  Mathematics as an area of study occupies an important place in higher
education. Due in part to its utility in other disciplines as well as its role
in student learning, institutions of higher education (IHEs) often have large
numbers of mathematics faculty with different balances of teaching and research
in different ranks and appointment structures. Most flagship IHEs, especially
state land-grant institutions, have large undergraduate populations taking
mathematics courses in many cases built around the widespread use of calculus
and the connections between mathematics and science, technology, and
engineering. These connections have made mathematics departments essential to
universities\cite{olson2012engage} and emphasized the critical role math plays
in supporting student success \cites{reinholz2020time,calcscience} in all areas
of post-secondary education. We tend to take that essential nature of
mathematics at the undergraduate level, and for research universities at the
graduate level, as a given, but that characterization no longer holds for some
IHEs.
