Posts Tagged ‘bruce’

Board of Trustees approves 2010-11 budget — again

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Benjamin Woodard // THE WESTERN FRONT

The third round of budget cuts for this fiscal year were unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees on Oct. 8. The supplemental budget reduces state funding by 6 percent, or just over $3 million. Read about the entire proposal here.

“I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve asked you to [approve] the 2010-11 budget,” Western President Bruce Shepard told the trustees. “It may not be the last time either.”

The Legislature will get their hands on the budget in January, and Western’s administration is concerned about how much more programs will be lost with additional cuts.

In this round, and the others, Western has protected core undergraduate programs, but lost graduate programs, including the Student Affairs Administration program. Read the full story here.

A trustee warned the board of “tremendous cuts” in January from the Legislature.

Listen to the Oct. 7 meeting here (part one) and here (part two), and the Oct. 8 meeting here (part one), and here (part two).

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New multi-year plan will help fund tenured faculty

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Benjamin Woodard // THE WESTERN FRONT

As result of budget cuts to this 2009-11 biennium budget, totaling more than $50 million, Western has not hired any new tenured faculty — while some positions have been eliminated to balance the budget.

Read about the cuts here, and some affected areas here.

In a statement released Sept. 27, Western President Bruce Shepard announced a multi-year plan to reinvest in tenured faculty. The first phase is worth $500,000. That money comes from savings and institutional cuts taken campus wide.

“Western’s reputation has been built on the lasting relationships that our students develop with their professors, the access that our students have to internationally recognized faculty, and the opportunities that our students have to work with their professors on research projects. Western’s future depends on our ability to replenish the ranks of our tenured and tenure-track faculty,” Shepard said.

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President Bruce Shepard believes Nord did no wrongdoing

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Benjamin Woodard // THE WESTERN FRONT

Bruce Shepard disagrees with the state auditors.

Their whistleblower investigation, released Sept. 13, found that Doug Nord was wasteful in his actions as the Executive Director for the Center for International Studies.

Nord resigned on his own will Sept. 1, but is still employed under the Provost’s Office to submit applications for external funding. Read the full story here.

Shepard said the report found “sloppy record keeping” but no malfeasance or fraud.

“It’s certainly not malfeasance,” Shepard said, “and it’s questionable to me whether it was wasteful or not.”

Shepard noted that what the state auditor found over the last year is old news because Western’s internal auditor found similar things in 2008, outlined in a 10-page audit report, released on Jan. 8, 2009. He said the administration since has put in systems for proper record keeping.

“The [state auditor] came in later, found the same things we had found — nothing new — and that’s what led to all the attention,” Shepard said. “It’s interesting to watch the degree of attention it has gotten.”

Listen to an excerpt of Shepard’s comments:

Bruce Shepard

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