Like all the other departments on the ISU campus, the College of Art and Design suffered setbacks due to budget reductions. According to a budget cuts summary presented at the Board of Regents meeting in July, the department cut $250,000 from last year’s budget.

Originally, 15 courses were slated to be cut from the department. In the end, six courses were actually removed from the curriculum, including three integrated studio classes.

Former associate chair Mark Chidister said the cuts would have been worse if it were not for the ISU administration.

“The provost and the president were putting a million dollars back into the university [to save cut programs],” he said.

Chidister, now an assistant to President Gregory Geoffroy, said that every department made proposals about what would be from their respective programs.

Interim chair Roger Baer said many reasons were considered when the college’s committee made its decisions.

“The first thing we did was look at classes that were under-enrolled,” he said. “The second thing was to look at classes where instructors were in place. There were some [courses] that we couldn’t afford to service. Frankly, it came down to a budget decision of how we can best serve our majors.”

Four open faculty positions were also removed from the department, causing a cutback in the amount of temporary help that could be hired to teach.

Chidister said that the problem isn’t terrible because permanent faculty did not have to be let go. However, the new chair knows that help can’t come from the same places it did before.

“We have to look at other ways if we want to hire for those positions in the future,” he said “We have to become good managers and prioritize our [budget]. With all of the restrictions, uncomfortable situations have become more prevalent.

“It’s [like] trying to get a 10-1/2-foot size in a 10 size shoe,” said department academic advisor John Wagner. “Things are real tight.”

Even with the budget restrictions, people in the department are finding ways to accommodate students.

“I really thought by now that I wouldn’t be able to get students into full schedules,” Wagner said. “Everybody has come through. We’ve been able to get everybody into everything. That doesn’t mean that things aren’t tight.”

Baer was very aware that the whole college administration had to pull together to help alleviate the pressure for students to choose their class load.

“We have a full schedule of classes for this semester,” he said. “[The department has] been very conscious about students getting their classes. It takes a cooperative effort to make this happen.”

Baer said that all of the freshmen were able to get into the classes they needed to take this semester, but there are still people who are registering for classes. The situation is good right now, but could change later on.

“We haven’t had to cut a program,” he said. “I can’t say that if we have future cuts.”