The Faculty Senate discussed Commonwealth budget cuts, the Three Plus Five Plan and the Commission for the Future of the University at yesterday's meeting.
Senate Chair Ricardo Padron opened the meeting by discussing key issues for the upcoming academic year, noting that "the University stands perched at the edge of important changes."
Padron said the vacant dean positions, as well as several faculty members poised for retirement, leave an opening for the University to rethink current programs and to create a more diverse faculty.
President John T. Casteen, III addressed the statewide budget cuts and the way they will impact the University, confirming they should not lead to faculty position cuts.
Casteen said Arthur Garson, Jr., executive vice president and provost, and Leonard Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer, are currently working on a plan for the University to deal with the seven-percent state budget cut that will affect institutes of higher education including the University.
"The schools and all other units of the University are to prepare plans to prepare for five-percent reductions," Casteen said, adding that the University is investigating how it could use the $4.6 billion endowment fund to cover some of the cuts.
"We do not use layoffs to counteract budget cuts," Casteen said.
He added that the budget cut is an issue that the University would have to prepare for now and for the future.
Though the University will face budget restrictions, it is seeking to expand and strengthen academic programs through the new Three Plus Five Plan.
According to Garson, the plan emphasizes three priorities of the University: "student experience," "international research" and "science and technology."
In the category of "student experience," Garson hopes to improve certain academic programs so that among their peers, the programs fall in the top five in the world.
"We thought about the notion of 10 world-class programs in humanities in the next 10 years," he said.
He added that the plan includes five core values of the University, which range from faculty development to diversity.
The Senate also discussed its involvement in other plans for the University's future through the Commission on the Future of the University. Senate member and Darden Prof. Elizabeth Powell said a group of faculty members is currently working on a faculty response to the Commission, which will be presented to the Senate at a working session next Wednesday. During this open-meeting session, faculty members will be able to voice their opinions about the faculty response to the Commission.
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