Dear Colleagues:
As I’m sure many of you are now aware, I spoke with the Faculty Senate last Friday, providing an update on our current budget situation and an initial proposal to resolve a portion of our $20 million budget challenge. This initial proposal would allow for approximately $6 million to be absorbed through changes in configuration, with significant reductions in administrative costs. This would buffer the impact on programs, faculty, and staff.
In particular, the recommendation is for the creation of a College of Health Sciences, incorporating the Loewenberg School of Nursing, the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the School of Public Health, and Health and Sports Sciences. The College of Education would be able to focus more specifically on the initiatives outlined previously by President Martin. An additional $1 million would be recovered through the graduate student tuition waiver and stipend budget (currently an $18 million annual expenditure). It is also recommended that we continue to explore a collaborative partnership with the UT Health Science Center for operation of our speech and hearing clinic, an operation that has a net annual loss in excess of $1.3 million. The partnership would allow us to continue the clinic operation in collaborative fashion, ensuring clinical training for our students while dramatically reducing the unsustainable losses we have been experiencing for years now.
As a result of discussions with the Faculty Senate on Friday, I have formed a collaborative budget working group that will include three yet to be named faculty senators, myself, along with Dean Karen Weddle-West, Dean Lin Zhan, Dean Tom Nenon, and special assistant to the provost Dr. Henry Kurtz. We will begin our work immediately. I look forward to working in collaborative fashion to identify and implement solutions in a timely manner.
As we move forward with resolving this budget challenge, I think it important to remember our core values and mission. I spent some time with senators discussing this very issue on Friday. Our ability to deliver the curriculum effectively at both the undergraduate and graduate levels is essential, with a firm commitment to rigor and excellence. We need to continue efforts to improve retention and graduation while thinking strategically and creatively about innovative and interdisciplinary approaches. We need to continue efforts to grow our Lambuth campus as well. We cannot slow our efforts to grow research, scholarship, and creative activity–rather we need to make smart investments during this period.
As you can see from our integrated enrollment plan, we are being aggressive in efforts to grow our student base, with a wide array of initiatives already underway. The recent news that we will not pursue a tuition increase this coming year recognizes that the single greatest barrier for our students is a financial one. As recent enrollment declines indicate, we cannot continue to shift costs to students by increasing tuition and fees. This challenge provides us the opportunity to innovate, improve efficiency, and think in creative ways about how we can cross traditional silos and disciplinary boundaries to deliver our mission more effectively. As many of you know, the higher education landscape is changing and we certainly are not alone. I’ve provided a link below that you might find interesting. Even the most well-funded universities are facing similar challenges.
As I shared with the Faculty Senate, our budget situation is indeed a challenge. But embedded in the challenge is an opportunity for us to position the University of Memphis for growth and success in the coming years. As you all know, this campus is filled with great minds, including faculty, staff and students. Working together we will find the solutions needed and not only adjust to the rapid changes in higher education, but implement the strategies needed to thrive in the coming years.
Link of Interest:
Changing Higher Education Landscape: http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/are-colleges-ready-to-adjust-to-a-new-higher-education-landscape/
Go Tigers!
M. David Rudd, Provost