UCF President John C. Hitt welcomed faculty members back to campus today, sharing news of new hires and salary increases for the coming year.<\/p>\n
The 100 new faculty hires to be added during the next year will be in addition to replacements for retiring and departing faculty members.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese new colleagues will be hired across the colleges, and 90 percent of them will be tenure track faculty,\u201d Hitt said. \u201cMy top priority remains to add as many new faculty members for the following year \u2013 and the years beyond \u2013 as our resources will allow, while also rewarding you for your talent and efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Student Union, the president said the raises are long overdue after seven years of state budget cutbacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting in 2007, a wave of budget cuts slowed the momentum of this university, and they forced you to endure hardships and make sacrifices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hitt praised faculty members for maintaining their professional and personal values, and remaining focused on the success of students even while they had to teach more courses or manage larger classes.<\/p>\n
The new budget calls for salary increases of up to 5 percent \u2013 3 percent across the board and 2 percent merit increases. Members of the United Faculty of Florida will be asked to ratify the agreement, and the UCF Board of Trustees also must approve. Once those approvals are obtained, the raises would be put into place with an effective date beginning Aug. 8, Hitt said. These same raises are being provided to eligible staff members and administrators.<\/p>\n
The president also provided some insight about the possible expansion of UCF in downtown Orlando.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe interest in a greater downtown presence intensified in January when I joined Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and others on a trip to see the downtown Phoenix campus of Arizona State University,\u201d the president said. \u201cFolks, it\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
That 22-acre campus in Phoenix serves 11,000 students and has a student union, offices, wellness facility and student residences.<\/p>\n
UCF has received a $2 million appropriation by the state Legislature to look into the feasibility of expanding its presence downtown.<\/p>\n
In other announcements, President Hitt said UCF will:<\/p>\n