Dear colleagues,

As the President noted in his recent town hall discussions, we continue to make progress implementing recommendations of the Huron Consulting Group and others to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our systems and processes.

Our budgeting process was one area identified as an opportunity for improvement. Working with Huron and a Budget Steering Committee approved by the President, we have begun to evaluate budgeting methodology alternatives for Wayne State. Based on this evaluation, the steering committee will recommend a budgeting method that will be more academically driven and better align responsibility and accountability. Additional benefits we'd like to see include greater transparency and flexibility, and a more entrepreneurial approach to budgeting and planning. Our goal is to have a new budgeting process in place for FY2014.

We will continue to provide updates on the initiative's progress and, of course, along the way we will be working with many of you.

The Budget Steering Committee membership includes:

    Ronald T. Brown, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
    Farshad Fotouhi, Dean, College of Engineering
    Joe Kieleszewski, Director, Business Affairs, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
    Rob Kohrman, Associate Vice President for Budget, Planning and Analysis
    Ken Lee, Associate Dean, School of Medicine and Executive Director of the WSU Physician Group
    Rick Nork, Vice President for Finance and Business Operations, Treasurer and CFO
    Charles Parrish, Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
    Hilary Ratner, Vice President for Research
    Matthew Seeger, Dean, College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts
    Lisa Shrader, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the President
    Margaret Williams, Interim Dean, School of Business Administration
    William Volz, Professor, School of Business Administration

Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Ronald T. Brown
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs