University Budget Committee Structure Review

Attributes of Effective Committees State-wide Academic Senate Survey of effective budget committees revealed: –Frequency of Meetings –Continuity in Membership –Regular Attendance –Staff Support for Research

Other Important Attributes Honest and full disclosure of information and ideas Investment in time and energy to train faculty Well-organized process Substantial commitment of time

Best Practices Appoint and elect diverse and dedicated committee members –Memberships most often contain more faculty members than other represented groups; memberships also often include representatives from administration, staff, and students. Provide strong leadership and clear goals Establish an environment of trust Communicate frequently and openly

HSU’s University Budget Committee Frequency of Meetings – monthly meetings in the Fall; accelerated schedule for Spring Continuity in Membership – –staggered 3 year terms, or –term by virtue of members appointment Academic Senate President is Co-chair Associated Student President is one-year term Associated Student representative is one-year term Regular Attendance – dedicated members attend almost every meeting Staff Support for Research

HSU University Budget Process Open and transparent budget process with exchange of information and ideas Membership has been through the process twice Process is really designed to address budget increases and not budget reductions Committee has spent a lot of time trying to understand the functions of the major divisions and the impacts that reductions would have on their divisions, but did not feel they knew enough to make a recommendation to the President on matters of divisional reductions.

HSU University Budget Process Membership –Some feel that the Committee is too heavily weighted with faculty members –Some feel that the Committee should have administrative representatives –Some feel that the staff are overwhelmed by the process in that they are not used to speaking about policy issues

Areas to Reexamine Summary –UBC struggles with budget process timeline In order to provide each division with planning time to respond to the Governor’s January budget, the UBC planning timeframe requires almost weekly meetings from March through early May –UBC has been understaffed and so the Committee did not start the process of looking at Peer institutional data for benchmarking and comparative data

HSU University Budget Process Summary –Significant improvement over past budget processes –Open and transparent process –Faculty, staff, and students are engaged and making a meaningful contribution

Questions?