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Thursday, September 1, 2016

Budget update and resources

Dear colleagues,

As we wrap up the first week of classes, it sure feels great to see the hallways full and feel the excitement of a new academic year. Thank you for welcoming our new students and helping all students transition back to campus.

We made good progress last semester in preparing our budget resolution plan, and we have continued to work on the budget resolution process over the past several weeks. In meetings this week with my Senior Leadership Council, the Council of Deans and Academic Administrators, and the Strategic Planning and Budget committee we provided updates and gathered feedback. We continue to move forward this week by identifying budget reduction numbers for the schools and colleges and are asking the Deans and their leadership teams to provide scenarios for how they will realize those savings.  

We need to provide time and safe space for these conversations to happen. We need to be strategic in looking at how all of these changes fit together. We need to be mindful of optimizing our programs, while ensuring a quality student learning experience. We need to be cognizant of working together to best position UMD for future success.  

I would like to provide you access to budget resources which will hopefully provide useful information. You may wish to review President Kaler’s 2017 fiscal year UMD budget allocation letter.  In this letter, you will see the allocations we received this fiscal year and the expectations from the U of M regarding our budget resolution. As well, VCFO Steve Keto has prepared a historical look at key UMD budget impacts since 2009.  

As we continue to progress through this process, there will be a variety of emotions and misinformation at times. I know there has been some discussion on social media about resources for our MTAG (Master of Tribal Administration and Governance) program.  I want to emphasize that UMD remains committed to the MTAG program.  The current staffing levels for MTAG will remain the same through the year as the College of Liberal Arts addresses necessary budget discussions. It is our expectation that as MTAG continues to grow, support for the program will continue to expand.

I will keep you posted as we move forward.  In the meantime, let me know if you have questions or would like additional information.

Sincerely,

Lendley Black
Chancellor