Student recruitment and retention is one of the University’s top priorities. There have been surveys, focus groups and increased concern throughout the campus to attract and keep students at SIUC. International students have been a source of great concern, and rightfully so.

But there is another problem facing SIUC the recruitment and retention of faculty and administrators. A look across the campus reveals many searches underway to replace those who have left.

Chancellor Don Beggs is being replaced by Jo Ann Argersinger. The agreement between the faculty union and administration has allowed searches to resume for tenured faculty positions in the Psychology, Sociology, Civil Engineering, and Art and Design departments. Deans are being sought for the colleges of Business, Liberal Arts, Education, Engineering and the Graduate School. There also is a search for a term lecturer in technology. Both the women’s and men’s basketball coaches have also resigned.

Advertisement

The main problem for replacing faculty is the length of time it takes for such searches to occur. Taking so long to find a replacement puts a burden on those already at the University and can lower morale. Besides the length of searches, SIUC has problems offering candidates packages and incentives that are competitive with other schools. Why would any candidate choose SIUC when other schools have better offers and quicker decision processes.

Several searches have taken more than a year and most recently, a finalist declined an offer to take over as the College of Liberal Arts dean. This, in part, was related to relocating to Southern Illinois and better offers he received from other schools. The search now could be delayed for another year.

Ending the current faculty union/administration contract negotiations also would help attract future candidates. No potential faculty member would find SIUC attractive when there is perpetual bickering about salaries. If candidates see SIUC as a place with continual strife between faculty and administration, they are likely to go elsewhere.

With all the emphasis SIUC administrators have placed on recruiting and retaining students, there should be some attention paid to filling vacant staff positions in a more timely manner.

Filling these vacancies with permanent people would add consistency to the departments and allow insight and understanding about what should be done to attract students to SIUC. The administration has not been active enough in requesting necessary funding and has been passive in fixing enrollment, both domestic and international. Without money it is impossible to attract the faculty necessary to bring students. While quality faculty will directly affect student enrollment, faculty attraction begins with the administration and filters down. Why should students be interested in attending a University where the faculty and staff turnover is significant or positions remain vacant?

Recruitment and retention should be a priority for the administration, but there cannot be students without instructors. Maybe it is time the University tackled this problem from the top as well as than the bottom.