Click the link below to access PowerPoint slides from President Gary Forsee's Friday, March 6, Town Hall meeting on the Missouri S&T campus.

President Forsee's Town Hall meeting, March 6, 2009, Missouri S&T campus (PowerPoint slides)

President Forsee's presentation (PDF)

TO: Members of the University Community

FROM: Gary D. Forsee, President

RE: Gov. Jay Nixon's public higher education proposal

Gov. Jay Nixon took bold action this morning in support of public higher education and acknowledged the need for higher education to be accessible and affordable, particularly in these challenging economic times. While the state faces a significant budget shortfall this year and will be challenged to build a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2010, the governor has agreed to limit the impact on higher education and students. For the FY10 budget, he will recommend funding at the 2009 level in exchange for higher education's agreement not to increase tuition and required fees.

Gov. Nixon's proposed budget and tuition pact with Missouri higher education goes against the national trend by ending the cycle of reductions in state support to higher education followed by increases in tuition. The Missouri General Assembly must now consider the governor's recommendation for the Fiscal Year 2010 budget.

By making this early decision, Gov. Nixon affords the university the opportunity to plan for today's challenging economic environment and gives a measure of predictability for 2010.

As we begin work on the Fiscal Year 2010 budget, we will continue to implement plans for cost controls and the workforce freeze will remain in place. We will continue to review how we go about the mission of delivering on teaching, research, service and economic development, keeping our eye on quality but with a mandate in place for efficiency and accountability for results to all of our constituents. I expect these reviews to continue as scheduled and actions to continue to roll out over the next several months.

Thank you all for your continuing commitment to the university. The governor's action today is an indication of the role that higher education must play in our state to be part of the solution during this economic crisis. We should all be proud that public higher education continues to be recognized as a great investment that pays long-term dividends to Missouri.

We will continue to keep you informed regarding the status of the university's budget and additional actions that will be required of us in the coming year. In the meantime, we continue to welcome your thoughts and suggestions for ways to achieve even greater efficiencies. Suggestions can be made online through our budget suggestion boxes.

All S&T students, faculty and staff received the following email from President Forsee, Chancellor Carney and the chancellors of the other three UM campuses on Friday, Dec. 19.

Dear University Colleagues:

Yesterday we responded to the Missouri Department of Higher Education's request to provide budget scenarios reflecting a potential 15, 20 and 25 percent cut in state funding for our FY 2010 operating budget. Our response, which you can see at www.umsystem.edu/budgetnews, provides a broad overview of what potential funding cuts of between $60 million and $100 million could mean to our four campuses and our health sciences center.

Following up on President Gary Forsee's memorandum of Dec. 10, 2008 (see below), I want you to know that I am working with President Forsee and the other UM Chancellors, as well as our students, faculty and staff, to develop possible scenarios for dealing with a potential 15-25 percent budget reduction in our state appropriation.

Missouri S&T and the University of Missouri System are powerful economic engines for this state and our nation, creating a 5-to-1 return on every state dollar Missouri taxpayers have invested in us.  I assure you that Missouri S&T is committed to fulfilling our mission of solving the problems of the technological world, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that the quality of our core mission is protected as we weather this economic storm. President Forsee and I agree that the worst possible action the State could take during this time would be to reduce its investment in public higher education.

I welcome your insight and suggestions.  Please use this website to submit your constructive ideas for reducing the budget and managing the financial crisis.  Missouri University of Science and Technology is an outstanding institution and great resource for the State of Missouri and the nation.  We must ensure that we retain this distinction.

John F. Carney III, Chancellor

We all are reminded daily of the seriousness of the country's financial situation in all that we read, see and hear--and these same fiscal challenges are confronting our university.

Last week we learned that our state is facing an estimated $340 million shortfall in its budget through June 2009.  We have been asked to prepare scenarios describing how we might operate with drastically reduced state appropriations that could range between 15 and 25 percent for FY2010.   We typically receive more than $400 million in state funding, so these scenarios will reflect between $60 million and $100 million in potential budget cuts across our campuses.