Dear colleagues,
I
am writing today to update you on our strategy to address UMD's
remaining budget deficit. We have had several productive conversations
over the past weeks through the town hall meetings and discussions with
the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee. Through these processes, we
have fine tuned what I believe is a solid strategy for balancing our
budget while ensuring minimal impact to students and their learning
experience.
I
would like the campus community to review our proposed budget strategy
in preparation for a more detailed discussion with faculty, staff, and
Student Association leadership in our campus Town Hall meeting February 23. As a reminder, that meeting will take place Tuesday, February 23 from 3-4:30 p.m.
in the Kirby Ballroom. Please note that there are still discussions to
have, feedback to receive, details, and logistics for us to work out
before we are ready to implement this plan.
There are six components to our budget strategy:
- Required savings budget process
- Academic administrative restructuring
- Academic program and course offering optimization
- Targeted reductions, tuition, revenue generation
- Enrollment growth and reinvestment
- Deficit reduction and investment fund transfer (DRIFT)
To read a brief overview of each of these components, please see our proposed plan for resolving the structural budget issue.
Next steps include discussing this again with the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee in two weeks,
presenting and discussing with the campus community in the town hall,
making any necessary changes, submitting this to the University of
Minnesota as part of our compact budget request in early March, and
initiating specific tactics for implementation.
As always, please feel free to contact myself or one of the Vice Chancellors if you have questions.
Sincerely,
Lendley C. Black
Chancellor
