A 'Bumper Crop of Students' Meets a Faculty Hiring Challenge at Boo U

Campus readies for record student body. (Baraboo News-Republic, 4/25/2011)

Excerpt: A sharp rise in applications may mean the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County will have a near-record student body next fall, Dean Tom Pleger says.

However, retirements and problems attracting faculty may make a teaching staff shortage an issue.
Applications for September admission are up 20 percent this year, Pleger told the campus commission Thursday.

"We had a record spring enrollment," Pleger said. "If those things are indicators that have been indicators in the past in terms of history, we're looking at a very large student body in the fall, potentially one of the largest."

Conditions can change between now and then, but things are looking like a "bumper crop of students" could arrive in September, he said.

With the ongoing disputes over the splitting up UW System, the education budget and pay for public workers, Pleger said hiring faculty likely will be a challenge in the future.

The campus' two most senior professors, 32-year veteran math professor Isaac Solomon and business professor Bruce Duckworth, are retiring at the end of the semester, he said. UW-Baraboo is also losing health and education professor and Athletic Director Rick Yanke after he was lured away by another university with a 25-percent rise in salary.