The ISU psychology department is facing an employee shortage again this year, a problem department personnel say is becoming all too familiar.

“We will be understaffed again,” said Veronica Dark, chairwoman of the cognitive psychology search committee.

Since Craig Anderson, professor and chairman of psychology, arrived at Iowa State in 1999, three faculty positions have been lost to budget cuts and another to “partially cover budget deficits in other operating expenses,” he said.

“We will certainly lose at least one more faculty line this year,” Anderson said, “and possibly two.”

Despite the losses of faculty positions, the total number of credit hours taught per year continues to grow along with the total number of undergraduate students majoring in psychology, he said.

“The amount of teaching that we do per faculty member is consistently among the highest five departments in the university,” Anderson said.

The department is conducting three faculty searches – one for counseling psychology, and two for cognitive psychology, he said. The positions are open because of resignations and retirements.

Two offers are out to fill these positions, and the department is waiting for a final decision from the candidates, he said. Anderson said he expects a third offer to go out sometime this week.

However, Anderson said he is expecting one retirement and two resignations this year.

The department has had to overcome a number of obstacles to find enough professors to teach undergraduate classes.

Last spring, psychology personnel thought one of the current open positions would be filled, but the candidate backed out at the last minute because of family reasons, said Dark, associate professor of psychology.

“It’s extremely unusual for a person to back out for personal reasons,” she said.

Students already had signed up for Fall 2001 classes that were to be taught by this instructor.

Dark said she rearranged her schedule so she could teach Psychology 313 to students who had already signed up for the course. Because of the workforce shortage, the class will not be taught in the spring semester, she said.

Psychology 313 is not a required course for graduation for psychology majors.

“Not having this course will not hurt anyone for graduation,” Dark said. “They will have to choose an alternative course.”

Next semester, advanced graduate students and temporary instructors will be teaching courses that would have been taught by faculty, she said.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gave the psychology department additional money to hire temporary instructors, Dark said.