Fallon that the college couldn't offer. Now she said they are aiming more at what the students in those places need.

"We're looking at what are the students looking for," she said. "In Fallon, they're looking for transfer programs. With the improvement in the budget, one of the things we will do is maintain the full AA program in those areas."

She said in Douglas, she is looking at other options including potential partnerships with business. In Yerington and Fernley, she said they are working "hand in hand" with the communities and school districts. Smith Valley, she said, is very small "but we've always had a presence there."

For those tiny campuses, she said, WNC is looking into more interactive video to provide classes rather than personnel on the ground.

She said they are also exploring partnerships with businesses and the availability of grant and other funding. An example, she said, would be the sustainable agriculture program centered in Fallon and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.