Inside Iowa State

Dec. 09, 2005

Second budget model report expected next month

by Anne Krapfl

Work continues this month on the process to develop a new budget model for Iowa State. The 10-member Budget Model Development Committee is meeting weekly and expects to submit a second report to the university community shortly after spring semester begins. (A first report was completed in mid-October and is online at http://www.iastate.edu/~budgetmodel/reports/101905.report.shtml.)

In September, President Gregory Geoffroy asked the group to develop a budget model for the university that stimulates progress on the university's new strategic plan, encourages multi-year planning, responds to student enrollment patterns and offers more flexibility.

Mark Chidister, assistant to the president for budget planning and analysis and chairman of the committee, said the next report will include refined objectives for what a new budget model should achieve and a first draft of a conceptual budget model.

Part of the committee's work now, he said, is to discuss the questions it raised in its first report and address the comments and questions submitted from university community members in the first round of feedback.

Committee members also are assembling five years of ISU data -- budget and other -- that will be used in budget simulations.

The goal is to create and test a new budget model by July 1, 2006, and use next fiscal year to prepare for full implementation by July 1, 2007, for fiscal year 2007-08.

"When the second report is released, the entire university community will again be invited to provide input that will help us move to the next stage of development," Chidister said.

Members of the committee are:

Mark Chidister, assistant to the president, committee chair

Michael Crum, associate dean, Business college

Rick Dark, associate professor of finance, Faculty Senate liaison

Doug Epperson, associate dean, LAS college

Todd Holcomb, associate VP, student affairs

Kevin Kane, program manager for IT Services, P&S Council liaison

Mark Kushner, dean, Engineering college

Johnny Pickett, associate VP, business and finance

Ellen Rasmussen, assistant provost for budget, facilities and finance

Darin Wohlgemuth, director of research enrollment, enrollment services

"When the second report is released, the entire university community will again be invited to provide input that will help us move to the next stage of development."

Mark Chidister