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When I came on board in July as interim chancellor, one of the first questions
posed to me by the campus community and the media was: "How will you remedy the
University's budget shortfall and assure that Carolina doesn't find itself in
this position in the future?" We quickly found a way to balance our budget and
to ensure that we are positioned well for the next fiscal year. Then we began
delving deeper to address the crux of the matter. Developing a planning process
as a framework for our budget effort became one of my top priorities.
Throughout the fall, I examined our current budget process. Among other
things, it was apparent that we need to do a better job identifying and
building consensus around our funding priorities.
At the same time, we must consider new opportunities to fund them. In January,
I brought together our top administrators for a two-day retreat to begin
working on just those kinds of issues.
In particular, we explored influences and trends affecting higher education
today -- both broad ones and those specific to Carolina. We looked at how these
trends can provide opportunities for us to move ahead, as well as how they can
be a threat to our mission. And we looked at options for addressing them.
Throughout that discussion, a number of themes emerged. We quickly recognized,
for example, the increased stresses placed on our funding sources and the
implications on private fund raising and partnerships with government and
nonprofit groups. We also explored some of the benefits of a management model
that borrows from the best practices used in other large institutions.
Our growing dependence on information technology and the development of an
information-based society was a major focus of discussion, as was the
globalization of society and its impact on all that we do as an educational
institution. Our changing demographics -- from the shifting ethnic make-up of
the entire University community to the expected retirement of roughly a third
of our faculty members over the next 10 years -- also were examined.
Interwoven with those themes were concerns about the University's need to
promote excellence in all it does, to build community, to foster innovation, to
enhance collaboration and to promote diversity.
We also reviewed our current budget process, examining the roles of the key
players involved in it and how it might be structured more effectively in the
future. We talked about some obvious characteristics of a good budget process,
such as clarity and breadth of participation, as well as some new and
innovative ideas, such as the desire to create a central pool of resources to
support University priorities and to help us take advantage of unexpected
opportunities as they arise.
Although we faced a daunting task, I believe we made great strides. We by no
means left the retreat with an end product, but we were able to identify areas
of agreement on which we can build and move forward.
As a next step, we are looking at how we can incorporate this information into
our future planning and budgeting efforts. I will continue to work with
participants on this important dialog, including making recommendations for
improving our budget process itself.
I believe that we have taken a critical first step, one that will not only
serve the University well in the short term as we begin work on the next budget
cycle, but also will provide a useful guide to our next chancellor and other
new leadership.
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