Budget Committee Meeting

October 20, 2020

Attendees

Provost Michael Bruno, Dean Nicholas Comerford, Andrea Kawabata, Ania Wieczorek, Ann Sakuma, Catherine Chan, Chrissy Mogren, David Christopher, Diane Masuo, Dulal Borthakur, Heather Greenwood-Junkermeier, Jenee Odani, Kacie Ho, Koon-Hui Wang, Marianne Berry, Michael Melzer, Mohammad Arif, Nhu Nguyen, Pratibha Nerurkar, Sarah Yuan, Shu Lin, Teresita Amore, Thao Le, Tomoaki Miura, Travis Idol, Velma Kameoka, Wendy Pearson, Yinphan Tsang, Zhiqiang Cheng

Summary of Discussion

Budget Situation

We are facing a short-term and long-term budget crisis in the State and at the University. The Governor intends to borrow $750 million from the federal reserve in the current fiscal year 2020-2021 (FY21) to address the State’s current budget shortfall; this loan must be repaid by the State within 3 years beginning July 1, 2021. The State and unions are currently in discussions related to possible furloughs (two days per month = 9.23% pay cut) for State employees over the course of the next four years. All University E/M employees will receive a pay cut beginning November 1, 2020.

While the University has not yet received its budget allocation from the State, we are confident that we will be in a good budget position for FY21 due to the current freeze on hiring, travel freeze and strong restrictions on equipment and other expenditures. However, we must plan now to position the University to withstand the future budget cuts and move away from furloughs and the painful cuts currently in place.

Process

The University cannot continue as a premiere R1 research university with four years of paycuts and freezes; this is not sustainable. We must start now to identify cost-saving efficiencies and increase revenue, primarily through enrollment growth. Mānoa Budget Committee members began meeting with Deans in March/April to examine budget reduction scenarios of 5%, 10% and 15%.

The Committee suggestions to academic units are not intended to be top-down mandates. The suggestions were based on external reports, information and data on hand, and are intended to be provocative and provoke conversations. The Committee is committed to meeting with highly impacted departments, listening to their thoughts/feedback, and working collaboratively to best position programs, departments and the University for success.

Cost-saving measures will not come on the backs solely of the academic side of the University. On the administrative end, Phase 2 of the Mānoa reorg is currently under development and identifies for elimination 12 E/M positions that will result in significant cost savings for the Mānoa campus. Additionally, a blue ribbon committee is currently reviewing the Athletics program to assess the current program and identify a sustainable future. We are also looking for efficiencies in other programs such as student housing, facilities, auxiliary services, bookstore, and other areas of administration.

Review, approval and consultation with unions and affected stakeholders will continue through Spring 2021, it will take time to implement these plans. The aim is to be transparent and collaborative throughout the process as we continue to work to identify cost-saving efficiencies and increase enrollment revenue. Mānoa Staff Senate representatives will participate in these meetings as staff are also affected.

Details

The origin of the land grant mission was to teach practical sciences, engineering, and agriculture. CTAHR is the only unit on campus that embraces the land grant mission. CTAHR’s operations are unique and focus on teaching, research and extension. The split faculty appointments reflect their commitment to the systems of operations that integrate all three components of teaching, research, and extension.

The suggestion to remove “Human Resources” from the college name created anxiety as many then believed the new college would only focus on production agriculture; not all programs will fit within this category. Faculty share that they are social scientists and the land grant missions have a very big component of social sciences. The Committee appreciates the insight that CTAHR has shared with regard to the land grant mission and federal funding and has since removed its suggestion to change the name of the college.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) has doubled enrollments in 10 years, majors went from 57 to 120. NREM has already begun efforts to expand through a 4+1 program in Global and Environmental Science, in addition to exploring the BA in sustainability, either through a 4+1 or 3+2 program. NREM lost four applied economists over five years and requests to have positions released from the hiring freeze. The Committee’s primary goal is to protect current employees before bringing on new hires.

The Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE) is a healthy, self-sustaining program supported by faculty resources. The PhD program is a strong collaboration between MBBE, the medical school, Cancer Center and faculty in other departments within CTAHR. The program currently has 75 graduate students and enrollment is growing. Most of the students are supported, not only by PI-funded grants, but they also have TAships from Biology and Chemistry. International students are supported by GAships. Reducing the program will not help with contribution to the University and can actually weaken the Department and graduate education. The Committee initially expressed concern with the MBBE program’s capacity to provide sufficient support to students in the PhD program and therefore recommended that the MBBE program consider downsizing the PhD program. Based on discussion with faculty, the Committee no longer recommends downsizing the MBBE PhD program.

The Bioengineering program has only four faculty positions. One senior professor retired to create two positions for the program. They recruited and were about to hire two faculty positions, but were unable to due to the hiring freeze. With ABET accreditation coming next year, the program needs these two positions to teach bioengineering, supervise students and receive a positive accreditation review. The program is on the same accreditation cycle as Engineering and is currently meeting with ABET chairs within other units as part of the accreditation review process.

The Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences (PEPS) faculty have shared that they are experiencing issues with attracting students into the Tropical Agriculture and the Environment (TAE) program. While faculty have been making an effort to improve the TAE program over the last two years, they are open to making further improvements to increase program enrollment.

Many students in CTAHR are majors in the NREM program, which is interdisciplinary and able to offer a broad range of courses through their major. PEPS has a distinct specialization and much of their work overlaps with work done in NREM. PEPS faculty have expressed interest in engaging in discussion with NREM, TPSS and units in other colleges to combine expertise and develop cross-department and cross-college collaborations to strengthen existing programs and possibly develop new degree programs.

Some faculty have expressed the idea of organizing faculty by research focus versus discipline to strengthen majors and give them access to interdisciplinary faculty across departments. Discussions are ongoing, and while anything is possible, changes must have the support of the faculty. As programs are further defined, it is important for the college to maintain focus on its mission, undergraduate workforce development, graduate level work, and the grand challenges in meeting State needs.

Outcomes

The Committee no longer recommends changing the name of the college and will remove its suggestion to downsize the MBBE PhD program.

The Committee indicates that it is not sustainable to import everything we eat across the disruptions we are experiencing, and strongly believes CTAHR has to be an engine of growth with regard to agriculture and food security in Hawai‘i, and is committed to continued discussion with the Dean and faculty on how to best position the college for even greater success.