By CHELSEA ANDERSON/Montana State News
This fall semester’s registration has left a number of English students, with the writing option in particular, frustrated with the lack of classes offered. With a dip in funding, the English department doesn’t have nearly enough faculty available to teach the number of upper division classes that are necessary for seniors to graduate.
According to Kirk Branch, the English department chair, next year is a particularly difficult year for scheduling, “We’re stretched very thin.” Two tenured faculty will be operating next year with decreased teaching schedules, “We have one teacher who will have a reduced schedule for research purposes and another with a reduced schedule for the tenure application process,” says Branch.
According to Branch, the writing department has the funding for five tenured faculty, although four of them have reduced teaching schedules because of required administrative duties, “It really worked out quite poorly for next year because most of these administrative positions rotate through writing, literature and teaching faculty and currently most of the positions are held by writing faculty.” Continue reading “Writing classes limited by faculty shortage”