University of Toledo Trustees approved a budget for fiscal year 2012, ratified a one-year contract extension with the UT chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and named a new slate of board officers at its final meeting of the academic year June 20.
Dr. Scott Scarborough, special assistant to the president for budget development and senior vice president and executive director of UT Medical Center, told the Finance Committee last week that declines in state funding represented the bulk of UT’s $32.4 million gap that needed to be balanced.
The budget incorporates:
• The hiring of fewer contingent faculty as faculty workload increases. An additional $3 million has been set aside for new faculty hiring but is dependent upon savings generated from the faculty workload increase;
• Increases in undergraduate tuition and fees by 3.5 percent and increases in graduate tuition by between 5 and 6.5 percent depending on the program;
• Savings due to layoffs and the elimination of vacant positions;
• Selected furloughs during the last week of the 2011 calendar year;
• Savings at UT Medical Center due to contractual changes between UT and food service workers;
• A more efficient hospital bed occupancy effort; and
• Reductions in nonregistered nurse staffing.
Trustee Susan Gilmore said a tuition increase was the final tool considered by the board and administration to balance the budget and emphasized the board’s commitment to keeping UT financially accessible for students.
UT President Lloyd Jacobs said he was pleased by the one-year extension with the UT-AAUP and said the agreement was symbolic of a new, stronger partnership. UT Trustee Dr. Amjad Hussain called the agreement a “meeting of minds and principles.”
Originally set to expire June 30, 2011, the extension with AAUP will maintain all current contract conditions until June 30, 2012.
Trustees approved Carroll Ashley to serve as board chair beginning July 1. William Koester will serve as vice chair, and Susan Palmer will serve as secretary. Trustees also approved a three-year contract extension for Jacobs with no compensation adjustment.
Four board members were honored as they rotated off the board or pursued new opportunities.
The terms of Chairman C. William Fall, Baldemar Velasquez and Student Trustee Treyken Addison all expire June 30, and Joseph High resigned from the board to seek a professional opportunity out of state.
Fall encouraged his colleagues to continue emphasizing the importance of higher education to all who would listen.
“We need to continue to assert to those of influence in the legislative process of the need to focus on higher education and the important role it plays in our future prosperity,” Fall said.
