The full impact of dismissals at Emporia State University will be evident over the next few weeks, but the university has announced the number of affected employees.
Director of Media Relations Gwen Larson says administrators notified 33 faculty and staff they will be dismissed as part of face-to-face meetings Thursday and Friday. ESU has not confirmed its total workforce, but the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas listed 745 for the university as part of the RDA’s most recent annual survey. A seven-percent cut as indicated by ESU President Ken Hush would have led to around 50 job cuts.
ESU has not announced the cuts’ impact by department. Larson says more information will be made available over time.
Unless they are fired for cause, affected staffers can work through the academic year and be eligible for three months of severance pay. Faculty and staff can also appeal, with the process taking 100 days or longer.
The realignment comes as the ESU Foundation is soliciting potential donors so students can work with “outstanding and supportive professors.” It also comes as the Kansas Board of Regents, which offered its final approval of the ESU plan Wednesday, finalized its request for state funding through its unified appropriation process Thursday. Included in the appropriation request: $30 million to expand the Regents’ Distinguished Faculty plan to recruit and retain both faculty and staff.
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4:50 pm Friday: Termination process ends for affected faculty, staff
Emporia State University has completed its notification process for faculty and staff to be dismissed as part of its new Framework for Workforce Management.
The university has not confirmed the number of total employees, including faculty, who received notices as part of face-to-face meetings Thursday and Friday. It has also not confirmed the impact by department or said when that information will be divulged.
Terminations come as part of Emporia State’s plan, approved by the Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday, to realign and re-emphasize certain programs including nursing, business, education, information management and library science — while eliminating other programs not in that “strike zone.” Seven percent of Emporia State’s total workforce, or around 50 employees based on the Regional Development Association’s latest survey total of 745, will be cut as part of this move.
