Welcome Back and Invitation to Campus Open Forums

For me, the fall semester was about listening and learning — at student gatherings, faculty and staff meetings, campus and community events, and from many others. I have experienced firsthand what an incredible university this is, with a culture deeply committed to student success. We pride ourselves on our personalized approach serving a diverse student body and offering transformational opportunities. For us to fully realize our potential, the first task is to address our $10 million structural deficit. The exercise we must undertake to adjust the budget is the initial step in ensuring a bright future for the university. Regarding our finances, I particularly appreciated the questions and conversations at the Budget 101 presentations that CFO Michelle Quinn and I hosted. About 800 people attended the six sessions. Our President’s Leadership Council (PLC) devoted dozens of hours in meetings, working together to develop recommendations based on rigorous and informative discussions of the 13 potential cost-saving options that we shared with the campus in October.
 
Now, as we move into spring semester, it is time for action. Tomorrow, Interim Provost Theo Kalikow and members of the three task forces that she convened in September will hold a Task Force Forum to discuss and solicit input on their recommendations regarding student success, student affairs and our academic portfolio. One week from today, the PLC and I will host a Potential Cost-Savings Forum to discuss the 13 options that we explored throughout the fall semester. A summary of the information that we will discuss at the January 14 forum is now available here. The document includes key takeaways from the fall semester and the PLC’s recommendation for each of the 13 cost-savings options. I hope you can participate in both of these important events. Details about times, locations and how to provide feedback if you can’t attend are available in the sider on this page.

One thing that has become clear during our PLC meetings is that only a fraction of our $10 million structural deficit can be resolved with overarching cost-savings approaches. The PLC’s fall semester work is a crucial first step in reducing the deficit, but many decisions about cost reductions need to be made at the division, college and unit levels by people who fully understand how the decisions will affect their operations.

We are working to develop a more transparent budgeting process for academic year 2019-20, which we hope will empower vice presidents, deans and other administrative leaders to be more involved in the decision-making process. We have gathered information about our spending patterns and how our peer institutions and other Colorado universities allocate resources. The PLC will look at this information and discuss strategies for allocating additional cost reductions to the divisions early this semester to set division-level cost-savings goals by early February. From early February to early March, each division will determine how to adjust its budget to meet our goals. This will allow decisions about issues such as staffing levels and faculty workload to be addressed at the division, college and unit level. Meanwhile, this semester, we are collaborating with Huron Consulting Group to enhance our strategic enrollment management initiatives and improve student success by focusing on the entire student life cycle, from recruitment to graduation. Upcoming opportunities to participate in this process are in the sider.

This will be a challenging semester, and I will do everything within my power to be open and transparent with you. We need to take these challenges head-on, together, while keeping our focus on what matters most to us. Our first priority is our students and their success. Faculty, staff and administrators are also critically important to make our promise to students a reality.