Jun 22, 2012
Regents President Identifies $5.5 Million in Central Office Savings
President Robert A. Kennedy announced through central office personnel savings, at least 40-45 new tenure-track faculty and direct student support positions will be funded.
“Through the streamlining and flattening of management and administrative positions at the newly consolidated Board of Regents office, we were able to realize $5.5 million in savings from the last fiscal year to this upcoming fiscal year, which will go back to the campuses,” said President Kennedy. “This funding will be allocated for tenure-track faculty and direct student service positions, such as counselors or advisors, which is a need I’ve heard on every single campus I’ve visited.”
“When we reorganized our state’s higher education system, one of our primary goals was to generate savings that would be directly reinvested where it would do the most good – in services and resources for students,” said Governor Dannel P. Malloy. “Thanks to the terrific work of Bob Kennedy and the Board of Regents, we’re meeting that goal in exceptional fashion. Today’s announcement will ensure that the students at our state colleges and universities get the most out of their education, so they can compete with their peers in the 21st Century economy.”
The Board of Regents approved President Kennedy’s concept which would fund 16 positions at the state universities; 19 positions at the community colleges; and hold back funding for anywhere between five and ten additional positions which will be available to those colleges and universities which propose a way to use the positions to increase collaboration and partnership between the campuses. “Some of our colleges and universities are in the same city, and others are across the state from one another,” said President Kennedy. “But we need to become more adept at helping our students more efficiently and effectively transfer between our institutions in pursuit of a certificate or degree. These positions will help strengthen existing programs and partnerships or perhaps create new ones where they don’t currently exist.”