Seeking self-nominations for budget study group

The following message was shared with employees on Friday, June 5.

Dear Colleagues, 

With the support of President Nellis, we invite self-nominations for a budget study group led by Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Sayrs and Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Deborah J. Shaffer. This study group will provide an opportunity to increase transparency about the University budget, insight into how the budget is formed, and input on budget processes and communication.  

We anticipate a group with varying levels of budget experience: we will solicit nominations from Faculty Senate (especially to facilitate connections with the Finance and Facilities Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on Budget Planning and Shared Governance), Administrative Senate, Classified Senate, Student Senate, and Graduate Student Senate, but we especially encourage the participation of faculty and staff who have not served on Budget Planning Council, the Budget Model group, or had other opportunities to discuss and provide input on the University budget and University budget processes. We anticipate meeting once per week for six weeks, and we will keep the group size to about 25 to allow plenty of time for questions and discussion. If there is enough interest, we will add additional study groups through the rest of summer and the fall (including more students). A tentative outline of topics is below, but the agenda will also be shaped by the group. The group will begin meeting after the July 4 holiday weekend.

Week 1: Introduction to University budgeting
Week 2: University budget history
Week 3: Administrative and faculty staffing history 
Week 4: Current budget pressures and reserves 
Week 5: Current budget decisions and processes: University and campus/college/unit 
Week 6: Shared governance and next steps 

If you are interested in participating, please send your self-nomination to provost@ohio.edu by Friday, June 12, and indicate the following: 

1. Are you a faculty member, administrative staff member, or classified staff member?
2. In which college/unit do you work?
3. Are you currently a senator (Faculty, Administrative, or Classified)?
4. Have you served on Budget Planning Council in the past?

Please share a specific question or issue that you would like to explore. 

Sincerely, 

Elizabeth Sayrs
Executive Vice President and Provost

Deborah J. Shaffer
Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration