The TAMU RIF tsunami is upon us...

38,229 Views | 120 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by BluHorseShu
Three Seasons
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Tic toc... but hey COALS glad that all upper (Phd) admin are safe.

Now pay attention to those long historic programs that you thought would be around forever... all dumped for a shift to revenue generating research.

Good thing Tech is there to pick up the programs that COALS is dumping off

26/15/7/2/4 have been let go just in COALS so far... with a handful of lower paying positions being offered for those that want to reapply.
JMac03
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What are those numbers and what do they stand for?
Three Seasons
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People that have been let go. That is a count of 54 people that were given the news today at 5:40PM. I'm hoping that the email that went out wasn't the first notice for these employees.

Now some can apply for the new positions being created, but they will be entry positions... which for some advisors that are forced to return (can't lose insurance) will be more than a 50% cut in pay.
b0ridi
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So... what do those numbers represent?

I don't think cuts in one department constitutes a "tsunami"
FlyRod
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The Comptroller's new budget figures might represent the tsunami waves forming out in the ocean, as yet undetected.
JMac03
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AG
Thanks but what does the breakdown mean?

isitjustme
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4 positions have been eliminated in the Vice Chancellor's Office.
2 positions from the Gardens team have been eliminated.
7 administrative positions within the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases been eliminated.
7 positions in The Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology have been eliminated and the Institute has been dissolved.
15 information technology departmental support positions within academic departments have been eliminated, and these individuals have been encouraged to apply for new positions under the college (<15).
26 advising positions within departments have been eliminated and 23 positions under the college have been opened up.

On the last 2, the positions appear to be across the board from lower level to higher level, however, not enough higher level to match the number of higher level positions eliminated within department.

ETA not a tsunami unless it affects you or your family.
chickencoupe16
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agrab86 said:

ETA not a tsunami unless it affects you or your family.


Or unless this is not the end.
bushytailed
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Academic advising in COALS is being centralized. 26 advisors were told their positions are being eliminated, but they could apply for the 23 newly created centralized positions or find something else.

15 IT folks were told their support positions within the academic departments are being eliminated. They can apply for an unspecified number of centralized IT positions within AgriLife.

2 people from the Gardens staff were RIF'd a couple weeks ago.

The other numbers are other positions within AgriLife.
lost my dog
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I don't get why COALS personnel is taking such a hit now. Yes, we were all told to prepare plans for a 7.5% cut, but as far as I know the actual cut has not been implemented (but correct me if I'm wrong.) Centralization doesn't necessarily mean personnel cuts. You just draw the org chart differently.

Is something different happening in COALS/AgriLife, or is this due to a relatively new outside-imported dean/VC?
Foldingtable
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There are several "academic advisors" in COALS classified as program coordinators. Wondering how that will affect them moving forward. Have been told that you can only advise students with the academic advisor classification, so there may be even more shake up before this is over.
chickencoupe16
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lost my dog said:

I don't get why COALS personnel is taking such a hit now. Yes, we were all told to prepare plans for a 7.5% cut, but as far as I know the actual cut has not been implemented (but correct me if I'm wrong.) Centralization doesn't necessarily mean personnel cuts. You just draw the org chart differently.

Is something different happening in COALS/AgriLife, or is this due to a relatively new outside-imported dean/VC?


I know Stover was looking to reduce redundancies before the budget cuts. This is at least one of the reasons Wildlife and Fisheries was merged with Ecosystem Science and that the idea of putting Poultry Science into Animal Science is still being kicked around.

I don't know exactly what the advisor structure shift looks like, but I can decidedly say that there is no way I would have had the same relationship with my advisors being COALS and not in my department.
Three Seasons
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I believe its due to the new leadership. Stover (from the East Coast) and Gill (from Australia ) have no real history or connections to the people behind Texas Agriculture - so why should they care what happens? Just set up things the way you want and to heck with what the peasants think.

One thing that you didn't mention is that some of these budget "cuts" came from positions that were already grant-funded for next year. How is it a "budget cut" RIF if you were a line item FY20/21 grant-budgeted position? PLUS if you are worried about budgets, then why do you bring someone (new) in making almost $350k to help run programs?

Bottom line... (Academy of Science) Stover and (Aussie, "I Love Jesus") Gill could have never made these changes without the cover of COVID. When the dust finally settles next Spring/Summer the COALS you knew in Texas will be just a memory.

ADMIN - I'll delete the inside jokes if needed...the few who have lost their jobs on here would appreciate the humor
Carnwellag2
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what is COALS? have no idea
JMac03
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Carnwellag2 said:

what is COALS? have no idea
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Clucky
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I don't know much about the inner workings of COALS, but I do know the Short Course and know it brings in quite a bit of money so I doubt it goes anywhere.
txgardengirl
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Back in the headlines today
Three Seasons
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Yep - I was wrong about funding. So here is a (not-so) short update;

What I didn't know at the time was the fight going on to keep Poultry Science out from underneath Animal Science. Took some real powerful industry pushback to keep that from happening So how does a small, but strong department fit within all of this drama? Let's start back with advising...

Looks like the centralized advising rif/move didn't save any money after all - so why do it in the middle of a pandemic?

The COVID "rush" to hire back the new centralized advisors is finishing up WITHOUT input from the faculty or departments. All hiring is being handled by a hand-picked team of individuals in which, you should know, set up an interesting matrix to select the best people to hire back into these positions.

From what I hear, the hiring matrix was so good that people with a wealth of experience didn't even make the final cut. Some individuals with over 15 years of successful experience in advising didn't score "high enough" to be considered for their old job - even at a significant reduction in pay.

Now all advising will be centralized and anyone that had ANY advising duties that were not "official" advisers have been stripped of those duties.

Now remember Poultry Science? They had a ton of staff helping with advising that were not true advisors. Now they might not have enough advisors to do all the work - and the staff that was doing some of the work CANNOT help with advising anymore.

I know - step away from the Tin foil this isn't an end-around to dissolve the department- or is it

What IS happening is that there is now an uprising within the faculty ranks. Faculty like to have their jobs run smoothly and this shakeup upsets that process. LONG TIME (and faculty picked) advisors have been given the shaft. The Four "Hose-(wo)men" hiring team*... ok, one man and three women made all the decisions without faculty input - there simply wasn't enough time with all the decisions that needed to be made.

*Three PhD's (two of which not named Chris had major chips on their shoulders) and one staff (who conveniently slides into the leadership position of director of advising) were in charge.

That right there poked the hornets nest. Give it a few more weeks... more news to follow. I doubt that any of the slighted will get their jobs back - but Stover might be on the clock... and if that happens then you can expect some of the major players not named Stover headed back to their first love of teaching.

I bet somewhere up in Oregon (State) Alan Sams is smiling and saying "Miss me yet?" That answer is yes, and once the final ashes settle over in COALS I hope someone with his abilities can come in and clean up this mess.
boredatwork08
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Email just went out. It looks like merit raises were just rescinded. This is after salary letters already went out with a paltry increase that didn't cover half of inflation.

Let the exodus begin.
Rex Racer
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boredatwork08 said:

Email just went out. It looks like merit raises were just rescinded. This is after salary letters already went out with a paltry increase that didn't cover half of inflation.

Let the exodus begin.
We were told months ago that there would be no merit increases this year. I'm surprised other divisions thought there would be.
Lone Stranger
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In COALS many of the "merit increases" people received in their appointment letter also included a one time lump sum payment.
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Appointment letters generally said:
You have been awarded a base merit increase of X.XX% and a One-Time payment of $XXX to recognize your contributions to the Department. You will receive the One Time Merit as a lump sum payment on October 1st, 2020. "Merit allocations were made partially by the college for lower salaried faculty and partially by the department for highly meritorious faculty that we want to recognize and retain."

MiMi
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S
Quote:

we want to recognize and retain
I guess everyone else is not worth trying to keep. I'm so glad I retired from TAMU a couple of years ago. This has been typical treatment of faculty long before COVID arrived.
FlyRod
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In the memo I saw, the BOR removed the merit increase from the budget package. I did not see an explanation as to why they did this.

I don't think highly enough of their innate wisdom to infer noble intentions on their part (I know that a few of their sycophants lurk on this board and likely feel otherwise).
Smeghead4761
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Maybe they should RIF all of the 'diversity and inclusion' staff. That'd save a big chunk of money.
COALS-Sucks
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Three Seasons
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That was Gill's first round of moves when Sams bolted forward the OSU job. For an Australian, she sure is making administrative moves like she was from Austin [people from Austin can make good administrative decisions too]*

There were three or four people forced out (last year?) if I remember correctly, two moved down to other department level positions retaining their pay while the two more directly tied to Sams were sent packing.

Maybe Gill didn't like being Stover's second pick for the position? I don't know why things are going so poorly over there now, but the morale is probably at an all-time low.

And the leadership could care less

Now for the diversity and inclusion leadership, they lost?

COALS was actually making gains in those areas while MAINTAINING the academic standards set for the college. Now under the [possiably]* mismanaged direction of "student success," you can [probably]* kiss those gains goodbye.

  • edited to give positive thoughts to those individuals who could have different outcomes if given leadership over those aspects mentioned above - and in any post that I have posted in this thread.
  • bushytailed
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    AG
    nm
    COALS-Sucks
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    AggieBarstool
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    I went through a couple IT interviews there in March. In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't get the job.
    doubledog
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    FlyRod said:

    In the memo I saw, the BOR removed the merit increase from the budget package. I did not see an explanation as to why they did this.

    I don't think highly enough of their innate wisdom to infer noble intentions on their part (I know that a few of their sycophants lurk on this board and likely feel otherwise).
    Maybe it had something to do with this. (directly or indirectly)

    "Texas A&M System approves $100 million scholarship fund to address "diversity issues"

    https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/15/texas-aggie-scholarship-fund/?utm_source=articleshare&utm_medium=social
    FlyRod
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    I haven't seen a statement to that effect from any office (though I did notice you've posted this *theory* before).
    cavscout96
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    AG
    Seriously though, if you increase one budget line item without ba corresponding increase, or worse, a decrease, in revenue, you must find that money somewhere else in the budget.

    ToxicAG
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    doubledog said:

    FlyRod said:

    In the memo I saw, the BOR removed the merit increase from the budget package. I did not see an explanation as to why they did this.

    I don't think highly enough of their innate wisdom to infer noble intentions on their part (I know that a few of their sycophants lurk on this board and likely feel otherwise).
    Maybe it had something to do with this. (directly or indirectly)

    "Texas A&M System approves $100 million scholarship fund to address "diversity issues"

    https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/15/texas-aggie-scholarship-fund/?utm_source=articleshare&utm_medium=social



    And how many millions for Aggie Park?
    Rice and Fries
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    My whole question with this RIF is why aren't more higher paid yahoos declining to get their full salary's? I'm talking like Young, Sharp, heads of college, etc.

    Wouldn't that say more about leading with character and saying pay those less fortunate than I and help keep them afloat. Like you really need $400K to live in college freaking station. JuSt My TwO sEnSE.
    lost my dog
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    cavscout96 said:

    Seriously though, if you increase one budget line item without ba corresponding increase, or worse, a decrease, in revenue, you must find that money somewhere else in the budget.


    Not all flavors of money are the same. Scholarship money is not the same as salary and benefits money. Ask any business office person

    But I did like Alan Sams. I don't think this would have happened with him at the helm
     
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