Comments about ‘UVU will eliminate jobs due to 4% budget cuts’

A good excuse to get rid of some of the applied technology programs that have been UVU's roots over the years and continue its institution-creep. That's okay, I guess, if we need another research university in the state, but we already have 3 major research schools.

University education is great, but it's not for everyone. We need to make sure we are still providing education for those fields that simply require practical skill training from the ATCs and teaching colleges, not necessary a full-on university education.

Of course, if UVU is moving back towards teaching classes with lecturers instead of tenure track faculty and cutting travel budgets so professors can't travel to attend conferences and present their research, they're not exactly moving in the research school direction.

UVU needs to firmly define its mission and stick to it instead of changing their minds all the time about what kind of school they want to be.

Look at what is growing at UVU. "Studies" classes. It is much cheaper to teach "studies" classes on a variety of pet pop culture subjects than to move good technology programs forward.

I'm always entertained by the frightened BYU professors who use this forum to gripe about UVU's mission creep. Mission creep is one thing, redefining your mission is another. Organizations do that from time to time as changes in society demand. Have you noticed any changes in Utah and the nation recently? I have. UVU has a well defined mission that embraces its place as both a master degree granting institution and a provider of technical education. This multi-faceted role is more appropriate to UVU than either that of tech college or research university. Quit your fear mongering, UVU has developed a unique and important mission and its sticking by it. When I was an undergrad at UVU I always loved being part of an institution that brought both of these worlds under one roof and made it easy for aspiring historians to learn basic auto repair, and for former Geneva steel workers to re-train and become high school math teachers.

Which "studies" classes are you referring to? I think you've mostly made this up. UVU has expanded course offerings in core subjects like teacher education, math, science, political science, etc. If by studies you mean any subject that isn't technical, then yes they've expanded studies courses. Otherwise, you might want to do a little fact checking. Go look at a list of bachelors degrees that have been added over the past few years and you'll see that you're quite off base.

Changing the name does not make a university. UVU doesn't have any engineering degrees, doesn't have legitimate research programs. Can UVU graduates compete in science, medical and dental graduate programs?

UVU currently has lots of pre-med and pre-dental students. The real question for the legislature is can any of these students get accepted into a med school when they can't get an engineering major at UVU, even in the science departments???

I teach at a community college and do believe that UVU (and other junior colleges in UT over the years) are guilty of institution-creep (if you want to call it that).

I was impressed by the efforts of community college teachers in AZ to resist efforts by the legislature to introduce a limited number of junior-senior level courses into CC. They valued their role in educating the community!!! The effort died.

I fail to see why a student should pay approx $4000 a year for their freshman and sophmore courses. At a community college/junior college the cost is approximately 1/2 university cost here in Utah. In other states, like AZ, the savings are more significant.

Additionally, as a product of a community college (years ago) who went on to earn a PhD, community colleges highly value a quality education for the freshman and sophmore students. Universities do not have this emphasis.

Delusions of granduer have left students without any low cost alternatives in Utah. Many of the "universities" offer a very limited number of graduate degrees--which is highly unlikely to change--and raised the cost of tuition.

You ask if UVU can prepare students for graduate studies at research-oriented schools? Since graduating from (then UVSC) UVU with my bachelor's degree I have earned a master's degree and am close to finishing a PhD at a research oriented university in the East. All degrees are in Computer Science and my undergraduate studies were sufficient preparation for graduate school. I have also spent a few years out of school and find that my undergraduate education at UVU prepared me for a variety of good jobs.

Kids need Jobs, Kids neeed to work, Kids need to pay for tution, But if cutting jobs is the thing then how are they going to do that and pay for school? pay money for tution, that just dosen't make sense, their are alost of ggod teachers out their, that is all the need is to have a job cut in their lives,

See, the people in Utah tried to tell the legislature we could not afford another University. Well now all the Institutions have to suffer more cuts because of the money put into UVU, tuition will go up and my kids will be unable to afford to go to college.

UVSC once was a niche school that could re-tool quickly to meet the needs of employers. Now will become bogged down in top-heavy administration with no chance for change. Time to go back to a College.