HAMMOND | Purdue University Calumet will eliminate nearly 50 academic-related positions in the next 18 months as the school deals with a $4 million revenue shortfall, a university spokesman confirmed.
The cuts were announced in March at a forum for faculty and staff, according to PUC spokesman Wes Lukoshus.
Lukoshus said about half of the positions to be cut are instructional in nature, but the reductions will not impact tenure or tenure-track faculty.
“All the academic schools were asked to go back through their budgets and make some difficult decisions about how we are going to address this,” Lukoshus said.
The impacted positions are staffed by limited-term lecturers, clinical instructors, voluntary early retiree instructors and staff members of the Academic Learning Center in Merrillville, which will close after June 30, according to Lukoshus in an email to The Times.
Lukoshus said the cuts will be spread out among the university's departments at both the main PUC campus in Hammond and the closing Merrillville location.
The reductions will take place over the entire 18-month period because the university has an obligation to give instructors advance notice, Lukoshus said. Some of the instructors will continue to teach through the semester and into the fall.
Lukoshus said while the majority of the impacted positions are currently filled, some are vacant.
The number of full-time students is down on campus, contributing to a decline in revenue. The university also has transitioned away from offering associate degree programs and remedial education opportunities, which generated revenue.
Lukoshus said the university is focusing on increasing its number of full-time students by attracting and graduating students working to obtain bachelor's and master's degrees.
“That's recruiting a different type of student than perhaps we've recruited in the past,” Lukoshus said. “We are working in that direction.”