Provost and Executive Vice President Riley-Tillman shared a message with faculty and staff system-wide regarding budgeting and potential freezes in the midst of a rapidly-changing federal landscape as well as potential state funding reductions.
Washington State University is continuing to monitor and evaluate potential impacts of federal actions being taken. Updates can be found on the university’s Office of Research federal funding updates website as information becomes available.
The text of Riley-Tillman’s Feb. 10 email is below:
Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,
Executive Vice Presidents Brunelli and DeWald and I have consulted with both President Schulz and Incoming President Cantwell, and in order to be best equipped for potential immediate financial challenges, we will start engaging with the Chancellors, Vice Presidents, and Deans throughout the WSU system to evaluate our budget with a focus on scenario planning for near-term futures where reductions are necessary. The federal landscape is shifting rapidly (such as the significantly reduced indirect cost rates published by the National Institutes of Health) and there is the potential of a state funding reduction. We know this means that we must have financial plans that best allow WSU to continue to meet its mission.
Our scenarios will encompass a range of possibilities, including potential hiring freezes, travel freezes, carry-forward reductions, and permanent reductions to core funding. All options need to be discussed to ensure WSU’s ability to respond quickly and with agility.
We are all committed to remaining a strong RI institution with a complement of undergraduate and graduate degree programs that serve our historic land-grant mission. We will focus on and preserve our strengths — and we believe that scenario planning in advance of a time when fiscal realities may require contraction is the best way to engage our community in thinking about choices that may need to be made.
We will be as transparent as possible and are working on the form and format of regular and ongoing communication regarding the drivers of these realities and our scenario-planning process. We know this is challenging, and acknowledge the anxiety some of you may feel. This is one of those moments, however, where we believe the best future of WSU lies in honestly assessing and choosing our own future rather than having it thrust upon us. Thank you in advance for your participation, thoughts, and ideas as we continue to navigate the moment.
Sincerely,
Chris
T. Chris Riley-Tillman
Provost and Executive Vice President
Washington State University
French Administration Building, Room 436
PO Box 641046
Pullman, WA 99164-1046
509-335-8915
chris.riley-tillman@wsu.edu
