UF trustees OK $47-mil in cuts, lament 'brain drain'

MAY 14, 2008

UF trustees this morning approved president Bernie Machen's plan for $47-million in cuts, including program eliminations and the elimination of 430 staff and faculty positions, 290 of them already vacant.

Trustees did restore a couple of faculty spots in the liberal arts college, said spokesman Steve Orlando. But they expressed great concern about a "brain drain" of top faculty and staff -- a valid concern considering UNC administrators recently said publicly that now is the best time to poach from top Florida institutions like UF.

Already UF is losing its main IT guy, Mark Hoyt, to NC State, Orlando said. And the law school is losing at least one faculty member. FSU has seen similar losses, and administrators fear the exodus will only continue as the budgets grow leaner.

Posted by Aaron Sharockman at 11:00:48 am on May 14, 2008 in

Higher Education

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