Part of an ongoing series about Iowa State’s response to state budget problems.

Budget cuts in the College of Business are causing a pinch that is affecting students, staff and the college itself.

Anthony Hendrickson, associate dean of the College of Business, said enrollment has been up during the last several years and is probably close to an all-time high.

“I think that when you have tight budget times, colleges that have strong growth records feel that pinch disproportionately,” he said.

Hendrickson said a limited budget prevents the college from adding resources.

“As budgets have gone down and remain flat, it’s been more difficult for us to recruit and retain faculty,” he said.

It’s difficult to match employment packages, and therefore difficult to be competitive with other schools, he said.

“One good thing is that many states are in a similar situation,” he said.

James Werbel, chairman of the college’s faculty executive committee and professor of management, said he has seen his classes increase in size. He said faculty used to get extra credits for teaching classes with more than 250 students; now those credits have been considerably reduced.

Max Wortman, distinguished professor of management and president of the Faculty Senate, said the class sizes are already “astronomical,” and he predicts classes will get larger.

In 2001, the average section size in the college had 77 students, compared to the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, which had 42 students or the liberal arts and sciences college, with 38 students, according to the ISU Fact Book.

Wortman said business classes that students typically take during their sophomore and junior years are almost all about 250 to 300 students. Senior year, classes are generally about 50 to 60 students, he said.

University administration wants every class to involve more writing and speaking, something that “is not going to happen in the business school,” Wortman said.

He said as class sizes increase, the quiet people become quieter, verbal people talk more, and students in the middle tend to get the same education.

“You don’t get as good an education in a large class,” he said.

Werbel said the area in the college he has seen budget cuts affect the most have been faculty turnover and recruitment.

“Our wages are 10 to 20 percent below our peers, which impacts the ability to recruit good new faculty,” he said. This year two of the business faculty have left for higher-paying jobs at Drake University in Des Moines, he said.

In November 2003, the Gerdin Business Building is expected to be completed, and the College of Business will move across campus from Carver Hall. However, the college will still be faced with the same problems, Hendrickson said. Moving to the new building will not change the college’s funding capabilities, he said.

Budget cuts are keeping the College of Business from expanding course options as well, Wortman said.

“The number of [class] waiting lists and the numbers of people on the waiting lists are growing,” Hendrickson said. “The ability to add additional sections is limited.”

Classroom capacity, coupled with budget concerns, keep large class sections to a minimum, Hendrickson said. If there is a section of 60 students that is full, with 30 students on a waiting list, even if they add the additional students, there is not a classroom available that would hold 90 students, he said.

“People are seeking a business education at an all-time high,” Hendrickson said.

The budget cuts are affecting the quality of and the number of students that can get an education, he said.

“[Because of budget cuts], we cannot be as innovative and creative about coursework as we might like to be,” Wortman said.