Greetings,
As you may recall, President Beck recently addressed the campus budget environment explaining that our campus received a $5.1M permanent general fund budget reduction and is anticipating potential declines in tuition revenue due to decreased enrollment (est. $1.9M). While this news poses new challenges for our division, the Fall enrollment picture is quite improved over what we as a campus had originally projected if enrollment stays strong through the Spring 2021 semester, this revenue will help to offset the demand on reserves.
Given the economic challenges, the President has directed that campus reserves be allocated towards covering the total funding gap for this fiscal year which will buy our campus time to review priorities and make any necessary adjustments. This does come as welcomed news but still leaves our division, along with other divisions throughout the University, to find $1M in permanent resources to cover what campus reserves cannot.
Because I do not want to create additional challenges that risk distracting faculty, staff, and administrators currently serving to provide the best instruction and support possible under these challenging times, I intend to first look for needed resources within the Provost office. Our ability to cover these cuts will, of course, depend on how deep the cuts go, but I am hopeful we can absorb most of these for 2020-21. While there will certainly be planning work ahead for us all, I want to now remain focused on providing a world class education to our students until that time.
Interim Provost Elizabeth A. Say, Ph.D.
FY 2022 Planning Kickoff
FY 2022 is shaping up to be a fiscally challenging year. It is important to pursue these challenges head on with student, staff, faculty, and academic affairs leadership working together, immersed, and engaged, in developing a fiscal strategy to lead us through this difficult time. While not everyone will have the time to participate, we commit to providing the needed information for you here so that you can be kept informed along the way. Outlined below is an overview of the planning process, committee engagement, leadership involvement, and the roles and responsibilities those involved will play. I encourage you to come back to this page often to view the work of our division and to take part in the process when you can.
Kirk England - Assistant Vice Provost Chief Academic Budget Officer
Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Committee
Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Committee (AABAC) will be used to inform the Provost and make recommendations that involve planning considerations, fiscal priorities, and other budgetary matters. Committee work will start in earnest within the month of October 2020.
Scenario Planning Framework – Roles, Responsibilities, and Resources
As the AABAC works towards establishing a scenario planning framework for FY 2022, it is important for us all to understand the roles and responsibilities that are incumbent upon the executive and senior level leadership within Academic Affairs
Deans and AVP’s
Deans and AVP’s will be charged with leading all planning efforts within their respective schools and operational units. All divisional units will use a common planning framework, consistent with guidance provided by BFA and the Office of Academic Planning and Budget, in consultations with the AABAC. Once the planning framework has been established, staff and faculty are encouraged to engage their Dean or AVP to inquire about what this may look like, and how best to contribute.
Planning Forum
Once planning scenarios are developed within each school and respective AVP operating units, planning scenarios will be posted to an online forum allowing students, staff, and faculty to engage in an online conversation where each can show support, concerns, ask questions of stakeholders, etc. Conversations will be captured and used to inform the AABAC, DAA leadership, and Provost for final considerations.
Calendar
While there is still much left to be determined, the following calendar represents the general body of work needing to be accomplished over the next several months:
October - November AABAC develops scenario planning framework for Provost consideration.
December - AABAC distributes instruction, templates, reporting, etc to Deans and AVP’s for planning and distribution throughout their school/operating units.
January - April TBD but may look like the following:
- Schools/operating units work through planning scenarios with stakeholders strategically setting short term goals, aligning resources as necessary, contingency planning etc.
- Finished plan returned to AABAC for review, consultation, feedback.
- AABAC final report recommendations to Provost
- Provost submits planning recommendations to Cabinet.