The University Budget Committee will serve as an advisory body to the Provost, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and President, and is charged with the review of all budget assumptions and plans at all stages of the process both for administrative and support areas and for all academic units. This includes the annual budget preparation and rolling five-year budget plan. The committee also recommends to the Provost and CFO changes in the processes, rules and exemptions governing allocations, funding, initiatives, indirect cost recovery, and tuition sharing among and across the university and its constituent units. It will take a university rather than school viewpoint in all of its deliberations and recommendations. The Provost will make appointments to the UBC based on expertise and commitment. The UBC will provide periodic reports to the Faculty Senate Budget Committee (FSBC) which will be shared with the members of the Faculty Senate. The Chair of the UBC will be invited to join the CFO and the Chair of the FSBC in periodic meetings with the Chair of the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees.
The UBC will have ten members appointed by the Provost in consultation with the Chair of the Faculty Senate for staggered terms of 2 years. The membership will include six tenured, full-time faculty members, a business officer selected from one of the eight schools, the Vice President for University Planning, the Vice President for Financial Planning, and one dean. The chair of the UBC will also attend meetings of the FSBC. The Provost will designate one faculty member as Chair of the UBC.
The FSBC serves as the representative body of the faculty to the CFO and the Finance Committee of the University’s Board of Trustees regarding all financial matters including but not limited to [a] operating plans, forecasts and review of results, [b] capital expenditures, [c] capital financing, debt ratings and use of endowment, [d] investment performance, and [e] financial integrity and audit. It receives regular reports from and provides input to the UBC on behalf of the faculty. [Review and keep bylaw description of membership and school representation. The chair of the UBC also serves as an ex officio member of the FSBC and the primary liaison reporting at each meeting on issues and progress of the UBC.
The UBC functions as an advisory body to the Provost with a broad university perspective and an intensive involvement in the budgetary process. Their tasks are split broadly between [a] implementing the provisions of the Budget System Review Committee especially concerning structural problems at the intersections among central and the various schools and [b] more intensive involvement in the year around budget process. To make this work, this committee is small and involves both faculty and administration.
UBC membership is based on expertise rather than representation; thus, members are not elected or appointed by the schools or the Faculty Senate but by the Provost with guidance from the Chair of the Faculty Senate. Members are tenured professors with some knowledge and expertise relevant to the task and enough independence to be effective advisors to the Provost, CFO and President regarding budgetary matters on a real-time basis. Other members are selected from the ranks of non-faculty with demonstrated ability to manage and think broadly about the issues.