Chancellor Kent Syverud released a flood of updates at Wednesday’s University Senate meeting on last year’s budget, employee buyouts, student enrollment and other topics.

Syverud packed all the information into an approximately 25-minute address to senators in Maxwell Auditorium, followed by a report from Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy. Several of the updates showed university-wide improvements in budgeting, transparency and research.

Working toward a balanced budget

In fiscal year 2015, SU saved, rather than overspent, its money. Syverud said the university managed to balance its $1.2 billion budget and added $4 million to its reserves. The university has and will continue to restructure its budget, but Syverud said there should not be feelings of a “budget crisis” right now.

“Last year was a year of unusual budget discipline in recent times,” he said, pointing to substantial budget changes in the School of Architecture, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and Computer Science, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, the School of Information Studies and Syracuse University Athletics.

These changes reflect much of what was suggested in the 2014 report by Bain and Co., a global management firm hired by SU to evaluate the university’s efficiency. The report recommended that SU develop a uniform plan to streamline how schools and colleges allocate resources, make hiring decisions and move toward a focus on research and teaching.

As departments were told to make cuts, faculty also feared the possibility of layoffs — an issue that Syverud said they no longer face, due to the success of the university’s Voluntary Separation Incentive Program. The buyout program was announced in July and gave some employees the opportunity to leave the university in exchange for half their yearly salary and other benefits.

In an interview following the meeting, Syverud said he could not give an exact number of how many employees accepted the buyout.

SU is also slated to improve its research opportunities and funding — an improvement in line with the Strategic Plan. In her address to the senate, Liddy said the university received 634 research proposals and received 510 research awards, which is an all-time high for SU.

Alumni and enrollment

SU admitted 3,800 new undergraduate and transfer students this year — 100 more than they expected, Syverud said. This is because there were far fewer students to “melt” before the semester started, or admitted students who don’t end up attending SU.

“Normally, there’s a significant group of students who deposit and then don’t come,” Syverud said in an interview following the senate meeting. “Lower melt is a great thing because it means people want to be here, but it does mean we end up with a slightly larger class.”

This year’s incoming class also had a higher academic standing, he said.

Compared to other schools, alumni donations at SU lag “way behind” other peers, Syverud said. The university is currently restructuring its Advancement and External Affairs office, which deals with alumni donations, and is in the process of creating a new fundraising campaign.

Other business discussed:

– The Senate Agenda Committee has been meeting with the Board of Trustees to develop plans for shared governance between administrators, trustees and faculty. Issues of faculty governance arose last year when the university changed its policies on promotion and tenure.

– Syverud reported that all incoming students have health care insurance. This is a result of the university’s efforts to be compliant with the Affordable Care Act.

– The university is still evaluating the feasibility of a veteran-focused medical school. Syverud assured senators that the plan isn’t set in stone.

“Medical schools are expensive and should only be pursued if financially feasible for university,” Syverud said. “It has to add rather than take away resources and there are many academic areas that need resources.”

– The search for a new dean of Hendricks Chapel will begin in January 2016. Before the dean search begins, SU will evaluate Hendricks Chapel itself — something that hasn’t been done since the 1980s, Syverud said.

Published on October 7, 2015 at 11:44 pm

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu