College is operating with its own limited budget to cut costs

As the university adopts a new budget model to fit the problematic economic climate, the College of Technology will not see any major cutbacks.

Interim dean Verna Fitzsimmons said the College of Technology has been operating with its own internal, restricted budget model, similar to the one recently adopted by university administration.

“When it comes to cutbacks, what we’re going to be looking at is: Are we doing stuff that we shouldn’t be doing? Are there processes we’re doing we shouldn’t be involved with? If we can say yes to some of those, then we’ll make some adjustments there,” Fitzsimmons said.

If cutbacks are unavoidable, students will not be affected by the change, she said. Classes will not be cut because of the switch to the Responsibility Center Management budget adopted by university administration, and professors will take over new classes if the need arises.

“The one thing I have to emphasize is that we are focused on not harming the student or the program,” Fitzsimmons said. “And so, if we do need to eliminate part-time people, we would be looking at our non-tenure and our tenured and tenure-track faculty to pick up those classes. So, number one in our minds is the students and the programs can’t get hurt.”

While some professors and faculty members might see the downside to the change to RCM, technology professor Michael Dragomier sees the advantages to the new model.

“It will reward those who do the job and not reward those who don’t do the job,” he said.

Fitzsimmons said her college is accustomed to closely watching its budget.

“Because of the previous model, the College of Technology didn’t have a very large budget, and so we’ve always been very aware of where our dollars are spent and where our revenues come from,” Fitzsimmons said. “We’ve always been aware of that. So from that perspective, RCM is no different. It’s like you keeping track of your own checkbook. You know how much money’s coming in; you know how much money you’re able to spend.”

Fitzsimmons is also looking at the advantages of RCM and thinking of how to improve the college through this change.

“We’re in a better position to direct our own future now,” she said. “So as our enrollment grows, obviously our revenues will grow. That allows us to hire more faculty and to allow the college to grow.”

Contact College of Technology reporter Adam McParlane at [email protected].