Expanded Timeline for Budget Reduction Process

January - February

The Executive Leadership Team, with the support of the offices of Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics and Research and Innovation, reviewed academic program metrics and refined methodologies. Refinements included calculating Z-scores for instructional and research metrics and updating total annual unit revenues and costs.  

March – April

The Executive Leadership Team consulted with dean leadership teams regarding metrics and methodology. Refinements included weighting instruction and research scores by apportionment; controlling for Extension and all service and leadership apportionments; clarifying department and organization structure; and excluding differential tuition from the analysis. Research metrics refinements included scholarly research indicators for peer reference groups of Association of American University public institutions and University of Nebraska Foundation revenues in calculations of sponsored awards.   

• March 4: Message from Chancellor Bennett - Budget Reductions
• March 7: The Executive Leadership Team met with the presidents of the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, ASUN Student Government, and Graduate Student Assembly to discuss Chancellor Bennett's March 4 budget announcement.
• March 11: Chancellor Bennett, Executive Vice Chancellor Button, and Vice Chancellor Zeleny met with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee regarding the budget deficit and academic program assessment.
• April 15: The Executive Vice Chancellor Leadership Council met to discuss metrics and methodology. Refinements included equal assessment of program growth and student demand by major and student credit hours. (Council membership includes deans and leadership from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Research and Innovation and Executive Vice Chancellor offices.)
• April 18-24: Executive Vice Chancellor Button met with deans and their leadership teams regarding college-specific analyses, which included a qualitative assessment of community engagement, workforce development, and Extension. 
• April 22: Executive Vice Chancellor Button met with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to discuss the comprehensive data sources being utilized to assess academic programs.

May

• May 1-21: Executive Vice Chancellor Button continued to meet with deans and their leadership teams regarding college-specific analyses, including the qualitative assessment of units. 
• May 2: Executive Vice Chancellor Button sent an invitation to all department executive officers including chairs and directors of every department, center, and program to attend a townhall on May 15 for an academic program metrics presentation and discussion.
• May 7: Executive Vice Chancellor Button, Assistant Vice Chancellor Volkmer, and Associate Vice Chancellor Zavala met with the Academic Planning Committee regarding academic program metrics. Refinements included the addition of a pooled unit analysis for programs by discipline type and median absolute deviation calculations. 
• May 13: Chancellor Bennett updated the Faculty Senate Executive Committee on the timeline for addressing the budget deficit. 
• May 15: Executive Vice Chancellor Button, Vice Chancellor Zeleny, and Vice Chancellor Nelson hosted a department executive officer townhall for an academic program metrics presentation and discussion. Refinements include additional statistical analysis regarding the distribution of each metric across all departments.  
• May 19: Executive Vice Chancellor Button shared the townhall academic program metrics presentation, metrics definitions, FAQ, and distribution curve analysis with department executive officers. 
• May 20: Message from President Gold - Salary Guidelines; Message from Chancellor Bennett - Salary Program Update
• May 21: Executive Vice Chancellor Button shared unit analyses and rankings with college deans. 

June

• June 4: Executive Vice Chancellor Button shared academic program metrics with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. 
• June 10: Chancellor Bennett provided an update to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee regarding the budget deficit, metrics, and timeline. 
• June 19: Message from President Gold - Update to the Board of Regents
• June 24: Executive Vice Chancellor Button and Vice Chancellor Heng-Moss provided an update to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee regarding the strategic campus approach to the budget deficit. 

July

• July 17: Chancellor Bennett, Executive Vice Chancellor Button, Vice Chancellor Heng-Moss, and Vice Chancellor Zeleny presented the initial budget reduction plan to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents Academic Affairs and Business and Finance committees.
• July 22: Chancellor Bennett and Executive Vice Chancellor Button provided an update to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee regarding the campus consultation process for the budget reduction plan. 
• July 23: Executive Vice Chancellor Button and Vice Chancellor Davis met with Academic Planning Committee leadership to initiate planning for the budget reduction process. All agreed to hold an early August meeting with the full committee.  

August

• August 4: Message from Chancellor Bennett - Addressing our Budget Deficit
• August 5: Executive Vice Chancellor Button and Vice Chancellor Heng-Moss provided an update to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee regarding the timeline for the budget reduction process. 
• August 6: The Academic Planning Committee held its first meeting regarding the budget reduction process. Twenty-one committee meetings were held between August 6 and October 23.   
• August 8: Message from President Gold - Voluntary Separation Incentive Program; Message from Chancellor Bennett - Budget Reduction Framework
• August 20: Chancellor provides the APC the plan for budget reductions.
• August 20: Vice Chancellor Zeleny, Assistant Vice Chancellor Volkmer, Associate Vice Chancellor Zavala, and Director Casey presented the detailed program metrics and analysis to the Academic Planning Committee. 
• August 26: Chancellor Bennett and Vice Chancellor Davis addressed the budget reduction process and answered questions about metrics with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.  

September

• September 5: Chancellor Bennett, Executive Vice Chancellor Button, and Vice Chancellor Heng-Moss provided an update on the budget reduction plan to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents Business and Finance committee.
• September 5: The Academic Planning Committee provided initial feedback on the budget reduction plan. Refinements included the removal of college consolidations and removal of Community and Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture program eliminations. 
• September 8: The Executive Vice Chancellor Leadership Council met to review the budget reduction plan that would be shared publicly on September 12.
• September 11: Executive Vice Chancellor Button and Vice Chancellor Heng-Moss met in-person will all units proposed for elimination, supported by Associate Vice Chancellor Marks and Associate Vice Chancellor Bischoff and representatives from Human Resources and the Employee Assistance Program. 
• September 12: Message from Chancellor Bennett - Budget Reduction Proposal
• September 12: Following the Chancellor’s announcement of the budget reduction plan, messages were sent to all impacted students with details about the campus review process and timeline, as well as resources for student support. Messages were also sent to community and alumni stakeholders. An FAQ was added to the budget process website. The Academic Planning Committee announced procedures for public feedback on the budget reduction plan.  
• September 15-October 13: APC collects and considers feedback. Public hearing schedule, live stream links, and archived recordings posted on APC website
• September 15: Undergraduate Admissions and Graduate Studies contacted prospective student applicants to discuss public release of the plan, process, timelines, and options.  
• September 16: Executive Vice Chancellor Button updated the Faculty Senate Executive Committee regarding the budget, unit notifications, and answered questions about program metrics. 

October - November

• October 13-23: APC deliberates and prepares recommendations.
• October 24: APC makes budget reduction recommendations to Chancellor.
• October 29-November 7: Chancellor Bennett, Executive Vice Chancellor Button, Vice Chancellor Heng-Moss, and Vice Chancellor Davis met with unit leaders of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Educational Administration; Music; Statistics; and Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design to consider alternative proposals.   
• October 31: Message from Chancellor Bennett - Update on Budget Reduction Planning
• November 10: Message from Chancellor Bennett - Final Budget Reduction Plan
• November 19: Executive Vice Chancellor Button sent a message to students in programs proposed for elimination to restate the university’s commit to degree completion, and explain degree completion pathways and Transition Coordinators, and the next steps in the process. This information was also added to the budget process website. 

December

• December 5: Message from Chancellor Bennett - Budget Reduction Plan Approval
• December 5: Following the Chancellor's message to campus regarding the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approval of academic program eliminations, Executive Vice Chancellor Button sent a message to students in eliminated programs emphasizing the university's commitment to their degree completion and sharing that information would be forthcoming from deans by December 12 with contact information for Transition Coordinators. 
• December 6: Applications for admission to impacted programs were turned off. 
• December 8: Executive Vice Chancellor Button sent a message to Transition Coordinators to set group meeting dates and share resources. The International Student and Scholar Office sent a message to international students in eliminated units to reaffirm information about visas. Undergraduate Admissions and Graduate Studies reached out to applicants, admitted, and accepted students in eliminated programs. 
• December 10: Executive Vice Chancellor Button, Undergraduate Dean Goodburn, Graduate Dean Hope, and impacted college deans met with Transition Coordinators. 
• December 11-12: Impacted college deans sent messages to affected students regarding degree completion pathways, priority registration, and Transition Coordinator points of contact. 
• December 12: Executive Vice Chancellor Button, Vice Chancellor Heng-Moss, and Vice Chancellor Barnes sent a message to faculty and staff in eliminated departments regarding notices of separation and with an invitation to open Q&A sessions. Employment Transition information was added to the budget process website.
• December 15: Director of Employee Relations Brooks from Human Resources hosted a Q&A session with affected staff in a combined meeting. 
• December 16: Associate Vice Chancellor Marks and Associate Vice Chancellor Bischoff, along with impacted college leadership teams, met with affected faculty in separate departmental meetings.