Jewell administrators announced another round of faculty layoffs on Monday, Feb. 3, according to a source familiar with the matter. While the true number is not known, the Monitor estimates that a single-digit number of faculty members will be leaving the College.
The announcement comes over a year after the College’s declaration of exigency and a previous round of layoffs.
Several of Jewell’s former departments were suffering from a faculty crunch even before this most recent downsizing. (While departments have been formally replaced with academic divisions, courses—and faculty—are still listed by department.) Five of Jewell’s departments—Business, Engineering, Mathematics, Philosophy, and Psychology—only have one full-time faculty member. Jewell intends to accommodate this shortage by adding to these departments: at the time of publication, the College is hiring assistant professors in Education, Engineering, and Psychology. Other changes include merging the Philosophy department into Political Science.
According to multiple sources, the College could not find space in budget plans to make these hires after student enrollment was lower than expected in the 2025-26 academic year.
Separately, the Board of Trustees voted to permanently halt student enrollment into the Oxbridge program, the only honors program remaining at Jewell. The College paused enrollment for the 2025-26 academic year after the College’s declaration of exigency. Current students in the program would be permitted to graduate with their majors. The College has reportedly expressed interest in opening another honors program built on the foundation of the Pryor Leadership program.
These changes suggest that the College is changing its program offerings by emphasizing Business and other pre-professional programs (in line with interim President Van Horn’s guidance).
If you are a student affected by program changes at Jewell and wish to talk to the Hilltop Monitor about changes in your program, you can contact us here.
This story is developing.
