Dear AU Community,

As AU enters several inflection points over the coming months and year, the university has spent this year seeking to understand how AU is operating today and what changes are necessary to position AU to best navigate–and thrive–in the future. Thank you to so many members of the community who have provided input through different channels to support this work. We are continuing this engagement and want to update you on this work and future opportunities for input.

Higher education is also at an inflection point, with challenges in enrollment and changing demands on the value proposition sought by students and families. While no decisions have been made, we know changes are needed to address this reality. We also know that the AU of tomorrow will look different from the AU of today. The implications for any individual area of the university will be determined through data, analysis, and, most importantly, community consultation and input.

This work is guided by our missions and our commitment to students, scholarship, andcommunity—and our responsibility to maintain AU’s financial health for future generations of Eagles. To offer the highest quality education, deliver value to students and families, and compete in a market where students have more choices than ever, we have to align our work, ourstructure, and how we deploy resources to current realities and future opportunities.

As we have shared throughout the year, the university’s financial realities have shifted based on changes in enrollment. In the face of these financial challenges, we have continued to increase investments in our people through growing commitments to financial aid for students and compensation and benefits for faculty and staff. While we have carefully managed resources, continuing to only reduce spending at the margins in other areas is not a sustainable long-term approach and it will not allow us to continue making necessary future investments, including in our people.

So, what does this all mean? We must prioritize where we put our emphasis and resources to beeffective and efficient. To prioritize effectively, we also must stop doing some things. This is about shaping the next 10 years for AU, including how we deliver a unique educational experience that meets the needs of current and future students, continue to grow revenue, and provide competitive compensation and benefits that support our faculty and staff. 

To change and align effectively, we need the best possible information. We are engaged in rigorous assessments of our programs, how we deliver services, and our revenue and expenses. We also need the perspectives of our faculty and staff—those engaged every day in AU’s critical work. Your input is being collected in three ways, in addition to the regular means of consultation:

• Huron Consulting helped us obtain information from our staff and faculty who supervise staff about their work.

• NFP/Helios is studying ways to enhance our comprehensive benefits.

• The provost’s office is working with the deans, the schools and colleges, and the Faculty Senate to review and optimize our graduate program portfolio.

We want to discuss each of these workstreams, what they will help us accomplish, and address incorrect or incomplete information that has circulated.

First, Huron Consulting only helped us gather information from our workforce, conduct analyses, and benchmark our operations to external best practices. The engagement included a survey of all staff and faculty who supervise staff (more than 1,600 people). Interviews and focus groups directly engaged more than 150 people across academic and administrative units. Huron made no decisions about our workforce or our structure, and, indeed, at this time, the university has made no decisions about our workforce or our structure. Our work and decisions are ahead of us. Huron’s work at other institutions does not reflect their work here or predict any outcomes. We are grateful for all who participated in these information-gathering activities. They have produced valuable insights––including into how work is distributed at AU, how employees spend their time, and opportunities for improvement––that will inform our planning efforts going forward.

NFP/Helios is assessing our benefit programs in comparison to market benchmarks and collecting community input. The benefits survey was sent to all faculty and staff, who had the opportunity to contribute their views that will help us better understand how our benefit programs are working and explore ways to continue supporting our workforce. The information collected will contribute to informed decisions about future benefit offerings in collaboration with the University Benefits Committee and other faculty and staff representatives.  

The graduate program portfolio review is a shared governance effort with the deans, program directors in the schools and colleges, the Faculty Senate Graduate Curriculum Committee, and the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies. We are exploring how we can offer the highest quality educational opportunities in areas where we have extensive and unique strengths and in disciplines that are in high demand in the marketplace. Building on the expertise of our faculty members and strategic investments we made in key areas of focus will help attract students and provide value as our graduates move into their careers. The review is looking at the economics of individual graduate programs, enrollment trends, graduation rates and career placements,program connections to grants and partnerships, and the distinctiveness of courses, among other factors. The goal is to continue providing an unparalleled educational opportunity for students in ways that maximize our academic strengths and resources.

These three assessments––and the faculty and staff input at the heart of each of them––are part of developing our path forward. We are collecting and analyzing information now. After we complete the FY25 budget in the coming weeks, these assessments will help inform planning for the upcoming FY26-27 budget cycle, which will include widespread consultation with staff and faculty, as well as students, as it does every budget cycle. We have many more steps to take together as we create the right structures and strategies for AU. 

Thank you for your engagement, input, and commitment to our mission and our future.

 

Sincerely,

Vicky Wilkins
Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer

 

Bronté Burleigh-Jones
CFO, Vice President, and Treasurer

 

Seth Grossman
Vice President of Administration and Chief Administrative Officer