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Budget cuts have forced layoffs at UNCG — but some of the school’s staff are pitching in to pick up the slack. Among them: Chancellor Linda Brady.

Brady, who spent seven years in Washington working with the State and Defense departments, will teach a class in international negotiation next year.

“She’ll be doing it for us for free,” said Ruth Dehoog, head of the political science department. “And we’re glad to have her because we’re cutting some sections of our courses at the lower and the higher levels.”

Dehoog said none of the professors in her department will be laid off, but they aren’t rehiring a visiting professor who’s been teaching several courses there full time, including international relations.

“He was a really good fit for us because he could teach in a number of different areas,” Dehoog said. “But that was the position we had to lose to make the budget cuts.”

In December, as the recession eroded state tax collections, each of the UNC system’s 16 campuses were instructed to submit plans to deal with 3, 5 and 7 percent cuts to the 2009-2010 budget. When Gov. Bev Perdue released her first draft of the state budget earlier this month, the cuts to the system came to $195 million, or an average of 6.4 percent per campus.

UNCG officials estimate the campus will lose between 6 and 7 percent of its budget next year — about $10 million. This week, the school began working to cut 109 positions, including 59 faculty. Some of those positions have been kept deliberately vacant for months, school officials said, but layoffs will still be necessary.

The school’s plan also calls for cutting 275 class sections — nearly 7,500 seats — and replacing 60 percent of introductory freshman classes with large lecture sections.

One of the classes in trouble is university studies, a course that prepares students for college life. The class, worth just one credit hour, teaches basic study skills and budgeting, counsels students on drugs and alcohol and familiarizes them with the university and its services. Studies show students who complete the course have higher GPAs and are more likely to graduate.

“This is a time when the economy is affecting so many students,” said Dean of Students Jen Day Shaw, who has been teaching the course for free for six years. “They have more financial need, will have to work more hours, are affected by more stress and family problems. Right now, this course should really be required.”

When word came that staff cuts would kill 18 sections of the course, Provost David Perrin volunteered to teach a section for free — and invited the vice provost and the school’s deans to join him.

They all agreed, making up the shortfall.

“In an environment where we’re asking our faculty to step up and teach more sections and larger classes, I thought we should be willing to lend a hand ourselves,” Perrin said.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com