Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
May 24, 2002

Newlin: Stick to strategic plan

by Linda Charles
The state budget situation is worsening, Owen Newlin told the Faculty Senate May 7, and the university must look to its strategic plan for guidance during these difficult financial times.

"I believe strategic plans are most effective not only during good times, but especially during difficult times, times when difficult choices must be made," he said. "That's when you must make strategic decisions that preserve the core mission, the core vision, the core functions and the core responsibilities.

"It's been a difficult year for the budget, and not just for the regent universities, but for all of education, all of state government, and all of Iowa -- the public sector, business, agriculture and manufacturing," Newlin said.

Newlin noted since 1981 there has been a steady shift in the balance between what the state pays for higher education through appropriations and what students pay through tuition.

"This trend, I believe, is contrary to the Iowa tradition of a strong and publicly supported education and to what the people of Iowa want."