University of Puget Sound is not immune to the financial and enrollment realities facing higher education nationally, and as campus leaders we have a responsibility to maintain the academic and financial health of the university. For this reason, I charged the AAAPR Committee with providing their recommendations for how best to balance the academic priorities and financial reality of the institution given the current $10 million structural budget deficit. I thoughtfully considered their recommendations in light of our strategic plan goals, shared their report with the campus community for additional feedback, and engaged in discussion with members of the Cabinet and the Board of Trustees. At the October board meeting, I presented, and the board unanimously approved, A Sound Future: Response, Recovery, and Renewal, which is the strategic roadmap that incorporated many of the Committee’s recommendations and included additional strategies necessary to address our budgetary reality. Not all of the AAAPR recommendations were included in A Sound Future because all efforts need to help address the $10 million structural budget deficit and the board was not persuaded that select recommendations helped to reach this goal. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to meet with leaders across campus to discuss our path forward and to receive additional feedback. In that spirit, I invite you to participate in the campus town hall on November 16, 2022, from 12:00- 1:30 p.m. in the Rotunda.
