Beyond the Budget: The Challenge to Create Our Future

The budget crises affecting our nation and state have trickled down to the state universities and our college as well. Over the past year the College has been presented with what I like to think of as an interesting challenge: we were asked to cut a significant portion of our budget.

Our response to this challenge has been to work closely with departmental leadership and the faculty to make the necessary adjustments and to keep our focus on a long-term vision for the College.

We are in the midst of a multi-year planning process to lay the groundwork for the future of the College. As a first step, all faculty members were invited to a half-day strategy retreat in June to identify core programs and brainstorm about opportunities in our teaching, research, and outreach missions.

The question at hand was: How can we build and strengthen our College, assuming there will be no new infusion of state funds?

At the retreat, faculty were challenged to develop strategies to best utilize current resources. The discussions centered around three themes: trends in veterinary students and the profession; opportunities for expanding our resources and interdisciplinary activities; and realigning College infrastructure for greater effectiveness.

As we look to the next 10 to 15 years it will be important for the college to have a significant and visible presence in the Chicago area. We will need to provide more diverse educational experiences for our professional and post-graduate students, opportunities for faculty to expand their case-based scholarly activity, and improved referral service and continuing education to the veterinary community and animal owners. We are currently looking at several alternatives to establish a Chicagoland specialty referral clinic. We look forward to working closely with our colleagues in that area as more details are announced and the referral clinic becomes a reality.

In addition to this venture, many other plans and goals are being set for elevating our research, teaching, and service programs. One major initiative is to identify significant programmatic support for endowed professorships in such areas as reproductive biology, oncology, infectious disease, and production animal medicine. We will also begin a planning process to evaluate needs for remodeling and expansion of our teaching hospital and basic sciences building.

As we begin to implement these plans, it is clear that direct state funding cannot provide adequate financial support for the type of program that our College aspires to be. Strengthening ties with partners on campus, e.g., in new initiatives in bioengineering and the post genomics institute, is an important strategy for ensuring future growth.

But ultimately, private, corporate and foundation support will be essential for our program to maintain critical mass and develop as a high-level teaching and research facility.

We will look to our graduates and friends for their participation in identifying potential sources of funding and opportunities for growth. I welcome your comments and ideas.

The budget concerns of today must not color our vision for the College. We must plan for the future now, and develop strategies for achieving our goals.