At a time when some vacant faculty positions aren’t being filled, Kansas University officials will create 18 faculty jobs next year.

The positions will be financed with money from increased tuition and will be in the biosciences and international education, two areas administrators have identified as strengths in KU’s future.

“What we’re wanting to do is enhance the national reputation of the university by strengthening programs,” said David Shulenburger, executive vice chancellor and provost. “You can’t do that by spreading positions out. You’ve got to focus in areas that will become more prominent. We’re targeting in these two areas because we think they’re both where we most need to add faculty and where we think they’ll make the biggest impact for our students.”

KU officials said Tuesday about 15 vacant positions throughout the university won’t be filled due to budget cuts. An additional 40 to 50 searches for faculty are under way.

“We’re doing our darnedest to protect the classroom and protect research,” Shulenburger said. “The economic situation isn’t always going to be negative, and Kansas needs a really strong university. If we’re not planning now, when things are good, we’ll be left behind.”

About $1.5 million of the proposed tuition increase for 2003-2004 will be used for new faculty. About $8.6 million in tuition has been designated for new faculty over KU’s five-year tuition plan.

KU has had roughly the same number of full-time faculty members — 930 — for the past 15 years. The tuition money would add 100 faculty members by the 2007-2008 school year.

The increase also would improve KU’s full-time student to full-time faculty ratio from 22.6 to about 21.

Thirteen of next year’s positions will be in life sciences. One spot will be a director of bioinformatics, and the new faculty will be split between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the schools of law, engineering and pharmacy.

“There are lots of opportunities to secure research money,” Shulenburger said. “We’ll be able to employ more graduate students for research.”

The other five will be in international education, including global human ecology, biodiversity and international financial law.

In a memo to deans, Shulenburger identified several areas for future faculty development, including:

• Pairing science writing in the School of Journalism with the Museum of Natural History and other science departments, the School of Education and the School of Engineering to broaden KU’s life sciences effort.
• Adding a research emphasis in the School of Architecture.
• Developing international law and intellectual property areas in the School of Law.
• Expanding the School of Social Welfare’s emphasis on substance abuse and health.

“It seems that one of the important criteria was opportunities for collaborative effort across schools,” said Kim Wilcox, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Wilcox said the additional positions, paired with $7 million in tuition for increasing faculty salaries, will help KU keep faculty while the budget situation is poor. Faculty didn’t receive raises this year.

“Seven million to existing faculty salaries over the next five years ” that’s substantial in terms of keeping people here who are the most vulnerable to be lured away,” Wilcox said.