Dear Campus Community:
As we look forward to the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to extend to all of you my best wishes and to let you know how thankful I am to be Chancellor of the University of Minnesota Duluth. This is an outstanding academic institution focused on student success and making a difference in the intellectual and cultural life of our surrounding communities. We are a significant economic force in Northeast Minnesota and our faculty, staff and administrators are called upon regularly to advance business excellence and to promote the overall quality of life in Duluth.
Our teaching, research, and public engagement not only enhance this region, but reach communities across the U.S. and many parts of the world. Our students, faculty and staff volunteer and give their time, talents and resources to our neighbors who need our help. We are having a phenomenal fall season of athletics with football, soccer, volleyball, and cross country among the top teams in the nation.
UMD is an incredible place with an even brighter future. We must not lose sight of that as we deal with the challenges facing us and most higher education institutions across the country. As I said to the campus in August and again in October, we will build on our successes and strengths with an awareness that we cannot do everything we want to do, and that we need to be proactive and focused on continued innovation with academic excellence as our guide.
Program Prioritization is progressing well, and I want to again thank the members of the two committees who have conducted a thoughtful and thorough review of all programs and services at UMD. The vice chancellors and I will be reviewing the results of the committees' work over the next few weeks, and the vice chancellors will be consulting with deans, department heads, and directors. I should have preliminary recommendations from the Chancellor's Cabinet before the end of December, and I will share those recommendations with the campus and solicit input prior to making final decisions. As I've said previously, our goal is to have a financial plan in place before we submit our budget requests to the University of Minnesota System around the first of February. This financial plan will consist of strategies to address the $11.9 million budget target through such things as cost reductions, increases in revenues, consolidation of services, shared services, and additional assistance from the Twin Cities.
I want to emphasize that although some cuts are inevitable, we will also find ways to grow revenues and find efficiencies as we partner with the Twin Cities in new ways. We will not just cut our way out of this budget challenge.
Thank you for all you do to make UMD such a vibrant community. Please accept my family's best wishes for a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Lendley (Lynn) Black
Chancellor
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Chancellor's Office
University of Minnesota Duluth
515 Darland Administration Building
1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
218.726.7106
218.726.6535 (fax)
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