Staff members have crucial role in vision for Tulane
Tulane University President Mike Fitts addresses staff members on the uptown campus in the first of three universitywide meetings, praising their “front line” work in the Tulane mission of education and research. (Photo by Ryan Rivet)
About 200 Tulane University staff members gathered in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall on Monday (Aug. 31) to hear President Mike Fitts talk about his vision for the university"s future and to ask him questions.
Fitts worked with the Tulane Staff Advisory Council to schedule staff meetings on the uptown campus, the downtown health sciences campus and the Tulane Regional Primate Research Center in Covington, Louisiana.
Again and again in his talk, Fitts praised the dedication of university"s 3,000-plus staff members.
“The work you do is so unbelievably important to the long-term goals of Tulane University,” he said. “We are part of something that is really bigger than all of us we are educating the next generation of leaders in the world. We are engaging on this campus in research that is going to impact the world. Everything we do has an effect on these fundamental goals.”
His vision for Tulane is to enhance collaboration among academic departments and offices in order to broaden the educational program and to help solve fundamental social problems.
“You, the administrative staff at this university, are absolutely, critically involved in every aspect of this ⦠you are on the front line of bringing people together on campus in furtherance of these transformative goals.”
To accomplish the objectives, the president created three task forces to develop ideas for the undergraduate experience, academic collaborations and a campus master plan.
“How do we pay for it, is a critical question,” he said, since funds from tuition and research dollars are both flat, nationally. Fitts also brought in Huron Education consultants in January to develop solutions for an annual spending deficit of $15â“$20 million. Initial plans on budget efficiencies and revenue generation are due in the next month or so, he said, and will put Tulane in an excellent position in two or three years.
When Fitts took questions from the audience, several staff members expressed concern about offices being understaffed, a “decline in staff morale” and possible reductions in the staff tuition waiver benefit.
Although the Huron-related plans are not final, Fitts agreed that there are staffing needs to be addressed down the line. The tuition waiver benefit “is not something we"re focused on at this point,” he said. “I think it"s a very important benefit.”
