When we gathered together a little more than a year ago, we could not have imagined the rapid and devastating decline in the economy that was before us. We knew that we needed to make significant cuts to permanently fix a large ongoing deficit that had existed for several years and to allow for new commitments. But as the economy and our revenues moved sharply downwards, the size of Miami's budget deficit doubled. As we are all painfully aware, we accomplished the necessary reductions by cutting operational budgets, delaying and reducing capital projects, foregoing any increase in salary, cancelling or delaying selected faculty hiring decisions, and eliminating staff positions. While every effort was made to cut positions that were vacant, we nonetheless faced the painful reality of losing more than 60 colleagues and good friends who occupied positions that were lost.
Unfortunately, the recession worsened throughout the year. As a result of further decreases in revenue, and in anticipation of other negative changes, another $10 million in cuts were sought to reach a sustainable budget, half this year and the other half by next year. As in the previous round, the cuts were differentially and strategically allocated to minimize the direct effect on students, especially in academic affairs. Most of these cuts have now been identified and most of the individuals whose positions are being eliminated have been informed. This time we have faced the difficult and painful loss of another 25 highly valued colleagues and friends. In total our core budget has been reduced about 7% during this recession which, unfortunately, reflects a common pattern for American universities.
There is no way to gloss over the difficulty of making budget cuts of the size we faced. It has been a painful process that has had a significant impact on all of us. But we must also note that even as we were cutting budgets, faculty and staff were continuing their outstanding commitment to improving Miami in significant ways. Consider, for a moment just a few examples of what we accomplished this past year:
- We commemorated our Bicentennial Year, from our opening Charter Day Celebration in February to the Bicentennial Symposium on the Engaged University two weeks ago, from departmental speakers series to alumni exhibits, from the biggest student led Charter Day Ball in our history to alumni events throughout the country.
- We instituted a new review process for Miami Plan courses that calls for identifying learning outcomes and the periodic review for all courses.
- We adopted significant revisions of the Student Handbook linking academic and student affairs judicial processes to promote greater integrity among our students.
- We finalized a new course scheduling time block to yield more pedagogically useful course periods while using the physical plant more efficiently.
- We merged Career Exploration and Career Services to provide a seamless process for students' career pursuits.
- We implemented a Voice Over IP telephone system, avoiding spending several million dollars on replacement telephone technology in Robertson Hall, reducing the University's costs for telephone services, and setting the stage for new means of communication such as desktop videoconferencing.
- We opened the Voice of America Learning Center to serve the fastest growing area of Ohio.
- We opened the new animal care facility in Psychology and the new Farmer School of Business building, both providing state-of-the-art opportunities for students and faculty and dramatically expanding the total amount of academic space on the Oxford campus.
- We launched a new Humanities Center, providing an innovative focal point for promoting the humanities that was celebrated nationally.
- We introduced the Bachelor of Integrative Studies on the regional campuses with the first degree conferred in May, and 291 majors registered this fall.
- Most importantly, we graduated 293 students with associates degrees, 3,402 with baccalaureate degrees, and 546 with graduate degrees.
Each of these accomplishments has made Miami better. But that's only part of the story. Four additional accomplishments demonstrate more fully how we moved forward creatively in challenging times.
The University Honors Program has undergone a major curricular transformation, shifting from a traditional course-based model to a 3-tiered outcomes-driven model promoting scholarly, personal, and professional maturity. As they move through the tiers, students reflect on and demonstrate mastery in an electronic portfolio.
Honors encourages its students to assume leadership roles in co-curricular programs and to serve as mentors for other students. They also help to shape and direct the program's recruitment initiatives. Last year, honors students wrote and filmed their own recruitment videos, redesigned portions of the program's website and brochures, created student-oriented all-day Saturday visits, and designed and hosted high school students in five spring overnight programs. They contacted prospective students throughout the spring semester. Empowering current students sends a strong, positive message to prospective students and family members.
And it works! Not only have the current honors students gained in terms of their development, but the program's enrollment target of 400 students for this fall was met and exceeded. The program grew by 90 students this year, while the overall academic profile continues to be one of the highest in the nation.
At the other end of the spectrum are efforts to improve student success for first-year students who struggle academically. Since 2004, Student Affairs has been developing intervention strategies for students who are at risk. Those students who find themselves on "academic warning" (below 2.0 GPA) at the end of that first semester are directed to meet with their first year advisor and undergo a learning skills screening with the Rinella Learning Center. At that time, additional interventions ranging from course re-scheduling to extensive learning skills (including EDT 110) interventions are recommended.
The results are dramatic. In 2008-2009 the spring term cumulative GPA for students who participated in the aggressive intervention strategy jumped to 2.46, while the spring term cumulative GPA for students who did not was 1.81. These results underscore the importance of evidence-based, outcomes-oriented procedures to improve student success by turning around the fortunes of capable students who seriously stumble at the beginning of their Miami Experience.
Innovation is also happening in many service areas across the University despite the tough budget challenges. Facing an 18% reduction in its budget, IT Services engaged an experienced external team of higher education CIOs who developed recommendations for a realigned central IT organization. The most striking point made by the external review team is that with the rapid pace of change inherent in technology organizations and the evolving strategic needs of the University, IT organizational structure should be reviewed frequently and changed potentially as often as every six months.
With a goal of developing a more agile organization, the review team recommended reducing layers of management to push operational responsibility and authority downward which led to $1.15 million in savings. An Extended Leadership Team was also created and charged with more responsibility for operational management to better deliver IT services to the University. Meeting the dramatic budget cuts head on, IT Services has re-organized itself to streamline processes, encourage teamwork, and make critical decisions to better help the university move toward our strategic goals. |
