UA News

The presidents of the three state universities will be asked to describe how state budget cuts have affected their campuses and how they are preparing for additional cuts.

The Arizona Board of Regents, which begins its two-day meeting at Arizona State University tomorrow,  is expected to hear from the presidents of all three state universities about the impact state budget cuts have had, and continue to have, on their campuses.

The Arizona University System is facing a $141.5 million midyear state budget cut. The University of Arizona's share of the cut is approximately $56 million, bringing the UA's total state funding cut for the year to about $76 million.

UA President Robert N. Shelton, ASU President Michael Crow and Northern Arizona State University President John Haeger will be asked to describe the impact of budget cuts on their respective campuses and their plans for fiscal year 2010 as the regents engage in a budget discussion that also will include a report on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and how it might aid universities.

As a result of a $20 million budget cut in the beginning of the fiscal year, the UA already has experienced a loss of 195 full-time equivalent employees, an $11 million reduction in academic colleges and departments, a $3 million reduction in academic support and student service units and a $6 million cut in central administration units. Midyear budget planning efforts resulted in a number of other cost-savings measures, including the implementation of a hiring freeze and a funds sweep.   

In response to the midyear cut, the University will be forced to impose an additional 5 percent reduction in state-funded units, redirect student tuition dollars and deplete emergency operating reserves, according to materials provided to the Board of Regents. The cut also will mean the loss of approximately 600 positions across campus and a substantial reduction in support for the University's community outreach units.

With further cuts anticipated in the 2010 fiscal year, the UA is planning for an employee furlough in 2009-2010. The University may also be required to consolidate business and information technology functions; close academic programs, departments and colleges; and increase class size and reduce course offerings. To achieve permanent reductions that have been temporarily offset by the use of emergency reserves in 2009, the UA will also have to look at increasing student tuition and fees and making changes to student scholarship programs, according to materials provided to the board.

As budget problems remain central to ABOR conversations, the regents will be asked to review a proposed new policy authorizing university presidents and the executive director of the board to develop and implement furlough plans. The regents voted in a special meeting in January to allow presidents and the executive director to implement furloughs in response to budget constraints. The proposed new board policy would define a process for authorizing future furloughs. More information about upcoming employee furloughs at the UA is available on the Human Resources Web site. 

Other items on the agenda include:

• The board will be asked to approve a two-year exception to its policies on administrative and professional employees. Current policies provide for the appointment of administrative and professional employees for a term of up to one fiscal year. The exception would not change that provision but would authorize university presidents and the board's executive director to respond to budget constraints by releasing administrative and certain professional employees with 90 days' notice at any time during their appointment term. At the UA, at least 2,500 administrators and appointed personnel employees are considered in the administrative and professional category, said Allison Vaillancourt, vice president for human resources.

• The board will be asked to approve the 2020 Vision long-term strategic plan for the Arizona University System, which establishes priorities and performance targets for the system over the next 12 years.
• The regents will consider recommended rates for residence halls, leased apartments, family housing and meal plans for the three state universities. The UA has proposed increasing housing rates in undergraduate residence halls and undergraduate and graduate apartments.

• The UA will ask for approval to promote three faculty members to the rank of Regents' Professor: Fernando Martinez, of the department of pediatrics and the Respiratory Science Center in the College of Medicine; Susan Karant-Nunn, of the department of history and division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; William Shuttleworth, department of hydrology and water resources in the College of Engineering. The rank of Regent's Professor is the highest recognition of academic merit available to faculty and it comes with a permanent $5,000 annual salary increase.