West Virginia University is asking employees and students to help come up with ideas for the University to save money or generate additional revenues.
“At the State of the University address in October, President Jim Clements described how accomplishing the vision of the strategic plan will take resources and indicated we would be asking for input on how to increase our resource base and use our resources more efficiently,” said Narvel Weese, vice president for administration and finance. “This website is a way to get that input.”
The University community is invited to provide their suggestions online at http://planning.wvu.edu/treasury_operations/budget_suggestions . All ideas will be presented to the University Planning Committee for consideration, and if feasible they will be implemented.
A similar program initiated at the WVU Health Sciences Center earlier this year generated 375 suggestions for saving money or generating new revenues, Weese said.
“Employees know the most about what is going on within their departments, and have the best ideas on what would work for them,” Weese said.”Our students are also well positioned to provide ideas as they are direct recipients of our programs and services. We are reaching out to faculty, staff and students, so that we are able to make the best possible budget decisions for the University as a whole.”
The current year budget also included a combination of revenue growth and internal budget reallocations to support the temporary salary increases, which will become effective on Jan.1, 2011, and position the University to deal with anticipated reductions of state support beginning in fiscal year 2012.
“WVU has been able to avoid drastic actions taken by numerous institutions across the country,” Weese said. “Although we may be used to doing more with less, there is no denying that we will face some financial challenges in the future. I am hopeful that ideas received from the campus community will help the University to avoid the severe actions taken by others to maintain a stable financial position and support investments needed to implement the 2020 strategic plan.”
In addition to the website, budget suggestions can also be made by e-mailing budget_suggestions@mail.wvu.edu .
For more information on the University’s budget, visit http://planning.sitespace.wvu.edu/budget_planning/budget_reports .
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cd/11/01/10