The University of Alabama continuously hires new faculty and staff, and this year was no different. In recent months, the University has added new members in almost all departments. 

“This list [of new faculty and staff] includes both replacement hires (for faculty who, for example, have resigned or retired) and new position hires,” said Chris Bryant, assistant director of media relations in reference to a list of new hires that he provided to The Crimson White. “The list only includes faculty who have formally accepted their position offers. The list does not include temporary faculty positions.”

Since May 6, UA has hired 138 new faculty members, including 33 members for the Culverhouse College of Commerce, 28 for the Arts & Sciences Department and 18 for the College of Education. The departments on the list with the least amount of departmental change include The College of Community and Health Sciences with one, the School of Law with three and both the School of Social Work and University Libraries welcomed four new faculty members. Other departments, such as the College of Engineering and College of Human Environmental Sciences have hired 15 new faculty members a piece.

The University has been busy hiring new staff members as well. With various offices that work under the president, other university administrators and in educational departments, new members are constantly added throughout the year. Since May 6, UA has hired 135 new staff members. The departments seeing the biggest influx of new members are intercollegiate athletics with 21, the College of Arts & Sciences and the Office of Academic Affairs. The offices for assistant vice presidents for the university saw multiple new staff members arrive for the school year, with a total of 25 people joining those offices.

Not all departments had such drastic changes. In fact, some departments saw little to no change at all. For example, the office of the president and the counseling center both seeing one new hire and the Graduate School hiring two new staff members.

These changes in faculty and staff members may worry some members of the UA community, but senior Price McGiffert believes that new members can be viewed as a positive.

“I believe that new professors to the university provide fresh ideas and fresh teaching perspectives,” said McGiffert, who is the VP of external affairs for SGA. “I truly believe that, despite the larger student population, the University always keeps in mind the student-to-teacher-ratio. Personally, I have found that for such a large university, that my class sizes are surprisingly small and my professors are quite accessible.”