Higher education cuts force layoffs at Northwest Missouri State

In some of the first higher education layoffs announced this year in reaction to state funding reductions, Northwest Missouri State University will cut 20 jobs and eliminate or reorganize eight academic departments in a campus-wide move to reduce costs.

The Maryville school will eliminate its dance program and Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. More administrators will have to teach classes, and the university will hire fewer part-time professors and close its campus aquatics center.

President John Jasinski and Provost Doug Dunham announced the changes yesterday. Affected employees can remain on the payroll through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

The move reduces the number of academic departments from 19 to 11.