Chancellor’s Budget Updates: Compensation Plan, Year-End Balances, Capital Budget Request

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Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:

I hope that you are finding ways to enjoy (or beat) the heat this month. This is the second summer update to keep you apprised of our progress on budget initiatives. We have made significant advances in implementing the budget plans announced this past April.

We are planning a faculty and staff compensation plan for the fall of 2016-17 that will use one-time funding from: 1) a donation specifically earmarked for faculty and staff retention; and 2) UW System funds available due to lower utility expenses from the mild winter and lower fringe benefit charges from UWS employing fewer people during 2015-16. Details on amount, timing and other logistics are being developed and will be shared as they become available.

Initial estimates for the 2015-16 fiscal year indicate that we have reduced our expenditures by approximately $31 million year over year. This progress is indicative of a unified effort across all campus units to manage the imposed cuts and to balance our budget.

We have submitted five projects as our campus priorities for the 2017-19 capital budget that will be presented to the Board of Regents on August 18-19. They include: (partial) renovation of the Northwest Quad that will address core infrastructure to allow UWM to fully occupy the complex, capital repairs to the chemistry and engineering buildings, an information technology infrastructure upgrade and the basketball practice facility. Our current priorities for the 2019-21 capital budget plan are a new chemistry building and student union.

The Chancellor’s Enrollment Management Action Team (CEMAT) will host its annual retreat on Aug. 17 to discuss implementation of the new Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plan, a multi-year initiative to improve enrollment and retention rates, and increase revenues. UWM is committing $1.175 million annually for the SEM plan to produce benefits over time for every school and college in increased enrollments. We will provide periodic updates on SEM progress after the plan is launched in August.

As announced in my June campus budget update, the Academic Budget and Planning Committee (APBC) approved the final version of the Strategic Position Control (SPC) process. Provost Johannes Britz and Vice Chancellor Robin Van Harpen continue to meet with all schools, colleges, units and governance leads to discuss implementation. Deans and division heads remain responsible for decisions about which positions to recruit. Each school, college and unit will have SPC targets to meet. The SPC Committee met for the first time last week, led by APBC Chair, Professor William (Hobey) Davies. The committee will provide overall strategic guidance on SPC, including review of how each school, college and unit is meeting its SPC target.

The review of Vice Chancellor, Associate/Assistant Vice Chancellor and limited appointments is nearly complete. I am confident that we will be able to address the planned reductions through vacancies that have occurred and future vacancies. We will continue to recruit positions that advance student, research, and engagement priorities.

The Integrated Support Services Project (ISSP) has completed the “as is” phase of the project, in which many of you shared insights into the current status of administrative services. The findings are available in the As-Is Assessment Report.

The project team, assisted by Huron Consulting, will complete data gathering in July, and make preliminary recommendations in August. We will announce preliminary recommendations for service delivery improvements in early fall. There will be several additional opportunities for campus input, including a series of open forums and regular updates to governance groups.

The Provost continues to lead discussions on school/college alignment, implementing the Faculty Workload Policy into each school and college’s workload policies, and the reduction of course duplication. We expect substantive updates on these initiatives when the academic year resumes.

As always, our actions are guided by our strategic directions of student success, research excellence and community engagement. Thank you for your diligence and dedication as we progress with managing our budget. I will provide additional updates throughout the summer.

Best regards,

Mark A. Mone
Chancellor
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee