The University of Southern Maine has laid off six marketing department employees, school administrators announced Tuesday, but plans to create five new positions.

University leadership said they made the decision after a comprehensive review of the current department and strategy.

“How we recruit students has changed drastically over the past decade, and to thrive in the future, our team will need new and varied skills,” Meaghan Arena, vice president for enrollment management, marketing and student retention, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

Arena said impacted employees were notified early Tuesday, and the layoffs were effective the same day.

“They will receive severance, benefits and pay in lieu of notice in accordance with our collective bargaining agreements,” she said.

For employees with less than five years of experience, that means four months of pay and benefits. Those with more than five years of experience receive a greater severance package relative to their length of service.

But Arena said the university will now create five new positions, designed to “align our University’s aspirations, new trends in marketing, and the realities of the changing higher education landscape.” She said the new structure will be focused in digitalization, building the university’s reputation, the needs of students and data-driven marketing.

USM is part of the University of Maine System of public universities and has campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston.

The marketing department currently has nine employees, including a senior director, according to a staff directory on the university website.

“Unfortunately, there seems to be a bit of a pattern developing,” said Neil Greenberg, president of University of Maine System Professional Staff, the union that represents professional and administrative staff across the system.

In May, USM eliminated five management positions — the directors of advising, graduate studies, and student engagement and leadership, and the director and associate director of the Russell Scholars program — in a cost-saving measure. In September, the system laid off 13 IT employees and cited restructuring, while also making plans to add half a dozen new positions.

Greenberg said he’s frustrated with the system for initiating restructuring without engagement from employees, eliminating positions, then creating new positions they may or may not be qualified for. He said he would prefer to see the university work with employees in the department to evolve their roles.

“This made a lot of people nervous,” he said. “Nobody knows who’s next.”