<p>It is great to see the department improving, but I second the sentiment that this won’t really have a huge impact on the undergrad program. The key to a better undergrad experience is professors who are great teachers, go above and beyond their obligation to the undergrads (always being available to chat vs. having 1 stinky hour of office hours), and actually try to get undergrads involved in research.</p>
<p>Having more warm bodies on the department roster is not enough, if these new hires are primarily interested in their research and don’t care much about the undergrads. As we all know, these people are hired based on their scholarship, not their teaching ability and their love of undergrads.</p>
<p>A smaller class size isn’t going to do much good if the prof is mediocre. I’m sure most of us would rather have a 250-person lecture with a great prof than be divided into two 125-person lectures with mediocre profs.</p>