To: Faculty and Staff of Arts & Sciences
From: Carol Folt, Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Re: Budget Plans for Arts & Sciences
President James Wright, Provost Barry Scherr and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Adam Keller have distributed letters to the community describing the overall strategic plan to decrease the Dartmouth-wide operating budget. I am writing to you now to explain more fully the anticipated impact on the Arts and Sciences.
Although many difficult decisions have been required, they were guided by a shared purpose to secure our future as a leading institution, protect the excellence of our faculty and academic programs, and ensure continued access to Dartmouth for each generation of outstanding students.
The budget reductions necessarily affect all aspects of campus activity. As President Wright described in his letter, compensation across the institution comprises such a significant part of our budget that we were forced to identify substantial savings in this area. First, there will be a freeze on all salaries (faculty and staff) for the next fiscal year (July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010). We will, however, provide the usual salary adjustments for faculty who are reappointed and promoted, and there will be supplemental payments made for employees whose full-time equivalent salary is $50,000 or less.
In addition, I regret that there will be some loss of staff positions. For all of us, these have been the most difficult decisions because they directly affect the livelihoods of our colleagues. All adjustments were made with the goal of maintaining programmatic quality. Where possible we tried to minimize layoffs, in some cases by reassigning staff members or reducing their hours. Individuals who will be affected by such changes will be informed as quickly as possible, and they will be provided with assistance during this difficult transition.
To preserve vital gains made in recent years in faculty size and strength, however, we will not reduce the number of tenure-track faculty. We will continue to recruit and retain faculty strategically, and to offer our new faculty competitive salaries and start-up packages. Although approximately one-third of the faculty searches planned for this year have been postponed, we plan to fill these positions over the next three years.
We will reduce by approximately 30-35 the number of courses (<2%) offered each year. Decisions about course reductions will continue to be made by departments and programs in consultation with the Associate Deans. Despite these reductions, we remain fully committed to offering small classes taught directly by our faculty, and we will sustain our portfolio of opportunities for undergraduate research and study abroad. We will not reduce the level of stipend support for our graduate students. We will also continue to press forward as possible with improvements to the curriculum and programmatic advances by the faculty.
Support for faculty research and professional development (FRPDF) will not be reduced, nor will administrative support for sponsored research or the small subsidy provided to individual faculty receiving grants to cover essential costs (IRR). Non-compensation budgets in all areas will be reduced by approximately 8-12% in consultation with Chairs. Specific details will be provided to each Chair in meetings scheduled over the next few weeks.
Budgets of the academic centers supported by the Arts and Sciences - Leslie, Rockefeller and Neukom - will be lower than had been anticipated before the economic downturn because the returns from their recent endowment gifts have dropped significantly. When endowment performance rebounds, budgets in these areas will also increase. We have worked with those directors to ensure continued funding for vital programmatic and academic initiatives.
Further, we will delay implementation of our plan to eliminate the first-year writing exemption in Writing and Rhetoric, but plan to move forward as soon as we identify necessary funding. The new Director and two new positions in rhetoric/speech have been filled, so we are confident that we will continue to make substantial progress toward meeting the faculty's ambitions for the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric.
In total, these measures result in a reduction in Arts and Sciences' expenses of approximately $4.8 million in the coming year. Additional one-time savings also will result from freezing faculty salaries and slowing faculty hiring. We also anticipate that as the endowment recovers, we will restore $1.8 million of the reductions that are associated with "underwater" restricted endowment funds.
There are no easy answers or painless solutions in this type of economic environment. We believe that we have made the responsible and difficult choices needed to position ourselves for future success. I want to thank you all for your compassion and professional guidance. The Associate Deans and other senior officers in Arts and Sciences have been involved in all aspects of this process. We are grateful for the direction and input provided by the members of the faculty Committee on Priorities, Committee on the Faculty, the Committee on Organization and Policy, the Committee on Instruction, and all the department and program Chairs. Your patience and your perspective on how these reductions would affect the college have been invaluable. I could not ask for a more responsible and conscientious group of colleagues.
I look forward to receiving your feedback as we proceed. With your continuing help and input, I am confident that Dartmouth will emerge from this experience stronger, more vibrant, and well positioned to achieve our vision of academic excellence for years to come.
