Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
May 24, 2002

P&S numbers increase for variety of reasons

by Anne Krapfl
P&S positions at Iowa State grew in number by 25 percent from 1993 to 2001. During the same time, merit and faculty positions decreased 7 percent and nearly 10 percent, respectively.

Faculty positions dropped from 1,685 to 1,612 for a loss of 73. P&S positions grew from 1,640 to 2,064, a net increase of 424. Merit positions declined by 154 positions, from 2,075 in 1993 to 1,921 in 2001.

The statistics are derived from ISU October payroll figures for those two years and were provided to Inside Iowa State by the Provost Office. 1993 was selected as the first benchmark because it's the first year of the current P&S classification system, which makes it easier to track growth in specific job categories.

But do a faculty loss of 73 and a merit loss of 154 correlate to a P&S gain of 424 during those nine years? Not exactly, says assistant provost Ellen Rasmussen, who studied the changes this winter as a member of the Task Force on Strategic Effectiveness and Budget Priorities.

Lots of factors contribute to the shift, including:

Reclassifying merit positions into the P&S ranks. Sixty-two of the lost merit positions were in the secretarial series (I, II, III). Some of the people in this series were reclassified to the merit office coordinator series; but other positions were redesigned and reclassified to the (P&S) administrative specialist series.
Reassigning responsibilities from one group to the other. For example, an increase of 21 academic advisers reflects both a 10 percent enrollment increase during this period and the trend to hire P&S-level people to provide this student service, once part of the typical faculty load.
Significant changes in how all kinds of work gets done, especially how research is conducted and who's doing it. Seventy-one clerk typist positions disappeared over nine years, due largely to the evolution of computing and the elimination of typists' duties. Seventy of the additional P&S jobs were in the systems analyst, analyst/programmer and systems support specialist series.

"Colleges are hiring their own support specialists to handle the workload," noted Rasmussen. "This isn't just the growth of ADP and AIT."

P&S gains: Tech staff, researchers, program administrators
More than 40 percent of the net gain in P&S positions is covered by "soft" money -- contracts and grants. There's more external funding available, Rasmussen said, and ISU researchers are capturing more of it -- about 24 percent more since 1993. Research jobs -- associate scientists, assistant scientists and research associates -- account for more than one-fourth (114) of the net gain in P&S positions over nine years.

The largest growth in P&S positions is in a diverse group that best could be summarized as program administration. Growth in two job series alone -- program assistants and program coordinators -- accounts for 151 of the net gain in P&S positions. Employees in these positions coordinate programming in student affairs, oversee departmental graduate programs, run communications units, curate museum exhibits and oversee one-of-a-kind programs such as the Education Talent Search, a federal grant-funded program aimed at getting at-risk high school students to graduate and go on to college.

"You're talking about incredibly broad skill sets in these program administration areas," Rasmussen said. "So many special kinds of programs and centers have evolved from Iowa State's teaching and research missions. And we created P&S-level jobs to carry out their work."

Rasmussen also said accountability is a growing part of higher education. That requires more administrative oversight of academic and service programs and research projects. One net effect is more P&S positions.

Faculty losses, enrollment increases
Among the lost faculty positions, 58 had been funded by state general funds; another 29 formerly were funded with contracts and grants. (A nine-year growth in faculty positions with Experiment Station funding reduces the net loss.)

Rasmussen said explaining the decline in faculty positions is a lot more difficult than identifying the P&S growth. The collective loss occurred position by position, within departments. Some of it could be related to the overall growth of the university, which, for some, has resulted in a move toward specialization. It's also tied to changes in how business gets done in higher education generally.

"Our faculty probably are more focused and efficient right now," she said. "But frankly, they're really stressed out, too."

In March, the Faculty Senate approved a motion asking ISU administrators to spare faculty positions and library acquisitions from further cuts this fiscal year. Supporting material to the motion reported faculty numbers on the decline at ISU since 1985.

Rasmussen acknowledged the controversial practice of not filling open faculty positions, especially when a salary budget line is converted to another use. She also noted that faculty serving in administrative posts are the ones making those decisions.

"The loss of faculty is not good for Iowa State, especially given the steady enrollment growth," she said.

President Gregory Geoffroy has said since arriving on campus last July that hiring and keeping the best faculty is crucial to having world-class programs, one benchmark of a premier land-grant university.

However, budget problems will delay any efforts to build up faculty numbers again. Cuts in state funding support of Iowa State this year will eliminate by July 1 an estimated 110 faculty and staff positions, about 42 of which will result in layoffs (27 merit staff and 15 P&S employees). The cuts will eliminate an estimated 47 merit positions, 33 P&S positions and 30 faculty positions through layoffs, planned retirements and vacancies that are cut.

Shifts in employee numbers

Employee group	Oct. '93	Oct. '01	Change
Faculty (total)	1,685	1,612	-73
Tenured	1,163	1,024	-139
Tenure-eligible	266	327	61
Non-tenure track	256	261	5
Merit	2,075	1,921	-154
P&S	1,640	2,064	424
Total	5,400	5,597	197