Fall forums outline budget challenges, solutions

UCCS must improve processes, efficiency and embrace new revenue-generating models, Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak told more than 400 faculty and staff who attended one of six fall semester forums.

“We have twenty-one and a half months,” Shockley-Zalabak said. “That means were going to have to move at a far less deliberative pace and become much more comfortable with risk and change than we are used to. I recognize that we may make some mistakes as we try new things. But the far greater mistake is to do nothing.”

Using a series of charts and graphs, Shockley-Zalabak outlined a decade-long decline in state funding and increased dependence on enrollment to fund the university’s budget. The use of federal stimulus monies to backfill recent cuts to state funding has prevented layoffs and furloughs. But in less than two years, federal stimulus funds will be eliminated. The resulting cliff must serve as impetus for change.

Shockley-Zalabak outlined several groups who are working closely with the University Budget Advisory Committee and both faculty and staff governance to identify ways to reduce expenses or improve revenue. Shockley-Zalabak set a goal of $6 million in new revenues – after expenses – for the campus in two years. Surpassing that goal will allow a return to merit salary raises and the creation of new positions.

The work groups, and their leaders, are listed below. Faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in one or more of the groups. Please email the below contacts for more information.

• Efficiency and Effectiveness. Leader: Brian Burnett, vice chancellor, Administration and Finance, bburnett@uccs.edu
  
• Innovation/Partnerships. Leader: Martin Wood, vice chancellor, Advancement, kwood@uccs.edu
  
• Academic Innovations. Leader: Peg Bacon, provost, mbacon@uccs.edu
  
• Enterprise/Business. Leader: Susan Szpyrka, associate vice chancellor, Administration and Finance, sszpyrka@uccs.edu
• Strategic Enrollment Management. Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak, exec1@uccs.edu