According to the Wisconsin State Journal, 140 UW–Oshkosh employees yesterday received layoff notices, another 110 positions will disappear due to vacancies or retirements, and an unknown number of contract-based adjunct professors and lecturers will not be renewed this spring. In all, the university is eliminating roughly a sixth of its workforce.
The layoffs were announced to employees via email initially and accompany other cost-cutting measures — including furloughs, encouraged early retirements, and the elimination of some nonacademic programming — as UW–Oshkosh contends with an $18 million budgetary shortfall by 2024. It’s the largest shortfall across the UW System.
The known number of layoffs and retirements constitute a 17.5% workforce reduction, but the actual number could be higher given that contracted instructional academic staff are not included.
Twelve administrators — or 22% of positions within administration — were laid off, reassigned, or retired. They include a vice chancellor, four associate and assistant chancellors, and seven administrative-level positions.
The general education department has been reduced to just one person as three others were let go. The Office of International Education staff was completely eliminated. Many staff are left with no assistants.
