Welcome to our new Communications & Development Coordinator!
by Vittorio Marone
Sent on behalf of Dr. Juliet Langman:
I am pleased to introduce Elizabeth (Libby) Castillo as COEHD’s new Communications & Development Coordinator. Libby holds a degree in Communications and has broad experience in communications, particularly in the non-profit arena. She most recently served as Regional Communications Director/Regional Communications Manager for the Red Cross.
Libby will be working closely with leadership in the college on communications, marketing, recruitment and development.
I will be setting up meetings between Libby and departments and units beginning Monday. Please also feel free to reach out to Libby (elizabeth.castillo(a)utsa.edu) to introduce yourself, and send her newsworthy and noteworthy information.
Welcome to COEHD Libby!
Juliet Langman, Ph.D.
Professor of Applied Linguistics & Associate Dean for Graduate Studies
College of Education and Human Development
UTSA
1 UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
Tel. 210-458-4426
6 years, 3 months
Update on budget reductions for COEHD
by Margo DelliCarpini
Dear COEHD Colleagues,
On April 17 and April 31, President Eighmy sent a message to the UTSA community addressing the fiscal issues that UTSA would be facing as a result of the growing national economic crisis caused by COVID 19. He indicated that an institutional plan will be developed in response to the economic challenges we face moving forward. I am writing to give you a college view of how these reductions will be met in COEHD.
Our college-wide plan for meeting the reduction targets are due mid-May, to be vetted and approved by campus leadership. As you saw in Dr. Eighmy's message, UTSA is taking an 'all funds approach', which means that all units at the university will be contributing to the overall reduction in expenditures. The College of Education and Human Development is responsible for reducing our expenditures by 9 %, with an additional 5 %, if required, for a 14 % total reduction. This will be accomplished through an 'all funds approach' as well. These reductions will be made to college funds that are not inclusive of currently filled T/TT positions (however, while not a part of the overall reduction plan, they are factored into the college expense total), so the effective percentage, based on the funds under consideration are greater than an overall 9%-14% reduction since only certain finding sources are able to be reduced. Non-academic units within the college are responsible for a 10% and additional 5% reduction if needed, for an overall reduction of 15% .
UTSA will continue to make progress toward the three destinations: Student Success, Research, and Strategic Growth & Innovative Excellence. These are the core initiatives that will be prioritized as we move forward as a college. Additionally, as a college we prioritize community engagement as that is central to our mission.
I have asked Department Chairs, Associate Deans, and Directors to develop plans that address this reduction in each of those units; the plans will then be considered from the perspective of the overall college targets. Additionally, I have asked unit leaders to submit a set of guiding principles and core values that will be compiled into a college-wide resource for addressing the reductions and for making financial and spending decisions moving forward. Department and unit plans are due to the college on May 7. We will continue to work through the process , seek additional input and share broadly what the options are and how we can best meet the required reductions. Ultimately, we will arrive at a college-wide plan that takes into consideration all proposals submitted by the units and one that reaches the dollar-amount that we are being asked to reduce. These plans will be reviewed by university leadership and given feedback, with an additional opportunity to revise where necessary. Final plans will be submitted to the university on May 26. As you can see, this is a very tight turn-around timeframe.
While plans are currently in development and we are not sure what the ultimate result will be or where reductions will take place, we will first make reductions across the board to M & O and other operating expenses where possible, ensuring that basic services continue. We will also, as per the President's directive, evaluate all vacant positions and eliminate those that we can while still providing core services. Once these areas of reduction have been accomplished, we will analyze the gap between cost-savings realized through M&O and vacant positions, and the required 9% + 5%/10% + 5 % overall reduction, and seek additional measures to reach the target we were given by President Eighmy, Provost Espy, and VPBA Mendez. As President Eighmy pointed out in his message, an institutional and college priority is "Retaining jobs, maintaining current salaries/pay rates and preserving employee benefits to the extent possible." However, as President Eighmy points out, "Some limited furloughs and layoffs/reductions-in-force may need to be an element of these conversations,"
This reduction is required to be on permanent funds and will address FY 21 and beyond.
In addition to the forward planning, there were measures taken that included a sweep of certain college/department funds. The account balances that were pulled back to central reserves (see item 7 below) were done so to address the immediate cost management efforts that President Eighmy pointed out in the message. To this end, we are and will continue following guidelines sent to Deans on 4/20/2020 related to spending and seek additional cost-saving measures:
1. Limit all purchases to those that are critical and essential to operations. All purchases must be approved.
2. Procard limits reduced to $1 (except for those tied to externally sponsored projects). Approved expenses must go through Rowdy exchange.
3. Computer refresh suspended.
4. All existing contracts will be reviewed and evaluated against the core service needs and mission (Liliana has already reached out to departments for a listing of contracts such as Copier leasing, water, coffee, etc.).
5. Entertainment expenses are suspended.
6. All university domestic and international travel is not permitted unless it is deemed mission critical and approved by leadership.
7. The following accounts' unencumbered balances were swept and moved to institutional reserves to "maintain workforce and operations for the remainder of the fiscal year":
* 58% E & G
* 58% Designated Tuition
* 100% Official Occasions
Each unit lead was asked to submit a spread sheet with the accounts that were swept and the outstanding (unencumbered) obligations that were planned for those funds. I will review these obligations and work with leadership to see if local remaining funding can cover mission critical expenses, and request assistance beyond our ability to locally fund these critical initiatives. Based on the current fiscal realities, we will not be able to fund all requests. The current priorities are student support and salary obligations. For the remaining requests for funding of planned initiatives that we are not able to meet, please work with your unit lead to brainstorm creative solutions - for example, moving certain things to a paperless environment (such as the COEHD annual publication- we will not pay for this to be printed and will move it to a completely online format to reduce /eliminate expenses).
As we develop plans, we will communicate these to the COEHD community. College leadership (Associate Deans, Department Chairs, affected Directors and the Director of Fiscal Services) met with President Eighmy, Provost Espy, and VPBA Mendez earlier today ( Friday, May 1 )for discussion and the ability to address questions. I will schedule a faculty town hall after next week when we have preliminary plans.
I understand that these are uncertain times. COEHD leadership is working together to ensure that our college remains successful and emerges in a strong position.
Best,
Margo
Margo DelliCarpini, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Strategic Educational Partnerships and Dean of the College of Education and Human Development
President's Distinguished Professor
The University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
T: 210.458.4370
F: 210.458.4487
6 years, 3 months
