THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
Resource Development Team Meeting
July 18, 2006Present: Martin Baylor, Patti Cutler, Lynda De La Viña, Mansour El-Kikhia, Dave Hernandez, Kerry Kennedy, Sonia Martinez, Janice Odom, Mary Simon Absent: Lunelle Anderson, Roxi McCloskey As the first business of the Resource Development Thematic Team, Marty Baylor was elected chair, and Janice Odom was elected secretary. Also, the "Guidance and Questions" documents provided in advance of the meeting by Provost Rosalie Ambrosino were reviewed. Much of the discussion at this organizational meeting revolved around process, with Dr. El-Kikhia suggesting that Kerry Kennedy's Resource Development Roundtable report from the Strategic Planning Retreat would be an appropriate point of departure for the Thematic Team's discussion. (The Chair will obtain a copy of that report from the Retreat organizers and share it with each member.) Ms. Martinez agreed with Dr. El-Kikhia, noting that Mr. Kennedy had done a very good job in his report of bringing together information on the University's various revenue streams. This was very helpful, she said, since part of the job of this team will be to manage expectations in regard to budget. Mr. Kennedy noted that the Resource Development Thematic Team is in an interesting position, since every thematic team will have financial needs. He suggested that the starting point for this group will be more "educational," since we will be dealing with others who may not fully understand "where we are, the main sources of revenue, how funds are allocated, and the fact that the University already has a six-year plan." Dr. De La Viña said that the team needs to identify innovative practices and innovative revenue sources at other universities. In a discussion about whose role it will be to prioritize needs, Mr. Kennedy said that, somewhere along the line, priorities will need to be set and that the role of the Resource Development Thematic Team would be to make recommendations toward that end. As a next step, Mr. Kennedy suggested that the team develop a fact sheet to be distributed to the other thematic teams that would include: * Sources of University income * Historical information * Trends that will impact resource development Mr. Kennedy said that this information would put an "umbrella of perspective" over all the Strategic Planning discussion. "Everyone needs to dream; something spectacular could come of that," he said, "but, still, we need some perspective from the beginning." He suggested doing some benchmarking with some peer universities in Texas and nationally. Dr. De La Viña also suggested that we compare ourselves to other institutions that are at stages of development/success that we should aspire to. Dr. El-Kikhia said that perhaps the team could get a couple of research assistants to help identify best practices at other institutions and to assist with other information gathering/analysis for the group. Both he and Dr. De La Viña offered support in this area. Ms. Martinez asked if there were metrics to help identify institutions that are innovative, efficient, etc. Mr. Kennedy said that there were a number of resources that we can look at in that regard. After much general discussion, and with the team's agreement, Mr. Baylor organized three sub-groups to gather information and provide a report, or points for discussion, on: 1. Key Management Indicators - Mary Simon will guide discussion 2. Educating the University Community (in regard to resource development; relates to fact sheet suggested above) - Patti Cutler will guide discussion 3. Innovation - Lynda De La Viña and Sonia Martinez will guide discussion Procedural issues raised: 1. Will there be a budget for the work of the thematic teams? (More specifically, will there be funds to bring in experts in particular areas of interest, for workshops, etc.?) 2. How will information from the other thematic teams be shared with this team? 3. What is our timeline? (A draft report from the team is expected by the end of the fall semester, according to the information provided by the Provost.) 4. Since UTSA is recruiting faculty from major universities throughout the country, we need to look to them to share any innovative ideas/best practices from their previous institutions. Mr. Kennedy noted that, in making this team's report to the Central Planning Committee on July 26, the Resource Development Thematic Team Chair should include some of the original discussion of the group from the Retreat roundtable. The next meeting of the Resource Development Thematic Team will be on August 8 at 9 a.m. in the Denman Room of the John Peace Library Building. |
August 8, 2006Present: Martin Baylor, Patti Cutler, Dave Hernandez, Janice Odom, Mary Simon Absent: Lunelle Anderson, Lynda de la Viña, Mansour El-Kikhia, Kerry Kennedy, Sonia Martinez, Roxi McCloskey Agenda Item: Updates from Sub-committees Key Management Indicators (Mary Simon) Discussion: Since the last meeting, Mary had collected information on what resources were already available to determine the key management indicators that would be used in the subcommittee's work. She identified key revenue sources, looked at expenditures, and visited by phone with Philip Aldridge with the UT System. Included in her review were the UT System's Financial Condition 2002-2005 document and UTSA's six-year forecast (2006-2012) and Compact. The goal, she said, is to be able to identify key indicators for (1) finance, (2) market, and (3) operations, to the extent possible. This will help establish benchmarks so that we can compare the University to others designated as peer institutions. Conclusions: We need to look historically at key drivers (how healthy are we?) and measure profit, leverage, and liquidity. The team's graduate student researchers, to be supplied by the College of Business, will be asked to try to find the same type of information from the peer group. Marty noted that we may want to get membership in one of the rating agencies and agreed to investigate the possibility. Patti suggested that we will also want to compare ourselves to the Texas Emerging Research Institutions. Action items: For now, Mary will concentrate her research on the 2002-2008 period. At the next meeting, she will identify ratios, define them, explain what they represent and the importance of each. Educating the University Community (Patti Cutler) Discussion: Patti reported that the fact sheet, the "University Funding 101 education piece," was almost completed and that Vice President for Business Affairs Kerry Kennedy was scheduled to review it by the end of the week. The team discussed how the information could be used to provide a "reality check" for the other teams as they go forward with their assignments. Conclusions: Dave, who had reviewed the fact sheet for Patti, noted that there is a real need on campus for this type of information to be shared with all employees. It was suggested that perhaps "University Funding 101" could be included in the new employee orientation in the future. Action Items: Marty and Patti will visit with the Steering Committee Chair Sandy Welch, after Kerry approves the draft, to determine how the information can best be shared so that it can provide a base concept of where we are and what we need to do. |