Cornell President Hunter Rawlings, in his final address to staff members last week, acknowledged that it was a time of potentially unsettling changes but reaffirmed the overall strength of the university and the importance of the role nonacademic employees play in university life.
"I want to stress that Cornell remains a strong and intellectually robust university," Rawlings told the packed roomful of employees at the annual Employee Forum Oct. 16 in James Law Auditorium, Schurman Hall. "We made the transition to the 21st century seamlessly -- with our academic priorities clearly defined, our budget in balance and with a dedicated and committed staff. We continue to recognize the contributions of our nonacademic employees and their importance to the university's future."
He pointed to the Employee Assembly, sponsor of the forum, which has worked hard on behalf of staff members and was a key force in the development of Cornell's new child-care scholarship program. He called the program a "resounding success" that is being widely used to help Cornell staff members afford quality child care.
But he stressed that the university faces serious challenges and said he wanted to put current and pending changes, particularly those concerning state funding and workforce planning, into perspective.
Rawlings pointed out that New York state has suffered two successive years of negative revenue growth in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, and due to falling Wall Street prices. State funding issues have forced layoffs in the contract colleges, he said, particularly in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), and the university may face additional reductions in the contract colleges as a result of the upcoming election. That could have a further impact on staffing in those colleges, he added.
Workforce planning at Cornell, he explained, is a separate matter -- related but not tied directly to state funding issues.
"Workforce Planning was not conceived to deal with short-term problems," Rawlings said. "It is intended to provide resources to accomplish the university's academic program priorities and to ensure a balanced operating budget for the long term. ...
"We have announced our intention through Workforce Planning to reallocate $20 million from nonacademic costs to academic and institutional priorities by the fiscal year 2004-05. The strategic priorities include continuation of our goals to improve the competitive pay position of our staff. This has been an explicit goal for the past several years, and we have made considerable progress to date. Continued progress on this front remains a priority for the university.
"The priorities also include some new academic initiatives, which are designed to keep Cornell at the forefront of academic institutions, as well as the continued excellence of existing academic programs."
Rawlings said there are four reasons for addressing the university's workforce needs now, including:
"We expect workforce planning to lead to more clearly defined roles, responsibilities, standards of performance and accountabilities," Rawlings said. "We think our support systems will become more agile and responsive to changing needs and that staff workload will become more reasonable, rewarding personally and well compensated.
"We must measure effectiveness not only from a university perspective, but also from the perspective of individual staff members. Clearer definition of responsibilities should increase the chance for staff to achieve success in their jobs."
Rawlings acknowledged that $20 million is a lot to reallocate, but put it in perspective; it represents approximately 1.4 percent of the Ithaca campus operating budget and just 5 percent of nonacademic staff salaries and benefits. He said that in a typical academic year, Cornell's turnover rate, due to attrition, retirement and other factors, is higher than 5 percent.
"We hope to carry out a substantial amount of this reallocation as a result of normal turnover in university staff," he added.
He also noted that while some current positions may be eliminated as a result of workforce planning, others are likely to be added to support academic and institutional priorities such as the New Life Sciences Initiative. Further, he said, the university is committed to helping those whose jobs are eliminated find other work.
"I am happy to report that in CALS, which has been forced to lay off some staff members as the result of state funding losses, we have already placed five individuals on layoff status in other positions at Cornell, and we are working on the others," Rawlings said.
Cornell staff members are an adaptable group, he said, and that will be helpful in easing the changes that Workforce Planning may require. He pointed to the many participants in employee degree programs, who have learned to successfully balance work, family and academic responsibilities in earning their degrees. And he pointed to the excellent reputation being earned by the Cornell workforce outside the university, most recently by an external group that evaluated one of the new Centers for Excellence.
And Rawlings praised staff in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, which is undergoing a major reassessment that could alter its academic and administrative operations. "It is a stressful time for everyone associated with the college, and there are still many unknowns," he said. "Yet virtually everyone we spoke with framed concerns about the proposed reorganization not in personal terms but in terms of its impact on students and on the welfare of the college as a whole. They offered constructive ideas, interesting suggestions and had a real sense that Cornell can benefit from this process."
In concluding, Rawlings reiterated that these are difficult times not only for Cornell, but also for the state, the nation and the world. But, he added, "I know from seven and a half years of working with you, that you are up to this task. And that Cornell will emerge from the current period of adjustment a more agile, effective, responsive university -- and a true leader among the great research universities of the world. ... We deeply appreciate the job you do every day of the week. Thank you very much."
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