CBS Compact
plan and impending budget cuts
I would like to thank all of you who attended the recent planning meetings
for the CBS Compact. Based on input from faculty and staff, we have
outlined FY 2003-04 goals and are developing the Compact, which is due
before the end of the week. We are very pleased with Provost Chris Maziar’s
encouragement and preliminary recommendations.
Obviously, our ability
to realize our goals is closely linked to measures Governor Pawlenty
and the Legislature are taking to resolve this year’s $356 million
budget shortfall and the projected $4.56 billion deficit for the next
biennium. It is somewhat daunting to plan for the future in the current
economic and political climate, but it is also important that we don’t
allow these challenges to stop us in our tracks. The long-term future
for the field of biology is very promising. If we want to be part of
that future, we need to continue moving forward in spite of financial
challenges.
The first of those
challenges is a $489,000 cut for this fiscal year--our share of the
University’s $25 million budget reduction. In the past, the College
has absorbed cuts and kept departments insulated. We absorbed a $365,000
budget reduction last year. At the College level, we don’t have
the reserves to absorb further reductions. Consequently, we have enlisted
the help of departments and units within the College. I have given each
department head and director an amount to cut, and they are looking
at ways to make reductions within their budgets. Our plan for making
these cuts is due in President Bruininks’ office on February 17.
Cuts to address
the $4.56 billion shortfall for the next biennium will be more challenging.
While we don’t yet know what this means for us, University officials
are preparing for a reduction of $200 to $300 million. Hypothetically,
CBS’ share of this would be about $2 million. The College's base
allocation is approximately $20 million and comes from the following
revenue sources: state appropriation ($10.5 million), tuition ($7.9
million), state special ($227,000), and indirect cost recovery funds
($1.5 million). Other CBS revenue sources include sponsored funding
($15 million) and private gifts ($1 million). However, since these other
sources are restricted in nature all cuts will need to be made against
our "base" allocation.
There are lots of
variables here. Our tuition revenue is increasing along with enrollment.
This will help, but not enough to let us buy our way out of the problem.
Another variable is our ability to find creative new ways to generate
revenue. Since I mentioned this at the first Compact meeting, leaders
of the General Biology Program have proposed a creative plan to bring
in an additional $225,000 in tuition by spending $45,000 to hire more
TAs.
The budget news
isn’t good, but virtually all of our peer institutions are facing
similar challenges. President Bruininks has encouraged all of us to
look for ways to reduce costs and to turn over every stone to find ways
to save money. The University will get through these challenging financial
times as we have gotten through tough times in the past. I urge everyone
in the College to look for ways to reduce costs and/or maximize efficiencies
and to send your recommendations directly to me.
Please join me in
approaching this difficult time with a positive and creative spirit.
I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
Bob Elde
Top
What’s
so great about the U?
As a University employee and Minnesota citizen, 
you
probably know lots of good answers to this question. So what are you
waiting for? Write them down and send them off to the Governor and your
legislators. With the projected $4.56 billion deficit for the next two
years, resources are scarcer than ever. Every special interest group
is making its case at the capitol. As legislators make difficult choices,
they need to hear from you that state funding is essential to keep the
U strong. Please share your views as a taxpayer as well as a member
of the University community. Legislators pay attention to letters from
constituents. You can make a difference.
Governor Pawlenty
will present his proposed budget on Tuesday, February 18. Send him a
message now asking him to keep cuts to the U’s base funding to
a minimum and to allow the U to be flexible in making cuts.
- How to find your
legislator and members of key decision-making committees
- Key points to
make in your letter or if you visit your legislator
- A sample letter
from a U of M alumnus
- CBS fact sheet:
why it’s important to invest in biology plus facts and figures
about CBS contributions to the state.
What do
you think about CBS News?
Over the past year the Dean's Office has made several changes in the
content, format, and distribution of CBS News to improve its value to
you. The newsletter, formerly printed on yellow paper, is now published
online in a new graphic format with color photographs. Content has been
shortened and organized into categories to make it easier to read. Now
we'd like to know what you think. Have our efforts been successful?
Are there other changes you would like us to make? Please take a few
minutes to fill out our survey. We look forward to hearing back from
you.
Bill Gray, plant biology, gets $1 million NIH grant
Bill Gray, assistant professor of plant biology, has been awarded a
$1.04 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Gray will
use the funding to improve understanding of how the plant hormone auxin
regulates growth and development in plants. This has potential benefits
for agriculture and horticulture and could lead to improved understanding
of similar regulatory mechanisms in animals, including humans.
EEB alumnus
Douglas DeMaster to receive UM award
Douglas DeMaster, director of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, will
receive a UM Outstanding Achievement Award on Thursday, March 6 at 4
p.m. in 155 Earle Brown Center. Following the presentation, he will
give a lecture titled “The Life of A Wildlife Biologist in a Federal
Regulatory Agency.” DeMaster is being recognized for his leadership
in resolving important conservation issues and for his scientific achievements
as a marine mammal biologist.
Campaign
Minnesota ends on June 30, 2003
Have you made a contribution to Campaign Minnesota yet? If not, there’s
still time for you to be part of this historic fundraising effort. Making
a gift is easy. Just go to www.foundation.umn.edu/frameset_5.html.
You can designate a gift to a CBS program, department, or specific fund,
such as scholarships or fellowships. As of December 2002, 9,000 faculty
and staff had made contributions. If you make your contribution by April
1, you’ll receive an invitation to the U’s faculty/staff
thank-you party on April 22. For information about different kinds of
giving opportunities, such as gifts of stock and bequests, contact Janene
Connelly, connelly@cbs.umn.edu,
or Paul Germscheid,pgermsch@cbs.umn.edu,
for more information. As the U’s state support decreases, private
gifts are more important than ever. Any amount you can give will help.
Bruininks
inauguration
Robert Bruininks will be inaugurated as the University of Minnesota’s
15th president at
1
p.m. Friday, February 28, in Northrop Auditorium. Governor Tim Pawlenty
and Regent Maureen Reed will present Bruininks with the symbols of University
leadership: the mace and the medallion. The inauguration coincides with Founders Week, a celebration that marks
the founding of the University 152 years ago.
Top
Sheldon
Reed, 
retired
professor of genetics and former head of the Dight Institute for Human
Genetics, passed away earlier this month at the age of 92. Reed, who
came to the University in 1948, is recognized as the founder of genetic
counseling. He stayed active well after his retirement. At age 70 he
learned to speak Hmong and helped many refugees learn English and settle
in the U.S.
A. Orville
Dahl, chairman of the Botany Department from 1947-57, passed
away last month at the age of 92. He studied pollen and taught cytology
courses.
Alice Gortner
Johnson, daughter of Ross Gortner, passed away on February
9, 2002 at the age of 84. Ross Gortner was chairman of the Department
of Agricultural Chemistry from 1917 to 1942. Gortner Laboratories on
the St. Paul Campus, built in 1967, was named in his honor. Alice Gortner
Johnson graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University
of Minnesota in 1939, and was a longtime friend of CBS. She is survived
by children Sarah Sawyer, Linda Siqveland, and Ross Johnson and by six
grandchildren.
Lihsia Chen,
assistant professor of genetics, cell biology, and development, received
a Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award of $150,000 from
the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for her work entitled “Genetic
Analysis of L1CAM and its Role in the Doublecortin Pathway in C.
elegans."
February 13
“Genetic Analysis of Susceptibility to Infectious Disease”
William Dietrich, Harvard Medical School
12 noon, 2-101, BSBE
Sponsored by GCD. Contact David Kirkpatrick, 624-9244
February 20
“Genetics of Ocular Patterning Defects: Coloboma/Microphthalmia”
Lisa A. Schimmenti, Pediatrics and Ophthalmology
12 noon, 2-101, BSBE
Sponsored by GCD. Contact Susan Berry, 624-7144
February 28
CBS Career and Internship Fair
11 a.m., McNamara Alumni Center
For more info contact Maggie
Kubak, mkubak@cbs.umn.edu.
March 5
4th Goldberg Lecture in Signal Transduction and Metabolism
“The Malonyl-CoA Hypothesis and the Regulation of Energy Metabolism”
M. Daniel Lane, Johns Hopkins University
4-5 p.m., 2-137 Jackson Hall
Sponsored by Minnesota Obesity Center, BMBB
March 6
Presentation of Outstanding Achievement Award to Douglas DeMaster,
Ph.D. '78 EEB, Director of Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
Lecture "Impossible Problems, Improbable Solutions: The Life of
a Wildlife Biologist in a Federal Regulatory Agency" to follow.
4 p.m., 155 Earle Brown Center
Contact: CBS Alumni Relations, denz0018@umn.edu
CBS
seminar listings
