PATF Recommends Structural, Accounting, Retirement Changes
The Planning Action Task Force (PATF), created last year to examine the university’s operations for possible efficiencies and redundancies, has made 12 recommendations that range from integrating the College of Professional Studies and the schools of Nursing and Education to offering early retirement to faculty and staff.
USF President Stephen A. Privett, S.J., has adopted several of the PATF recommendations, while others are being considered by outside consultants and with faculty and staff.
When it was created last year, the PATF’s first charge was to address an anticipated $5 million budget shortfall for 2001, which was caused by over-estimating student credit hours, an inadequate formula used to translate credit hours into revenue dollars, and low market returns on university investments. The budget for the current fiscal year was balanced using short-term tactics such as deferring maintenance. The task force then turned to long-term measures to ensure financial stability. The 12 recommendations contained in the report represent this goal.
Among the most far-reaching of the recommendations are the first two: the integration of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, and of the College of Professional Studies (CPS) and the schools of Nursing and Education.
These recommendations, if enacted, would save money in part by consolidating services, which would require some staff reductions, said Robert Niehoff, S.J., associate provost and chair of the PATF. Faculty layoffs are unlikely, he said, while staff layoffs, if any, would be minor. “We would hope to reduce staff through the normal turnover, retirement, and reassignment,” he said.
Merging Student and Academic Affairs
Integrating Student Affairs and Academic Affairs would, according to the report, further the university’s mission of educating the “whole person.” The integration would ensure that resources are focused to promote student life and learning, according to the PATF. This recommendation could save the university between $700,000 and $1.1 million annually by eliminating duplicate services and coordinating activities between the two divisions.
“This would mean a significant change for everyone,” Fr. Niehoff said. “This won’t happen over the summer. We need to involve students and faculty in the process. There will be huge opportunities for people to have input into this process.”
Carmen Jordan-Cox, vice president for Student Affairs, believes the recommendation, if implemented, could compromise student services.
“While the overarching goals of better coordination and synergy are ideal, I do not believe the mechanism being proposed will get us there,” she said. “I admit I have a bias. What I worry about is that services to students could be diminished and that this will have a negative impact on enrollment and student satisfaction.”
Approximately 80 percent of U.S. universities have an independent division of Student Affairs reporting to the president, according to a recent report by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
Fr. Privett has agreed to Jordan-Cox’s recommendation to hire an outside consultant who has held a senior-level student affairs position at a university to help “evaluate and make a judgment about whether and how this recommendation should be implemented,” Fr. Niehoff said.
“Whatever we decide, the president has said that the goals of this recommendation—to better educate the ‘whole person’—are significant and he wants these goals to be implemented,” Fr. Niehoff said.
Merging CPS, Nursing, and Education
The second recommendation contained in the report would be equally significant, both in the scope of change and the size of possible budget savings, Fr. Niehoff said. It calls for merging the schools of Nursing, Education, and CPS.
The structural changes would produce significant administrative savings by integrating support services among the schools and college and reducing competition for resources, according to the report. The PATF believes the university would save between $900,000 and $1.2 million annually by merging the schools. More importantly, according to the report, are the synergies that would result. The new college could have a “professional education” focus that could strengthen existing programs, produce new programs, and increase technology-based instruction.
Fr. Privett has charged Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jim Wiser with evaluating this proposal and making a recommendation. Wiser has met with faculty, staff, and the deans to discuss this recommendation.
“The faculty and staff will help to identify what programs might be joined together, what faculty might come together as units,” Fr. Niehoff said. “Faculty would be key to making a recommendation about how we do this.”
School of Education Dean Paul Warren said this recommendation “provides a basis for some significant discussion that can further the mission of the university.” It also provides the opportunity to build upon the strengths of the individual schools and to address weaknesses, he said.
“Having said that, it also provides special challenges related to the identity of each program, and concerns about the credentialing of teachers, and the licensing of nurses,” he said.
CPS Dean Larry Brewster, a member of the PATF, said the recommendation is “definitely worth exploring. I think there are real possibilities for cross-program synergies.”
School of Nursing Dean John Lantz said the proposal “has definite advantages and disadvantages and it will be important to weigh these considering the overall good of the university and the integrity of the programs involved. The input by faculty and staff has been outstanding, and a team-building experience. We are still in the process of studying and collecting data about the recommendation and potential outcomes.”
Research, Retirement, Accounting Changes
Wiser has also been asked to make a decision regarding the third recommendation, to create an office of sponsored research, and is close to a decision, Fr. Niehoff said.
Recommendations four and five call for offering early retirement to faculty and staff. These proposals will require significant study and discussion, Fr. Niehoff said.
“We will be reviewing what we can afford, what people would be interested in, then negotiating with unions,” Fr. Niehoff said.
Fr. Privett has approved recommendations six and seven, which are primarily accounting changes, including the elimination of “charge backs” among university offices for institutional services, with the exception of Plant Services. This change will go into effect once a strategy to implement it is approved, possible in the fall. Fr. Privett has also approved recommendation eight, to review the university’s admissions, marketing, and financial aid strategies. A consultant’s report from the review is nearly complete.
Recommendations nine and 10, which call for accounting changes, are under review. A member of the hospitality management advisory board will review recommendations 11 and 12, which propose to transfer the food service contract management from Student Affairs to the business and finance division, and to consolidate room scheduling services. A decision on these two proposals is expected by the end of summer.
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