For Fiscal Year 2019, revenues were up by 5% to about $1.1 billion, and UofL’s net position increased by $23 million, a significant increase over the prior year’s performance of $3 million.

Durbin said the university’s financial position remains strong with total assets and deferred outflows of $1.3 billion.

One area UofL has struggled with in recent years has been with liquidity, or cash on hand. But that has also improved and our current ratio has increased from 1.32x from 1.11x, Durbin noted.

“We are continuing to make progress in all areas. We have had some revenue decreases, for example with state support and foundation numbers, but all other revenue sources were higher than they were in 2018, which is all good news,” Durbin said. “Especially at the HSC campus, which has turned a corner. 2019 was a critical year and everything is pointing in the right direction.”

Durbin also noted that Q1 revenues so far are up by about 2% year-over-year, despite some challenges from enrollment numbers.

“We have more students, but they’re taking less credit hours,” he said.

A budget planning and monitoring committee has been charged to advise the president and her leadership team about the allocation of current and future financial resources and ensure they are in alignment with the university’s mission and strategic plan. Durbin is a co-chair along with Provost Beth Boehm. Three subcommittees have been formed, including a funding request subcommittee, budget model allocation and administrative activity review.

University-wide budget goals, policies and priorities that the committee is exploring include:

• Corrective budget actions to avoid deficits
• University enrollment targets
• Employee compensation changes
• Fringe benefit changes
• Evaluation of university investments in programs and activities (cost vs. benefit)
• Other changes identified by the provost and CFO
• Investments in design and use of space
• Items recommended by subcommittees
• Enhance peer understanding of our budget by being involved

For the final bullet point, Durbin said the administration is working hard to involve more people in the budget planning and monitoring process.

“The more people involved, the more people will understand the budget and be able to help and provide input,” he said.

Heidi Cooley-Cook provided an update about the inaugural Cards Come Together event in October. She said the collection drives were particularly successful, and most of those donations stayed on campus. The Cardinal Cupboard collected nearly 2,000 pounds of food, which should get the pantry through winter break.

Conservative estimates indicate that 500 students, staff, faculty and alumni were involved in the week of service. The executive committee recommends that the event continue, but to also consider other dates and times that are not associated with homecoming.

Carcyle Barrett provided an update on the bylaw revisions, noting that they are not quite ready for a first reading, but senators’ opinions about the live document are invited prior to the February meeting.

The , and includes an update from President Bendapudi and a summary of the new internal budget model. Additionally, a student wellness committee has been formed to help create a healthy environment for all students.

Chair John Smith’s . He pointed out the increasing challenge of filling committee vacancies and encouraged senators to consider volunteering for those positions.��

“As leadership continues to advocate for a ‘seat at the table,’ we need to ensure we have people willing and desirous of filling those positions,” he said.

Vice Chair , as are most standing, ad-hoc and university-wide .��

The Staff Senate won’t meet in January. The next meeting is Feb. 10 in Chao Auditorium.

Cards Come Together service opportunities included a community cleanup in Old Louisville, a composting project, a beautification project with New Directions and volunteering at the Americana Community Center’s fall festival. In addition, daily on-campus donation drives benefited Dare to Care, Volunteers of America Shelby Men’s Recovery program, Jefferson County Public School students and Catholic Charities of Louisville.��

President Neeli Bendapudi and Athletics Director Vince Tyra kicked off the week of service at the Red Barn during the Wear Red to be Fed cookout. Bendapudi asked the crowd to “…think of Cards Come Together as University of Louisville’s love letter to the city of Louisville.”

To show their passion, participants, including a slew of student-athletes, traveled to Old Louisville to begin the community cleanup by landscaping community green space.

Volunteers also painted faces and pumpkins at the Americana Community Center’s fall festival, painted and landscaped a Germantown house at the New Directions Housing Corporation beautification project and sifted worms in super soil and turned compost using pitchforks and shovels at the community composting project.

Niki King, communications and marketing specialist, participated in the community composting project and said the week of service fostered a sense of pride as part of the UofL family.

“I’m passionate about sustainability, so I was excited to have this opportunity to work on composting as part of Cards Come Together,” said King. “During the composting project, we learned that UofL has the only community compost in Metro Louisville, which made me appreciate just how vital UofL’s leadership is for the region’s sustainability efforts.” 

King also pointed out that the service projects offered a rejuvenating change to the normal work day.

“I largely work at a desk all day. It was nice to have a change of pace and work with my hands in the outdoors for a bit,” she said. “It was refreshing.”

Among the attributes UofL needs in its next provost, as agreed upon by the Faculty Senate, are:

• Understanding of, and dedication to, the context, vision, and strategic goals of UofL
• Ability to cultivate a cohesive university community by making fair and just decisions
• Creates a unity of purpose through coherent and consistent messaging, and through transparent internal communication
• Effectively communicates the goals of the University and the President’s Office to the University community

Essential qualifications include a PhD or equivalent, earned tenure, demonstrated excellence in academic leadership (departmental/decanal/provostial) and demonstrated commitment to academic freedom/shared governance and – added during the meeting – Constitutional rights.

Core competencies include demonstration of the highest ethical integrity, prepared to advance the metropolitan mission of both a Carnegie Highest Research Activity university and a Carnegie Community Engaged university, ability to develop a clear and coherent vision for the academic mission and more.

The . It was passed unanimously by the Faculty Senate.

President Neeli Bendapudi provided a number of updates about the Council on Postsecondary ����ֱ��, noting that more money is being allocated for performance-based funding, as well as deferred maintenance. The finance committee asked for a 10 percent increase for performance-based funding.

Bendapudi said the business community in Kentucky is starting to push harder for education initiatives to support economic development.

“This is needed. It’s encouraging,” she said.

She also reflected on the past year in the office, expressing pride in UofL’s graduation rate increases within just one year, as well as the fact that UofL students graduate with the lowest amount of debt of all public universities in the state, among other accomplishments.

Bendapudi also talked about the Strategic Plan, which is officially underway.

“This has truly been a campus-wide process and I am optimistic about achieving our biggest goals,” she said.

Finally, Bendapudi said the hospital process is “coming along well,” since UofL agreed to acquire .

“There is a sense of excitement and trepidation. This will be good for us. We are finally in charge of our own destiny,” she said. “Had Jewish closed, that would have been 2,500 jobs lost, $100 million in payroll. The human impact was what was most important to me – 600 people a month in the community need a hospital room. Where would they go?”

Provost Beth Boehm said the new student well-being committee has been formed.

“It is a big group and I’m delighted so many people wanted to be a part of this,” she said.

Also, an advising task force has been charged, as has an IBM implementation committee.

Boehm also provided an update from the Council on Postsecondary ����ֱ��, noting that a program review consultant has been hired by the state to review programs at all public schools. They will look at which programs to sustain, grow, start or sunset. This work will require an “enormous” data pull, Boehm said.

A search firm has been chosen for the provost search. Airport interviews continue for the EVPRI position. Boehm is meeting with Arts & Sciences faculty next week to discuss the school’s dean search. Finally, Boehm is attending an ACC Provost Conference at Clemson and will provide an update upon her return.

Dr. Ralph Fitzpatrick, senior vice president for Community Engagement, Susan Jenkins and Heidi Cooley Cook discussed the Cards Come Together initiative. This inaugural week of service, led by UofL President Neeli Bendapudi, will feature several service projects across the city as well as collection sites on campus. The objective is to get 1,000 faculty, staff and students to participate. A complete list of projects is available online at events.louisville.edu/cardscometogether.

A kickoff celebration will be held at the Red Barn Oct. 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Cedric Powell, faculty grievance officer, provided his annual report. From Sept. 20, 2018 through Sept. 30, 2019, there were nine Type I faculty grievances filed and four Type II grievance. His full report is .

Ombudsman Diane Tobin also provided a report from her office. She said the trends she is seeing that cause people to use her services include communication issues, budgetary issues, understanding policies and procedures and lack of positive recognition. Throughout the past year, 122 people across campus have used the ombudsman’s services. More information about those services is .

Sabrina Collins provided an update from the SGA. She recently attended the College Completion Summit in Salt Lake City with administrators and staff with an objective of learning how to become a more student-centered campus.

Also, two resolutions recently passed in the Student Senate:

• A resolution to implement an anonymous evaluation system of academic advisers following advising appointments;
• A resolution to excuse students from class for election day due to absentee ballot issues.

The Faculty Senate voted to endorse the latter.

The Staff Senate report from September is . Committee reports are also .

The next Faculty Senate meeting is Nov. 6 in Chao Auditorium.

The goal for Cards Come Together is to have 1,000 UofL community members, including faculty, staff, students and alumni, participate in the event. Participants will complete projects both on campus and at off-campus sites throughout Louisville.��

“One of the things that drew me to this university was its strong to commitment to improving the city of Louisville,” said President Neeli Bendapudi. “I’m so excited for us to work together as a cardinal family to showcase how much good we can do.”

Service opportunities during Cards Come Together include a UofL community composting project, community cleanup in Old Louisville, New Directions Beautification project in the Highlands and assisting with the Americana Community Center Fall Festival. Daily donation drive opportunities on campus will benefit various organizations, including Volunteers of America’s Shelby Men’s Recovery program, Dare to Care, Jefferson County Public Schools and Catholic Charities of Louisville.

“The University of Louisville takes pride in its role as a metropolitan research university,” said Ralph Fitzpatrick, vice president for community engagement and co-chair of the Cards Come Together Committee. “This week of service provides another opportunity for the university community to come together to fully engage in the welfare and vitality of the Louisville metro area.”

Participants must register in advance for Cards Come Together’s service opportunities at uofl.me/cardscometogether. Participation is entirely voluntary.�� This is not a work-related activity under the university workers compensation program. Staff can use Community Service Leave, but should obtain supervisor approval before registering to participate.

Bendapudi provided an update on the 2019 budget, which she noted is the first time the HSC campus broke even. HSC programming, particularly pediatrics, is expensive to run, costing about $12 million to $15 million a year. This is why UofL pursued its recent partnership with Norton Children’s Hospital.

“This partnership supports our teaching and academic mission, provides for better care and helps with the budget,” she said.

Bendapudi also discussed the in which UofL reached an agreement to assume its Louisville-area assets. The agreement came two months after initial negotiations ended when UofL could not find a suitable partner to help fund the acquisition. However, support from both the state and two local foundations revived the talks to save the struggling Jewish Hospital and other vital area medical facilities.��

“In June, we said we couldn’t do the deal because the terms were not good for us. What changed since then is we were able to get the right support,” Bendapudi said. “This deal helps with our teaching mission, our research mission. It helps us attract the best faculty and get grant money. Most importantly, it helps with clinical care.”

Jewish Hospital receives about 3,000 ER visits a month and, of those patients, about 19% are admitted.

“These are our neighbors. Where would they go? How are we fostering equity if these huge numbers of patients don’t have a bed?” Bendapudi said.

These assets also generate about $300 million worth in payroll, so she reiterated the impact it would have on employees in the community.

“We still have a lot of work to do, don’t get me wrong. But this is the right thing to do for the Commonwealth,” Bendapudi said.

Bendapudi also noted that the three-year time frame for the Strategic Plan starts now. UofL will host kickoff events for the plan Sept. 23 and 24.

“We all need to hold each other accountable so we can make sure this is a great place to work.” she said. “I’m excited to get started. After a year of plugging holes, we can now look at this plan and ask, how can we grow?”

Provost Boehm provided an update from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities conference she attended over the summer. One of the biggest topics discussed at the event was student mental health and Boehm is charging a committee that looks at faculty/staff roles in student mental health. She also noted that the Counseling Center is moving back to the Belknap Campus, either in January or February, with a space at the SAC.

“Forty-six percent of students have a diagnosable mental health issue and half of those are untreated. Seventy-six percent of college students say that mental health issues interfere with their academics. This is a critical topic that we are going to focus on,” she said.

“The best determinant of how well a student performs is if one adult shows they care about them,” Bendapudi added. “Please look out for our students. I can’t think of anything we do that is more important.”

Regular meeting

Dr. Ralph Fitzpatrick, senior vice president for Community Engagement, opened up the regular meeting to discuss the Cards Come Together initiative. This inaugural week of service, led by UofL President Neeli Bendapudi, will feature several service projects across the city as well as collection sites on campus. The objective is to get 1,000 faculty, staff and students to participate. A complete list of projects is available online at events.louisville.edu/cardscometogether.

A kickoff celebration will be held at the Red Barn Oct. 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Todd Kneale, director of Total Rewards, reminded staff senators that open enrollment is Oct. 23 through Nov. 6 and HR will issue a number of communications prior. He also provided an update on the health insurance increases scheduled to go into place in 2020.

These increases are in response to the market and to UofL’s previous approach to ratios, which he said were not actuarially based. Correcting them will be a multi-year process, starting with the 2020 increases. More details will be sent about those plans and the increases this week.

Lydia Burns gave an update from SGA, which is hosting a “Chat with the (UofL Police) Chief” on Sept. 16 to discuss safety initiatives on campus. The group will also host Constitution Day at the Red Barn Sept. 17 with a number of representatives expected to participate.

The , �����Ի� are all available online.

The next Staff Senate meeting is Oct. 14 in CTR 101/102 on the HSC Campus.