Dear UW-Green Bay Faculty and Staff,
This message serves as a follow up to the email I sent on November 16 regarding our new University Strategic Priorities while also sharing recent decisions regarding compensation.
Starting with compensation, I have tasked the Position Review Committee (PRC) with spending $75,000 of base funding this year to begin to address compensation on our campuses for faculty and staff. This funding does not come from savings from the furloughs this year. Those funds were used to mitigate the effects of the one-time budget lapses that we took as a result of the pandemic. This additional $75,000 will be used to address equity issues and competitive market factors. It will also address some staff compensation issues that could arise as a result of the Title and Total Compensation project that is happening at UW System. The $75,000 is in addition to the 2% UW System pay plan increase that is anticipated to be given in January to all eligible employees. While this is not enough to fix the compensation problems across the institution, it is what we can currently invest and sustain going forward without putting the organization at risk. The PRC will also determine a long-term strategy for compensation adjustments that can be carried out as funding is available in the future and as we continue to grow. We will examine this annually and will continue to work hard to address compensation issues as funding allows.
In addition, we will provide $1.5 million to support the six strategic priorities with the intention to spend or encumber those funds over the next 18 months. This is not money that recurs each year and cannot be used for permanent salaries, but can support projects and temporary project employees. The money is from our reserves and can be used as a result of the great work we have done in recruiting, retention, and fiscal management. The funds will be distributed with the following guiding principles:
- Ideas from faculty, staff, and campus leaders for how to use the funding should be sent to the leaders of the strategic initiative you are looking to support by January 29 via this online form.
- Collaborative ideas that advance the priorities broadly across the University will be prioritized over ideas that are more narrowly focused to a particular unit. Think in terms of large scale projects and ideas that could be transformational. We need to utilize the collective knowledge and creative energy of our faculty and staff to identify the best options to use this money in the most strategic way possible. Dream in tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars and not from a scarcity mindset.
- Leaders of the strategic priorities will take ideas and coalesce them into clear proposals with budgets to be presented to the Strategic Budget Committee by February 26.
- The Strategic Budget Committee, which has broad representation from faculty, staff, and administration, will make recommendations on the prioritization of the proposals by March 12 to the Cabinet.
I urge everyone to think big, think creatively, and think differently about how we can use these resources to support our mission. Have conversations that allow you to see problems as opportunities. Dream. I understand that there is some risk here. Because of who you are, I feel comfortable taking the risk and betting on the faculty, staff, and students of UW-Green Bay to use our momentum to create a bright and sustainable future for the University. This is a chance to make a meaningful difference to the future of UW-Green Bay.
Best,
Michael Alexander
Chancellor