Published on July 28, 2017

Colleagues,

The state of Missouri continues to face budget challenges and as a result, the university has experienced additional adjustments for our FY18 budget. Dr. Choi has asked that we make every effort to ensure we remain focused on our highest priorities despite these challenges. We know that the plans made for FY18 involved reductions and a tremendous amount of scrutiny on how to spend the resources allocated to your unit. We ask that you continue with your priorities and find ways to ensure resources are saved for the most demanding of needs. Following are some specific actions we will take on our campus to ensure that we are making the very best use of available resources.

In the next few days we will be sharing new guidance on filling positions that are newly created or become vacant, and position reclassifications to ensure that each position is evaluated for its strategic importance. In keeping with the President’s request, the Chancellor will approve the posting of all positions and position reclassifications. The specific process for requesting an approval will be provided soon.

We will release salary and wage guidelines for the coming year soon; they will allow for some limited salary increases. We ask that you work within your area to carefully evaluate faculty and staff throughout your organization. Please keep in mind the following factors when determining salary increases:

• Individuals should be engaged in high-priority work.
• Individuals should demonstrate exceptional performance.
• There should be evidence of significant market/retention concerns.

We will work diligently in the coming months to increase compensation levels where we are behind market. We will not make significant progress on compensation for the broad University population this year, so we ask that you think carefully about the coming year and put forward your most concerning instances. We will discourage any mid-year increases.

We understand that individuals are working hard to be diligent on these fronts, but we ask that you keep your organization vigilant in cutting costs that are not essential to delivering on our missions. As we spend money in the coming year, we need to carefully consider if the expenditure is an investment in our future, which includes improving student success, faculty research, engagement with our stakeholders, or administrative/support efficiency. In many areas we can help maximize our resources by standardizing our approaches and consolidating functions.

Dr. Gibler, Vice Chancellor for Finance, will be working closely with the Chancellor, Provost, division of finance team members and fiscal officers to devise plans for ongoing conversations and interactions regarding financial performance. Expectations for additional reporting and meetings for this purpose will be determined based on volumes, risk and variances from booked budgets.

Please share any suggestions and/or questions with us and know that these items will be discussed at upcoming leadership meetings.

We are in challenging times and have had to make some very difficult personnel decisions, with more to come. We appreciate all you do to make Mizzou a quality institution that serves as a great place to live, learn and work.

Sincerely,

Alexander Cartwright
Chancellor Designate

Garnett Stokes
Interim Chancellor and Provost

Rhonda Gibler
Vice Chancellor for Finance