UH Mānoa Budget Update to Alumni
August 4, 2009
Aloha!
Many of you have inquired about the budget situation in Hawaiʻi and its impact on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, so I thought it would be advisable to update you, our alumni ʻohana, about the impact of the tough economic times in Hawaiʻi on your university, the actions we are taking to deal with significant budget reductions and the reasons to remain optimistic about our future.
Certainly, during challenging times, we need to focus on addressing the challenges, but also celebrating advances as well. A quotation I keep close at hand is from Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, "The sun shines after every storm; there is a solution to every problem; and the soul's highest duty is to be of good cheer."
There are two sides to our current situation — feeling "beat-up" versus "upbeat". Right now there is much to make us feel beat-up but also many reasons to feel upbeat and be of good cheer.
- Mānoa does feel beat-up by an unprecedented large budget cut of $66 million or 26% of our state general funds of $260 million. We are trying to distribute the sacrifice and not unfairly call on a single group to make up this massive shortfall. Unfortunately, such a reduction clearly endangers our ability to provide (and enhance) student services, to fulfill our research potential as Hawaiʻi's only Research I institution and to retain many of our accomplished campus members. The personnel reductions we are facing represent both a personal and professional loss to us all.
Yet we are upbeat at the same time about UH Mānoa members who've generated a million dollars of research awards every day of the year for the past four years — that is over a billion dollars, feeding Hawaiʻi's economy through salaries and expenditures. This is also the time that substantial grant money will be available from the federal government. Mānoa is competitive for those dollars, so maintaining UH Mānoa’s research capability is critically important.
That research also creates the careers of tomorrow for our students, such as establishing new business partnerships in Asia, developing clean energy sources, building respect for different cultures, exploring the origin of our universe with the exciting upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope, generating new agricultural crops, devising new drugs to fight cancer and the list goes on. Such advances make us upbeat about what UH Mānoa's future can and should be.
- We often feel beat-up by the struggle to upgrade such a large number of our aging buildings to ensure an appropriate learning and research environment at Mānoa.
Yet we are upbeat about welcoming our students to the impressive Frear Hall residence, along with two newly renovated Hale Aloha dormitory towers (on-time and under-budget), making progress in repairing 10 of our 37 leaking roofs (including the relief of finally stopping leaks in Hamilton Library), updating our Art and Architecture auditoriums and soon completing the major renovation of our music complex, accomplished both by our Facilities folks but also our music faculty, staff and students who invested a lot of sweat equity in Mānoa Makeovers to upgrade many areas themselves. So, to feel really upbeat, please join us for many musical celebrations at that complex this fall.
- We definitely feel beat-up by the economic downturn, certainly increasing the challenges for our Athletic Department to generate 85% of its own funding — a high expectation for any athletics program but especially for one with our travel costs and no revenue-generating stadium.
Yet we are upbeat about celebrating the 100th anniversary of UH athletics this year — a century of exciting sports teams that have generated wonderful experiences and connections with our community, along with strong public-private partnerships like the new Ching field and upcoming athletic complex, and, most importantly, impressive alumni like our new Miss Hawaiʻi, former Rainbow Wahine Raeceen Woolford. We certainly welcome your participation in our exciting centennial and homecoming events this coming year.
I am privileged to see first-hand the hard work and passion that our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends devote every day to UH Mānoa. Such commitment was certainly demonstrated by the recent, highly successful completion of our Centennial Campaign — and your voices and resources were surely key to that outcome. So please join me in being of good cheer, because by moving ahead together, we can ensure that UH Mānoa continues to be strong and vibrant — a source of pride for all of you.
Mahalo nui loa for your continual interest and support.
Virginia S. Hinshaw
Chancellor
vhinshaw@hawaii.edu