Faculty in the UO’s College of Arts and Sciences educate 5,000 majors and teach 200,000 student credit hours in the natural sciences alone, accounting for 25 percent of the entire university’s undergraduate academic program.

Those are big numbers, and they come with some big challenges, as interim college Dean W. Andrew Marcus explained to the UO Board of Trustees at their most recent meeting on campus. For example, the number of science degrees awarded is up 57 percent since 2007-08, but tenure-track faculty numbers are up only 10 percent over the same period.

Marcus, along with Associate Dean for Natural Sciences Hal Sadofsky, outlined the scope of the college’s science programs as well as the challenges in a presentation to the board. They discussed looming faculty retirements, enrollment growth, opportunities for undergraduate research, grant success and facility needs, among other topics.

For a full report on the presentation, see “Helping 5,000 Science Majors Succeed” on the College of Arts and Sciences website.