College Budget Framework
In 2024, the leadership of the college has intensified its efforts to complete the reorganization of the college. The provost’s 2018 report on academic reorganization called for the creation of a new structure of divisional leadership in the college, with strong deans for the divisions of arts and humanities, natural sciences and social sciences who can determine budgetary and resource priorities, set academic focus priorities and, in collaboration with the dean of the college, advance the liberal arts imperatives of the college.
The new divisional structure requires that the college agree upon a “framework” for allocating funds by division. Properly constructed, a framework for budget allocations within the college reflects the rationale for the reorganization of the college—greater autonomy for each division—but balances that goal with acknowledgement of the fact that the college as a whole is stronger than a college that is divided, and that we have "common goods" that we value and want to support (such as student-success initiatives).
With a framework established, the college can more effectively focus on its core mission—delivering the best possible education for its students and enlarging the frontiers of human knowledge.
This page will include regular progress reports, and also features a webform that invites your comments on framework concepts.
Dear colleagues,
Welcome back to another promising semester in the College of Arts and Sciences. While much is the same, change, like fall, is in the air.
We are taking steps to complete the reorganization of the college. The provost’s 2018 report on academic reorganization called for the creation of a new structure of divisional leadership in the college, with strong deans for the divisions of arts and humanities, natural sciences and social sciences who can determine budgetary and resource priorities, set academic focus priorities and, in collaboration with the dean of the college, advance the liberal arts imperatives of the college.
This semester, a top priority for college leadership is defining a resource-allocation philosophy and methodology that enables the college and its divisions to be flexible and responsive to the needs of all students, staff and faculty. Since my appointment as interim dean on July 1, the deans of division, Vice Dean Amy Lavens, Assistant Dean Bernadette Stewart and I have collaborated on completing the preliminary steps that will enable us to create this budget framework. Our goal is to complete the budget framework by the end of December.
A second priority is to enhance transparency in decision-making. To that end, I will continue to meet with the Staff Advisory Council, and will meet regularly with the Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate and the ASFS budget committee. In addition, please join a college town hall on Sept. 24, 3-5 p.m., via .
Best wishes for an excellent start to the fall semester, and I look forward to working with you as we take our final steps toward the successful reorganization of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Sincerely,
Daryl Joji Maeda
Interim Dean
Dear colleagues,
As we have mentioned, college leaders are now working to continue our efforts to define a resource-allocation philosophy and methodology that will enable the college and its divisions to be flexible and responsive to the needs of all students, staff and faculty. We write to share an update on this work.
As Daryl Maeda, interim dean of the college, mentioned in a recent town hall, we have enlisted the services of the Huron Consulting Group to facilitate the final stages of the resource-allocation philosophy and methodology. Constructing an effective budget model requires difficult decisions about resource allocation, and professional assistance will help the college attain the best result. Leaders in the college and our partners at Huron met this month to agree on the scope and timeline of the project.
Key members of our CU Boulder budget framework team include Deans of Division Irene Blair, Sarah E. Jackson and John-Michael Rivera, Vice Dean Amy Lavens, Assistant Dean Bernadette Stewart and Interim Dean of the College Daryl Maeda. We are assisted by Anna Jensen, senior executive aide to the dean; Rob Stubbs, director of institutional research; and Todd Haggerty, vice chancellor and chief financial officer.
To ensure collaboration and transparency in the process, we will engage at each step with a budget framework shared governance group composed of representatives from the Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate, Staff Advisory Committee, and each divisional council. The representatives’ role will be to meet with the deans and Huron to provide feedback on key decisions within the process and to engage in two-way communication: to convey the process to their constituencies and to provide input/feedback to the deans.
Our goal is to complete the budget framework by the end of December, and during the next nine weeks, Huron will facilitate our efforts to select the best allocation framework and construct a college financial statement with the selected new framework, by providing options and honing our insights. However, as a college we will be the ones making decisions that reflect our priorities.
Our work will be guided by four principles. Our efforts should be:
- Mission-aligned and values-driven
- Clear and transparent
- Flexible and accountable
- Data-driven
As we bring this long-discussed work to fruition, we will provide weekly updates on this web page and, when we’ve made notable progress, via emails to the college. We will also convene college-wide town halls at key moments in the process. In the meantime, please share any observations, opinions or suggestions by completing this webform.
Thank you, as always, for your help, which is particularly appreciated as we take critical steps to ensure the long-term success of our college and its three divisions.
Sincerely,
Irene Blair, Dean of Natural Sciences
Sarah E. Jackson, Dean of Social Sciences
John-Michael Rivera, Dean of Arts and Humanities
Daryl Joji Maeda, Interim Dean of the College