Dear Colleagues,
As you know, the university has been in the midst of redesigning our budget model to increase alignment of our financial resources with our academic and research aspirations and strategic priorities. The strategic framework, Raising Higher: OneGW’s Path to Preeminence, which launched in the fall, identifies the development of the budget model as a goal in support of one of the framework’s key priorities: strengthening the university’s foundation for excellence characterized by a culture of innovation, collaboration and openness.
Last spring, the university hosted a series of community conversations, and we are grateful to the community members who provided their feedback on the redesign and the budget model guiding principles. Since then, we have continued to obtain feedback from a variety of university stakeholders, including executive leadership, the Faculty Senate, Staff Council, finance directors, a faculty advisory group, and other operational working groups that include faculty and staff, through collaborative workshops and briefings.
This feedback shaped the future-state budget model and associated guidelines and procedures to enable a strategic, transparent, and data-driven budget model that incorporates new tools and processes to support multi-year planning, campus-wide collaboration, and achieving the Strategic Framework goals and priorities. The university’s leadership, as well as the Faculty Senate, the Staff Council, and Student Government leadership, have reviewed and provided — and continue to provide — significant feedback on the model. While the university will not fully transition to the new model until Fiscal Year 2028 (starting July 1, 2027), we plan on running the new model in parallel with the legacy model for Fiscal Year 2027 and will therefore proceed with the first phase of implementation this Spring, which will be focused on the budget process and governance.
But there remains time for discussion and feedback, and we have created multiple channels for your ongoing engagement, including:
- Visiting the budget model website: There, you will find updated FAQs and a list of the governance groups working on the budget model effort. Later this semester, we will launch a video series posted to the website that will share information about different aspects of the budget model redesign.
- Submitting feedback: The budget model website features a feedback form where you can share your thoughts on the budget model redesign process.
Joining an upcoming community conversation: Join a virtual community conversation on Wednesday, April 1 at 3 p.m. or Friday, April 3 at 10 a.m. about the budget model redesign process to learn more about the road ahead:
We are very excited about our progress, are grateful for the feedback received to date, and look forward to sharing continued updates as the budget model redesign continues. Thank you for your continued engagement in this important process.
Sincerely,
John Lach
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Bruno Fernandes
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer
Scott Mory
Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff