IPFW to announce layoffs this week

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) will begin notifying employees of layoffs this week, according to an email the chancellor sent the campus community.

Chancellor Vicky L. Carwein sent an email to the IPFW community on Thursday afternoon announcing the elimination of 15.5 jobs. 24.5 unfilled positions will also be eliminated. These reductions are expected to save IPFW $2.2 million.

The layoffs are part of a plan that Carwein wrote "will close the $8.4 million budget gap [IPFW] is facing." In addition to the layoffs and elimination of unfilled positions, the plan also relies on a small tuition increase and a freeze on annual salary increases.

Students will not be affected by the cuts.

"We want to keep our focus on the students, on keeping quality instructors and faculty here," said Steve Sarratore, Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs.

Carwein concluded the email by assuring employees that IPFW will work to mitigate the negative impact the layoffs will incur:

I know that layoffs are rare in the history of IPFW, and we are all troubled by the thought that members of our community will be losing their campus employment at the end of the current fiscal year. We remain committed to pursuing opportunities to reduce the negative impact of these necessary layoffs on the individuals whose positions will be eliminated.

There will be an impact on all of us from the reduction in force. We will all be called on to do more in the months ahead in order to help assure the success of our students and our region, and I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and the gratitude of IPFW to each of you for stepping up to this challenge.

As of 2012, the university currently has 1,717 employees. 954 of those employees are faculty members: professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors and lecturers. The remaining 763 employees are considered staff: administrations, clerical and service staff.

University officials will not release which departments on campus will see the cuts because all personnel have not been notified.