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Missouri S&T Will Close $32 Million Deficit With Layoffs And Furloughs

Missouri University of Science and Technology is cutting positions to close a budget deficit caused by the coronavirus.
Jonathan Ahl | St. Louis Public Radio
Missouri University of Science and Technology is cutting positions to close a budget deficit caused by the coronavirus.

ROLLA — The financial impact of the coronavirus and resulting cuts in state funding has led Missouri University of Science and Technology to cut more than 120 positions on campus, about 10% of its workforce.

Chief Financial Officer Cuba Plain said during a virtual town hall meeting Thursday that 44 staff and five faculty will be laid off and 58 staff and 13 faculty positions that are vacant will stay unfilled.

A total of 90 employees will receive temporary furloughs lasting two weeks to two months.

“This budget year is different than any I have ever dealt with in my career,” Plain said. “The amount of unknowns we are dealing with is just mindboggling.”

Plain said the university is looking to make substantial changes to the organization to help protect core functions and avoid facing these kinds of decisions in the future.

That’s why, Plain said, Missouri S&T is not considering temporary pay reductions like some other schools.

“Across-the-board pay reductions are one-time, stopgap measures, just another way of kicking the can down the road,” Plain said. “Our philosophy at S&T has always been that we try to look at our problems and look at our issues and deal with them as appropriately and as quickly as we can.”

Missouri S&T is in process of notifying the employees who are being laid off.

Despite the cuts, S&T Chancellor Mo Dehghani said there are promising signs for the future.

“Our freshman enrollment is up simply because we paid attention and put investment in enrollment management,” Dehghani said.

Dehghani did not comment about the possibility of cutting degree programs during Thursday’s forum. Two weeks ago he said such a move was possible. He looked to clarify his position and quell concerns among faculty members with an email to the campus community on Monday.

“We have not made any decisions regarding the elimination of any academic programs at Missouri S&T, and we will not do so without first thoroughly reviewing our options with a variety of stakeholders,” Dehghani said in his message.

He said he is setting up a small group to study the issue.

“This group will include faculty and staff representation, and my charge to them is to look at areas for investment as well as areas for possible integration,” Dehghani said.

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Jonathan Ahl joined Iowa Public Radio as News Director in July 2008. He leads the news and talk show teams in field reporting, feature reporting, audio documentaries, and talk show content. With more than 17 years in public media, Jonathan is a nationally award-winning reporter that has worked at public radio stations in Macomb, Springfield and Peoria, IL. He served WCBU-FM in Peoria as news director before coming to Iowa. He also served as a part-time instructor at Bradley University teaching journalism and writing courses. Jonathan is currently serving a second term as president of PRNDI ââ
Jonathan Ahl
Jonathan Ahl reports from the Rolla Bureau for St. Louis Public Radio. His duties also include covering central and southern Missouri for Harvest Public Media. Before coming to St. Louis Public Radio in November of 2018, Jonathan was the General Manager for Tri States Public Radio in Macomb, Illinois. He previously was the News Director at Iowa Public Radio and before that at WCBU in Peoria, Illinois. Jonathan has also held reporting positions in central Illinois for public radio stations. Jonathan is originally from the Chicago area. He has a B.A. in Music Theory and Composition from Western Illinois University and an M.A. in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield. He is an avid long distance runner, semi-professional saxophonist and die-hard Chicago Cubs fan.