Progress report on budget review planned

As the Huron Education Consulting Group works to identify ways for Tulane University to improve its efficiency and increase revenues, a faculty and staff survey and two town hall meetings will be conducted this week.

In keeping with a theme of transparency and collaboration during the endeavor to enhance the university"s financial position, the committee charged with helping redesign the university"s budget system will host the town hall meetings for faculty, staff and students on Wednesday (March 11).

A downtown meeting will be held in the Bowers Auditorium at 1555 Poydras St. from 1–2 p.m. followed by an uptown meeting in the Freeman Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Center from 3–4 p.m.

A Huron representative along with Tulane provost Michael Bernstein, and executive vice-president for university relations and development Yvette Jones, will lead each meeting. Bernstein and Jones are co-chairs of the budget committee.

Anne Baños, chief of staff and vice president of the university, says the town hall meetings were built into the review process from the beginning to communicate progress on the development of a new budget system.

“We want the community to have the opportunity to hear about the focus and the work thus far of the budget redesign committee,” says Baños. “This is a chance to ask questions they may have about the process.”

On Tuesday (March 10), ahead of the town hall meetings, Tulane employees will receive an electronic survey to solicit ideas for both reducing operating expenses and generating revenue for the university.

Tulane President Mike Fitts encourages all employees to complete the survey, as it is an essential part of the full budgetary assessment.

Noting that Huron has already conducted nearly 200 interviews with faculty and staff and held several focus groups with students, Fitts says “it is important we make extra efforts to receive input from across the university.”

In addition to the budget committee, a second panel headed by Baños and Tony Lorino, chief financial officer, is performing an operational review to identify ways to bring greater efficiencies and generate additional revenue.

Fitts says the survey and town hall meetings will allow both steering committees to obtain as much feedback as possible.

“We want the community to have the opportunity to hear about the focus and the work thus far of the budget redesign committee.”—Anne Baños, chief of staff and vice president