College Update

From: Sanford Shugart
To: All Faculty and Staff
Date: 1/09/03  8:57 AM
Subject: Update

Welcome back to life in the fast lane! I know you are all very busy, but I'd like to establish the discipline of more frequent communication with all of you this year (one of my resolutions.) So here are just three items of information:

1. New Trustees. The Governor appointed two new trustees and reappointed two others in late November. Chairman Ed Moore and Dennis Freytes were both reappointed. Replacing Ms. Mathis, who moved to south Florida, is Mr. Lew Oliver. Mr. Oliver is an entrepreneur involved with several high tech ventures, including the mag-lev train project. He is also Chairman of the Orange County Republican Party. Replacing Ms. Miller is Mr. Ron Blocker, Superintendent of the Orange County Public Schools. I actively recruited Mr. Blocker, with whom I have worked closely, to further our already significant partnerships.

2. Faculty Hiring. The process for hiring the 2003 class of tenure track faculty has begun. In this period of significant economic uncertainty, most of our peer colleges in Florida are holding back on this. We can't afford to hold back. We are advertising to fill 52 positions. Of these 20 are replacements due to retirements and resignations; another 22 will replace four month positions, further reducing our dependence on temporary faculty positions; and 10 are positions added to improve our ratios and accommodate growth in key disciplines. I don't anticipate that the state will provide finding for these positions. In fact, the emerging budget picture in Tallahassee is pretty grim. These will be funded by putting every dollar freed up by retirements back into faculty positions and with some additional funding from growth in tuition revenue. Frankly, this is stretching our budget, but it is a very real priority for the college.

3. Budget and Politics. The inauguration is only a couple of days old, but the fanfare is over in Tallahassee and everyone is engaged in the serious work of trying to find a way to close what is estimated to be a $4 billion budget gap in the coming year. It is far too early to guess where this will go. I expect a deal to be cut to create more gambling revenue, at the least. There will be budget cuts and the university and community college systems are vulnerable. But there is also a chance that an agreement will be reached to generate more tax revenue, either through reforms or new taxes. I'll be surprised if there isn't a tuition increase, as well.

Rumors will abound, but in my statewide role as political leader of the Council of Presidents I will know more than most and will share all that I can. I meet with Governor Bush on Tuesday and also with Sen. Ken Pruitt, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Much of my time will be devoted to work in Tallahassee for the next four months. The good news is that in every way except the availability of new funds, we are in the strongest position we've been in for years. More later....

4. Thanks. Finally, many thanks to the staff who labored so hard through the fall to correct the problems with Atlas. We have made tremendous progress. I suspect we still have some way to go, but the systems are much more effective this term than last. The implementation of the admissions deadline, the new tools, a stronger enforcement of prerequisites, and other issues have combined to create some interesting results this term. As the dust settles and the data become available, we'll be processing and evaluating the impact of all this on student learning. I am most grateful to all who worked so hard to get us to this point.

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