Oklahoma schools get more full-time professors

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Colleges and universities across the state are using a portion of increased funding to hire more full-time professors.<br/><br/>The Legislature this year increased funding to higher

Monday, August 29th 2005, 11:16 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Colleges and universities across the state are using a portion of increased funding to hire more full-time professors.

The Legislature this year increased funding to higher education by $87-million and about 160 new faculty have been hired statewide. The full-time professors are replacing part-time teachers who were hired in recent years because of record high enrollment.

Officials say the number of college students statewide rose from about 121,000 in 2001 to 143,700 last year.

Oklahoma State leads the way after adding nearly 50 instructors while the University of Oklahoma has plans to hire 18 additional professors.

The University of Central Oklahoma and Oklahoma City Community College each added eight while Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa hired 12 new faculty.