Eastern Michigan University faculty member Jeremy Catarino is leaving EMU after working as a professor for the Simulation Animation and Gaming program.
He was offered a higher-paying job working for the military, where he has worked in the past. He has worked at EMU since 2005, when he was a grad assistant.
Catarino is being paid $35,000 a year, which is not as much as the other full-time lecturers in his department. He is also currently teaching five courses, which is more than anyone else in his department. Catarino is the only professor in the program who has worked professionally with 3D modeling.
A petition to increase Catarino’s pay to keep him working at EMU has been going around the SAG program, and 68 SAG students have already signed the petition.
SAG student Brandon Lambert said EMU has dismissed all attempts to increase Catarino’s pay, but SAG students hope that their petition might change this.
Lambert is very upset with the way this situation has been handled.
“I want the school to not only take notice of this, but to also take action as well,” he said.
Since Catarino has been a faculty member he has created three classes, raising the amount of credit hours offered for the program.
During the time he’s been at EMU, the number of students in the SAG program has grown from 56 in 2009 to 152 in 2012.
