Chief Financial Officer Dan Durbin told senators the university entered the academic year with a balanced budget with expectations to generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses. These costs included last fall’s 1% salary raise and $1,000 bonus for university employees, and the return of retirement contributions to pre-COVID levels.

“We also had a provision for an additional 1% raise in the spring; we said we would revisit that raise based on how we were doing from a tuition revenue standpoint,” Durbin said. “We have looked through the fall semester and through spring registration. The good news is our tuition revenues are higher than last year; the challenging news is that those tuition revenues are below budget by almost $7.9 million.”

Despite this challenge, administration maintained the additional raise would be within the best interest of the university. The 1% raise was authorized by the Board of Trustees and went into effect in March. Senators were informed that a financial plan was developed to ensure adequate funding for the institution-wide pay increase. Tactics of this financial plan included withholding a 3% contingency back from the units to cover unforeseen costs, as well as an increased emphasis on the importance of funding available to colleges and units through the University of Louisville Foundation.

“While we have tactics to ensure that raise, we still continue to work on enrollment not only for spring, but for the fall and beyond. Applications look really encouraging at the moment, but it’s all hands on deck to make sure we can get back to our original estimates on enrollment so the university can be on good, solid footing next year,” Durbin said.

Kari Aikins, director of Total Rewards for UofL, provided senators with information on the . Segal, an HR consulting firm with expertise in higher education, is currently reviewing data collected from the employee survey. The survey closed March 1, and an aggregate report of this data, which Is being generated by Segal, will provide input on remaining aspects of the HR initiative.

“One of the projects that this data will be used for will be our guiding principles and compensation philosophy, which we want to make sure aligns with our employee feedback and incorporates that input. We will also be using the data as we move through benchmarking, development of the career progression, leveling and some other components of the study that are still to come,” Aikins said.

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be found on the . The next Staff Senate meeting will be held April 12 via Microsoft Teams.

“Every member of our Cardinal family will be impacted by the actions that we are announcing today; admittedly, some more than others,” Bendapudi said. “I ask that everyone continue to show compassion to our colleagues and that we remain united through the coming weeks…We will continue to keep compassion, transparency and all of our Cardinal Principles at the forefront of our minds when addressing our financial realities. We will get through this together and we will continue to communicate with you every step of the way.”

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Additionally, UofL chief financial officer Dan Durbin explains the financial impacts on the university and UofL’s efforts to mitigate the financial challenges in the video below.��

For the “learn” component, she said it’s important we focus on the whole student, provide them with a transformative, purpose-driven education and ask them what problem they want to tackle. For the work piece, Bendapudi said it was important to commit to personal growth and professional development.

“We have to have a culture where everybody has to live by our values,” she said.

And, for the invest piece, we have to make a demonstrable impact on the city, the Commonwealth and “beyond.”

The first three years of the strategic planning process will be focused on “making sure our house is strong” financially and structurally. The second three years will be focused on bigger picture/aspirational goals, she said.

Bendapudi said she has created a leadership team that includes everyone who directly reports to her, as well as everyone who reports to them.

“So there are two layers of decision makers. We’ve already met four times to talk about topics such as diversity and the budget,” she said. “It’s important to have this group in place so we aren’t stuck in silos.”  

Bendapudi also said the team is working on a plan to get to the point where employees can expect to get a raise each year. We’re not there yet, but she said we are moving in the right direction.

CFO Dan Durbin piggybacked off that objective with a budget update. He said his biggest objectives – eight months into the job – are to reimagine the budget process, facilitate more engagement and drive efficiencies.

He said we’ve generated $39 million in revenues this year versus $15 million last year, but those numbers – because of allocations or restrictions – actually equate to about $1.2 million more.

“We are not out of the woods yet, but we are gaining strength,” he said. “We just need to keep pushing.” .��

SGA’s Wyatt Harris provided the Student Government report. Elections for next year’s officers will be held next week. He also announced that the ELSB’s food pantry is now open in the SAC. This initiative has been in the works for years. The SGA is also working on a few pedestrian safety initiatives, including new crosswalks and increased signage on the HSC campus.

Students are working with Mark Watkins, AVP for Business Services, to ensure that internship projects available on UofL’s campus prioritize the hiring of UofL students.

Faculty Senate heard a report from Jim Begany, vice provost for strategic enrollment management and student success, about UofL’s strategy to recruit and retain students. Begany said Fall 2018 yielded our highest new student enrollment numbers, as well as our most academically prepared – as measured by ACT scores – and the highest number of out-of-state students. More information about the Faculty Senate meeting is .��

John Smith provided the Staff Senate Chair’s Report, announcing that the response rate for people willing to volunteer on a Strategic Plan committee was “overwhelming.”

“In the past, we’ve had 100 to 150 people sign up. This year, we’ve had over 1,200,” he said.

Smith, Faculty Senate Chair Krista Wallace-Boaz and SGA President Jonathan Fuller will start conducing HSC office hours, including Feb. 18, March 18 and April 15. His entire chair’s report is .

Bob Knaster and Gary Becker provided updates on UofL’s parking strategy, including recommendations provided by a third-party consultant to address potential parking shortages. Knaster said 74 campus spaces will be lost to construction this semester alone, and that 3,813 out of about 6,000 spaces at the stadium are currently programmed to produce revenue for athletics. We are No. 1 in the country for reserved spaces; UofL has about 1,300 spaces that are reserved and the average university has about 40 or 50, Becker said.

There are currently no funds dedicated to operational or deferred maintenance. Some task group recommendations include building a maintenance fund and rolling that into the parking budget, charging for all visitor parking, implementing license recognition technology and introducing new services – such as oil changes – for customer service improvement.

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Other news/reports

Julie Hohmann informed senators that there is a master of arts in higher education administration program available to faculty and staff, and employees may be eligible to complete the program with UofL’s tuition remission benefit. Students must select one of four different concentrations – administration, teaching and learning, policy and equity or sports administration. All courses are offered 100 percent online.

Marian Vasser, vice chair, .��

Secretary/treasurer Rhonda Gilliland reported that there were no monthly expenses in January. Her report is .��

All other committee meeting reports are .

The next Staff Senate meeting is March 11 on the HSC campus.