Colleagues,
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful and restorative break.
My first update of the semester focuses on our process for the term and updates on the progress made since the end of the fall semester.
This semester the primary focus of our Sustainable Budget Planning process is to bring our work on the 2015-16 budget to a close. Our secondary work is to identify and begin studying those ideas that seem to hold promise but that we know will require more time to implement.
With respect to bringing our budget work to a close, Cabinet has developed an initial draft of our 2015-16 budget which includes ideas for revenue enhancement or budget reduction in every division. As a preview, I am pleased to say that together we have made great progress. We will be sharing the key budget assumptions including those for new revenue and expenditure reductions with faculty and staff this week:
- Faculty: Monday, January 12, 2015, 4:15 p.m., Lean Lecture Hall
- Staff:
- Tuesday, January 13, 2015, 11:00 a.m., Freedlander Theatre
- Tuesday, January 13, 2015, 10:00 p.m., Morgan Hall, Room 201 (3rd shift)
As it did last semester, SGA will be scheduling sessions for students. Dates and times of those sessions will follow from SGA.
Prior to Winter Break, nearly 200 staff participated in a workshop to review and categorize the ideas for new revenue and savings and efficiencies that were submitted. As individuals, staff submitted recommendations as to whether the College should “do it,” “do it, but only if necessary,” or “don’t do it (as the impact would be harmful to accomplishing our mission or strategic priorities). Discussing the ideas at tables in Kitt, groups identified three “we definitely should do” ideas and three “we definitely should not do” ideas. The individual and group work has been compiled and has been considered by Cabinet in creating the draft of next year’s budget. The compilation is posted on our Strategic Planning wiki site (login required).
I remain grateful for your engagement and contributions to this important work.
Grant