UMKC laying off more than a dozen academic staff and administrators

The University of Missouri-Kansas City this week announced it was cutting 17 from its academic staff and administrators.

Most of the 17 positions being eliminated come from the ranks of what the university is identifying as its academic staff, while a half dozen will come from administration. University officials have not said who actually will lose their jobs and what departments will experience the biggest losses.

In a statement to The Star Thursday afternoon, the university said the cuts were part of an ongoing effort to reconfigure the structure and processes at UMKC and to ultimately "reduce our deficit and to make strategic investments that position UMKC for long-term growth and progress."

Last May the University of Missouri System announced broad cuts across the four-campus system in Columbia, Rolla, St. Louis and Kansas City.

MU said at that time the cuts would be the largest in recent memory and officials on the Columbia campus announced that in fiscal year 2018 they would slash 12 percent of its budget from all schools, colleges and divisions on campus.

The UMKC officials said then that Kansas City cuts would not be as deep and announced that they were looking for about a 3 percent reduction from each school, college and division.

UMKC department heads were asked to search for ways to cut spending.

UMKC interim Chancellor and Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer, in a letter to the campus community, said that with the new fiscal year approaching it was "time to act on these decisions."

The 17 UMKC employees who are losing their jobs had been notified in the past week, Bichelmeyer said.

She said in her letter that, "Of course, this is an incredibly difficult time for those who will be leaving UMKC."

The university statement called it "an incredibly difficult time for everyone."

This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 2:21 PM with the headline "UMKC laying off more than a dozen academic staff and administrators."