Budget News
President Hrabowski and Provost Hirshman sent out a message today outlining the likely consequences for the UMBC community of Governor O'Malley's proposed budget for 2010-2011. The big news for students is that after four years of tuition freezes, the Governor has budgeted for a 3% tuition increase for in-state undergraduates. Graduate students and out-of-state students would face 5% hikes.
For staff, the biggest news is that for the second consecutive year, the Governor has proposed no cost-of-living or merit pay increases. In the several years prior to 2009-2010, staff members typically received combined cost-of-living and merit pay raises in the range of 4% each year (at least, that was true for staff categorized as "exempt"; if it was different for other staff members, somebody let me know). The loss of these pay increases is far more costly to staff members than the furloughs that have been mandated in the past couple of years (and which have gotten a lot more attention). A 4% salary increase is equivalent to more than 10 days' pay. Unlike with furloughs, staff members receive no time off to compensate for the loss of that pay. And unlike with furloughs, the losses carry over from year to year: miss a year of 4% annual salary increases and your salary remains deflated by that 4% every year forever.
That--along with the fact that the legislature could make further cuts from the Governor's proposed budget--is the bad news for UMBC. The good news is that the Governor kept the tuition increase modest, and continues to protect higher education from more devastating cuts. And Drs. Hrabowski and Hirshman continue to share the budget news quickly and openly with the UMBC community, and to work to avoid layoffs. I'd rather lose a fraction of my salary than lose my job or have my colleagues lose theirs. There's also good news about the Performing Arts and Humanities Building. The full text of today's message from Drs. Hrabowski and Hirshman to the UMBC community is as follows:
January 25, 2010
TO: The UMBC Community
FR: Freeman Hrabowski
Elliot Hirshman
RE: Budget Update
The FY 2011 operating and capital budgets, which Governor O’Malley submitted this past week to the Maryland General Assembly, reflect continued, strong support for both public higher education and UMBC – even as the State’s fiscal challenges persist. The Governor’s operating budget proposal maintains the current level of base funding for University System of Maryland (USM) institutions, reduces institutional fund balances (reserves) by $40 million, and supports a modest tuition increase of three percent for in-state, undergraduate students. Because of the State’s fiscal constraints, the budget proposal does not include merit or cost-of-living adjustments for State and USM employees.
We are especially encouraged that the Governor’s capital budget proposal includes $36.3 million for the first year of construction of our Performing Arts and Humanities Building, to begin this summer. (The total cost of the building is estimated to be $170 million.) The first phase of construction includes classrooms, class and open laboratories, multi-media study and collaboration spaces, a 275-seat main theater, a 100-seat black box theater, and support spaces.
After a four-year freeze on in-state, undergraduate tuition, the Governor has endorsed a three- percent tuition increase to preserve both the quality of USM programs and access to classes. If approved by the Board of Regents, the increase would add $195 to the annual bill for each full-time, in-state UMBC undergraduate. Increases in fees would add another $104 annually. Out-of-state and graduate student tuition charges are expected to increase by five percent.
The Governor’s proposals will now be considered by the Legislature, which has the authority to reduce but not add to the budget. Given the slow economic recovery, we anticipate facing another challenging budget environment this coming year, and we have already begun a number of initiatives to prepare for the possibility of additional budget cuts. Cost-management strategies already in progress or being considered for FY 2011 include the following: continuing the hiring freeze and hiring exceptions process; reductions in merit aid and facilities renewal funds; utility savings achieved through new procurement contracts; a Blue Ribbon Commission to develop recommendations regarding the future of the Library; a work group to assess strategies to increase efficiencies in IT support; an effort to identify and reduce low-enrollment classes; and encouraging saving FY 2010 discretionary funds to apply to strategic priorities. On the revenue side, we have been conservative about our estimates for growth, and we expect that higher than projected enrollments will provide some resources to meet our most pressing needs and address some of the possible additional budget reductions.
While we continue to face major challenges, we have been preparing for them through careful fiscal management and consultation with our campus Senate leaders about campus priorities. As always, we will be guided by our principles of preserving the academic core and supporting people. Everyone has a role to play as we work together to protect and strengthen the UMBC experience, and we are deeply appreciative of the positive approach students, faculty, and staff are taking in this process. We will continue to keep you informed about future budget developments.
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President Hrabowski and Provost Hirshman sent out a message today outlining the likely consequences for the UMBC community of Governor O'Malley's proposed budget for 2010-2011. The big news for...
http://cocreateumbc.blogspot.com/2010/01/budget-news.html
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campus-services
Co-Create UMBC
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Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:15:00 -0500
Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:15:00 -0500
My Higher Education
I entered college as a freshman in fall 1984. My declared major was Political Science; my orientation was careerist; my worldview embarrassingly narrow. Over the years my horizons broadened. I changed majors, and tried a few courses (but, in retrospect, far too few) just because they seemed interesting. I went to law school and to graduate school in public policy. When I finally finished in 1992, I thought I was done with classes, homework, exams and grades.
I was wrong. In 2005, while working full time, I entered UMBC’s doctoral program in Language, Literacy and Culture. I took it one course at a time, sometimes grinding out the work and sometimes losing (or, more often, finding) myself in the ideas I was exploring. And last semester, I completed my very last course requirement. All that’s left to do is write a dissertation on a topic I care deeply about (no simple task, but one I’m largely free to shape and manage). But as for classes, homework, exams and grades . . . I think I’m done.
Back in 1992, I created a list of every course I had taken after high school, by title, in chronological order. The result offered a terribly distorted and superficial view of everything I had experienced and learned. But it was sort of fascinating nonetheless, the patterns and details providing subtle hints of the profound changes in my life and perspective. Now I’ve brought the list up to date. Here it is, from first (fall '84) to last (fall '09):
The American Novel
Physical Geography
Evolution of the Solar System and Earth
The Supreme Court
Statistics
Evolution of Life and Humans
Comparative Politics
Principles of Microeconomics
Humans and the Ecosystem
Introduction to Politics
Greek Views of Humanity
Principles of Macroeconomics
Advanced Microeconomic Theory I
World Politics
Nature of the Universe
Advanced Microeconomic Theory II
Freedom of Communication
Law and American Education
Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
Industrial Organization Theory
Constitutional Law I
Demise of the Dinosaurs
Public Finance
Economic Analysis of Laws and Legal Institutions
Money and Banking
Law and Public Administration
Independent Research in Political Science
Contemporary Moral Issues
Economic Models of Public Choice
Economic Models of Conflict Resolution
Introduction to Sociology
Philosophy of the Mind
International Finance
The Sixties: A Crucial Decade
Stars and Stellar Systems
Wage Theory
Government and Business
Economics of the Media
Microeconomics and Public Policy
Empirical Analysis I
Political and Organizational Analysis
Professional Responsibility [for Public Servants]
Public Speaking
Public Policy Workshop and Applications
Empirical Analysis II
Public Management
Conflict, Cooperation and Strategy
Introduction to Human Services, Labor and Education
Civil Procedure
Contracts
Torts
Property
Criminal Law
The Legal Process
Accounting
Environmental Law
Corporations
Introduction to Government and Business
Negotiation Analysis
Gender and Law
Evidence
Federal Income Taxation
Elective Politics
Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy
Constitutional Law II
Administrative Law
Professional Responsibility [for Lawyers]
Water Law
Advanced Legal Seminar on Global Climate Change
Seminar: Energy and Environmental Policy
Third Year Paper [Law]
Land Use
Public Lands
Introduction to Language, Literacy and Culture
Intercultural Pragmatics
Cyberspace, Culture and Society
Sociological Theory
Internship in Language, Literacy and Culture
Human Learning and Cognition
Construction of Race, Class and Gender
Topics in Language, Literacy and Culture: Community and Culture
Methods of Language, Literacy and Culture Research
Advanced Qualitative Methods
Research Proposal Seminar
]]>
I entered college as a freshman in fall 1984. My declared major was Political Science; my orientation was careerist; my worldview embarrassingly narrow. Over the years my horizons broadened. I...
http://cocreateumbc.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-higher-education.html
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ph-d
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Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:56:00 -0500
Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:56:00 -0500
Social Justice on Our Time
I remember how it felt to be a college student in the mid-1980s, when the memory of the Civil Rights Movement was more immediate and fresh in the minds of my elders. Students like me who hoped to make some significant contribution to the common good had to wrestle with the seeming insignificance of the issues of our own time. From my relatively cozy position of privilege (as a white, male college student largely insulated from the effects of poverty and discrimination), I daydreamed about confronting injustice as boldly as those who marched with MLK to Selma, Alabama or organized bus trips to register African-American voters in the South. But in the 1980s there did not seem to be many demons as obvious as segregationist governors blocking schoolhouse doorways or lunch counter owners posting “Whites only” signs.
Instead we had disputes about what seemed like smaller or more technical matters relating to racial justice: How to retool university admission policies to provide equal opportunity, or how to manage university retirement fund investments to avoid indirectly supporting South Africa’s racist government. Activist students sometimes reached back for what seemed like old-school tactics anyway, organizing teach-ins and confrontations that evoked Vietnam War protests. I understood the impulse, and often agreed with their positions, but frequently felt like the old playbook just didn’t fit. What I wanted was a chance to stand firm in the face of unambiguous, racist evil. Chanting with a crowd or taking over buildings seemed to require more outrage and certainty than I usually felt in connection with the nuances of university policy.
I can see how it would be possible to spend a lifetime waiting for outrage and certainty, and vaguely regretting that fate did not drop me as an adult into Martin Luther King’s time so I could link arms with him and march for a better world. But these days, even in the absence of racist governors holding fast to segregation, I think there are plenty of causes worth fighting for, and systemic injustices worth fighting against. Like those of the 1960s, today’s causes are matters of life and death, love and hate, riches and poverty. We live in a great nation in which there is nonetheless profound and entrenched inequality of opportunity, and in which access to fundamental institutions still hinges on immutable characteristics. There may not be many demonic oppressors to resist and overcome, but that just makes the work of taking an appropriate and effective stand for justice more complicated, not less important.
So, UMBC, what opportunities do you see to pursue social justice? What are the great causes of our time, and how will you take your stand?
]]>
I remember how it felt to be a college student in the mid-1980s, when the memory of the Civil Rights Movement was more immediate and fresh in the minds of my elders. Students like me who hoped to...
http://cocreateumbc.blogspot.com/2010/01/social-justice-on-our-time.html
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social-justice
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Co-Create UMBC
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Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:32:00 -0500
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:32:00 -0500
I spent five days (and four nights) last week at STRiVE 2010, UMBC’s student leadership retreat in the mountains outside of Frederick. I’m still feeling the effects of nonstop activity and too little sleep, but mainly I’m thrilled about the experience I had with the 45 student participants and my 10 co-facilitators (some of whom were students, some members of the UMBC staff). Most of us did not know each other when the week began, but the activities, stories and challenges we shared brought us all together in profound ways.
On the first night, the participants reflected on their ‘peak experiences’: those rare moments in their lives when they had felt most fulfilled and complete, and unafraid to reveal their true selves. For many of us, what we created together over the next four days was a shared peak experience. That is a part of what real leadership is about: Helping others to step beyond their everyday roles to tap their deepest passions and talents, and creating environments in which it is possible to transcend everyday constraints. 
By design, STRiVE 2010 incorporated features that often factor into people’s peak experiences. The setting was novel: a departure from familiar habits and routines. In the absence of all the cues that tend to lock them into their everyday ways of being, STRiVE participants and coaches were freed to explore and tap hidden dimensions of their personalities and potential. What emerged felt deeply honest and real.
