In her first annual address to the faculty on April 3, Vicky Wilkins, acting provost and chief academic officer, detailed the opportunities and challenges facing the university.

“We are doing great things at American University,” she said. “We’ve had leadership that’s pressed us forward for years now, and we’re on the cusp of new and better things all the time.” 

Even still, “there’s work ahead,” Wilkins said. 

Over the last year, the university has thoughtfully examined how it’s operating today and the changes that are necessary to position AU to thrive in the future. Wilkins spoke candidly and engagingly about the state of AU and provided updates on academic affairs, including budget, enrollment and retention, the workforce assessment, and more.

In a subsequent community message sent April 4, Wilkins, Bronté Burleigh-Jones, CFO, vice president and treasurer, and Seth Grossman, vice president of administration and chief administrative officer, detailed the important ongoing work that will help chart the future of AU.

Here are some highlights from Wilkins’s address:

Budgeting

Changes in enrollment have shifted the financial realities of the university and lower than expected graduate enrollment has contributed to a budget deficit. 

• Work is ongoing to realign AU’s budget, including through optimizing the graduate program portfolio to offer the highest quality educational opportunities in areas of high demand. 

Workforce Assessment

The university is currently examining its workforce structure and the workload of staff to improve how AU works for the future. 

• Valuable information was gathered from Huron on operations through surveys of 1,600 staff and faculty, focus groups, and interviews with 150 people across academic and administrative units. This data will inform AU’s talent strategy, optimize operations, and enhance technology, data, and processes. 

• AU’s benefit programs are also being assessed in comparison to market benchmarks and collecting community input to explore ways to continue to support the workforce.

Fundraising and Research Dollars

Fundraising and sponsored research are key to AU’s efforts to decrease its dependency on tuition dollars.

• Noting contributions from across campus, Wilkins anticipated that AU will be designated an R1 doctoral university when the next rankings are released by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in 2025. 
• So far in fiscal year 2024, AU has raised $33 million for research, including a $9 million surge in the third quarter. 

Enrollment and Retention

Faculty play a role in ongoing efforts to better support students. 

• Faculty can promote retention by connecting and checking in with students, attending campus events, and engaging students in research.
• Faculty can support graduate enrollment by connecting with prospective students in their fields, attending and speaking at admissions events, and opening their classes to prospective students. 

Awards and Recognition

Wilkins highlighted about 30 examples of faculty accomplishments over the last year, including important research awards and promotions. 

• CAS professor Stacey Snelling was awarded a $2.8 million grant from Novo Nordisk to combat food insecurity in DC.
• An interdisciplinary team of AU faculty received a $5.7 million National Science Foundation Accelerating Research Translation grant. 
• Kogod’s Ron Hill, WCL’s Ira Robbins, and SOE’s Vivian Vasquez were promoted to distinguished professor. 
• SIS’s Susanna Campbell, SPA’s Nathan Favero, and CAS’s Bei Xiao were named provost associate professors, an honorific title for exceptional scholarship. 

Read more about how AU is charting our future together in the April 4 community message.