CUNY Master Plan

CUNY Correspondence

I am delighted to report that we again have the opportunity to apply for funds for the 2007-2008 academic year via the CUNY Compact.

As you may recall, the 2006-2007 budget presented a new opportunity for CUNY and Hunter College in the CUNY Compact. The Compact is a comprehensive multi-year financing partnership among the state, city, and constituents of the university designed to secure the university adequate funding. Last year, Hunter College was asked to submit a plan and priorities for approximately $4.5 million of additional funding in categories and areas broadly determined by CUNY--3.4 in new monies, the remaining 1.1 million in philanthropy and efficiency savings. In an effort to consult as widely as possible with the entire Hunter College Community, the President formed an advisory committee to assist with this task. Additionally, we studied information gathered by the college about the needs of departments, centers, units and schools, including academic program reviews, departmental annual reports, and the requirements of accrediting bodies. Our broad spending plan was approved, and we were awarded $3.4 million in new funds that will be provided on an annual basis.

We plan to reprise the Compact Committee, which included representation from the four Schools, Library, Senate, FDA, CLT, HEO Forum, USG, and GSA, as well as the Vice President for Student Affairs and Assistant Vice President for ICIT. It will be-chaired by Associate Provost David Potash and Acting Vice President for Budget and Finance James Wang. Its charge is to review our current Compact plans and to make recommendations about processes for future actions. Our long-term goal is to use the compact and other monies to focus on concerns and issues important to all of us: insuring an excellent education for all Hunter students and the pursuit of outstanding scholarship and research by our faculty.

The funding is based on the CUNY Senior College Allocation Model and includes seven programmatic categories. They include:

• Flagship Environment
• Fostering a Research Environment
• Academic Support
• Student Services
• Workforce and Economic Development
• Information Management Systems
• Upgrading Facilities Infrastructure

The deadline for submitting a programmatic request to CUNY is October 30, 2006. Before October 30th, we would like to meet with the committee to discuss the parameters of the request and solicit ideas from the Hunter community. In addition, CUNY has requested colleges reflect the integration of three important system-wide initiatives: The Campaign for Success, The Decade of Science, and the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.

In order to accomplish this task, I am asking for your help to appoint individuals to this committee. The proposed committee is as follows: