President's Message
Sent via e-mail by President Roderick J. McDavis Jan. 9, 2009
Dear Ohio University Faculty and Staff:
Happy New Year and welcome back! Let me share an update with you on work that took place over the Winter Break.
Budget Update
On December 19th, Governor Ted Strickland announced that he will spare the core education funding during this third round of state budget reductions. Unfortunately, university programs supported by line items, such as programs in the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Voinovich School, are potentially subject to cuts. While we do have some programs that will be affected, we are grateful to Governor Strickland for his support of public higher education during these difficult times.
It is still premature, however, to reduce our savings targets with six months left in the 2009 fiscal year. As I shared in my December 12th message to faculty and staff, we set a one-time savings target of $13.4 million for the 2009 fiscal year. This savings target was, in part, to close the budgeted investment shortfall and to prepare for a potential five percent state reduction. We continue to evaluate all the factors that will potentially affect our University's budget this fiscal year.
We are continuing our long-term planning efforts to examine cost savings and revenue projections, create innovative approaches to university operations, and review planning unit plans for potential state budget reductions. The groups charged with aspects of these efforts include the Budget Planning Council (BPC), Executive Staff and Academic Deans Working Groups, and Planning Units.
To provide our University community with easy access to accurate information, a new Budget Web site was developed. It includes information about the budget situation within the state, higher education, and Ohio University. It also provides contact information for constituent representatives participating in the planning and preparation efforts so that faculty, staff, and students may share ideas or suggestions for ways to strengthen our operations. I encourage you to visit this site to receive timely, accurate information.
Executive Vice President and Provost Search
As you may know, last month Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl was named president of Otterbein College. She will begin her new role July 1st. I know you join me in wishing her congratulations on this wonderful, well-deserved opportunity!
While there is still much work to be done before Dr. Krendl begins her new role at Otterbein, we are making preparations to fill her position by July 1st. The university-wide Executive Vice President and Provost Search Committee will be appointed today, January 9th. I anticipate that the committee will complete its work by June 2009.
The committee will be chaired by Dr. Rathindra Bose, Vice President for Research and Creative Activity and Dean of the Graduate College and Professor of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. Twenty-two other individuals are being asked to serve. They include representatives of the faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, chairs and directors, deans, executive staff, and the Board of Trustees. Once the individuals have accepted the invitation to serve on the committee, we will post their names at a link on the Office of the President Web site.
Winter Quarter University Events
In addition to our fiscal planning efforts, the implementation of Vision Ohio, and other important on-going work, there are several University events planned this quarter which I encourage you to attend.
On Friday, February 6th, the Founder's Day Convocation will be held in the Margaret M. Walter Hall Rotunda. This event honors distinguished faculty, nationally competitive award recipients and student scholars. It also is a celebration of our University's founding and history. Later that evening at 7:30 p.m. in Walter Hall Room 135, the 2008 Distinguished Professor R. Damian Nance will present his lecture, "From sand grains to supercontinents: Discovering how the Earth works."
I look forward to working with you in 2009 to accomplish the goals we have set as a community for our University! Thank you for your work on behalf of Ohio University and our students!
Cordially,
Roderick J. McDavis
President
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