Northeastern Voice

Academic enterprise front and center in 2009 budget

Senior Vice President Jack McCarthy, left, Provost Ahmed Abdelal and professor Carol Glod, chair of the Faculty Senate Agenda Committee, at Wednesday's budget presentation to the Senate. / JIM CHIAVELLI

Nearly three-quarters of the planned increase in operating expenses seen in the fiscal 2009 university budget will go toward the academic enterprise, senior officials said.

The $611.6 million spending proposal, which devotes $478 million to academics, is “a budget that we can be very proud of,” said Provost Ahmed Abdelal.

Nearly $8.5 million of that is devoted directly to the new Academic Plan, Abdelal and other officials noted.

University leaders said the plan was developed through the close collaboration of Abdelal and Jack McCarthy, senior vice president for administration and finance, whom President Joseph Aoun charged with putting the academic enterprise squarely at center stage. The two worked for months with key constituent groups to craft a proposal that moves the Academic Plan significantly forward and lays the groundwork for future advancement.

The proposal also calls for investments in infrastructure — including improvements to Blackman Auditorium and Curry Student Center, and a search for opportunities to add space off campus for academic offices and instruction space.

The proposed operating budget is 9 percent higher than the current year’s, reflecting not only heavily increased academic investment but higher health-insurance and utilities costs, noted McCarthy.

Officials said the budget reflects not a temporary shift toward academic spending, but the embodiment of long-term priorities that will set the tone for future fiscal plans.

Among the highlights of the proposed budget:

• The “merit pool” for faculty and staff pay increases will rise 3.5 percent. There will be another 1.5 percent increase for faculty salary market adjustments, and a .8 increase for staff salary adjustments.

“This is one of the healthiest and best compensation increases that we’ve had in years,” said Abdelal. “This will make it possible for us to be more competitive with our peer institutions.”

“Clearly, the university’s administration and the board recognize the significance of being as competitive as possible, in order for us to hire and retain the best faculty and staff,” Abdelal said.

• The budget will put $6.2 million into hiring 40 to 50 faculty over the coming year.

Abdelal said the funds will allow Northeastern to add “a significant number of associate professors” as well as assistants, to accelerate the gains already made under the Academic Plan.

“Through the Interdisciplinary Faculty Initiative, we’ll continue leveraging our strength in interdisciplinarity” to hire at senior faculty ranks, he said.

The money also supports five national searches for department chairs, and helps to “reduce reliance on part-time instructors” by adding more full-time faculty who are “more readily available to students,” the provost said.

• Undergraduate tuition will rise by 5.8 percent, which is “well within market range” for comparable private research universities, said McCarthy. Financial aid will be increased by 11 percent, bringing the effective increase for tuition, room and board to 5 percent.

The university’s tuition increases have been less, over the past five years, than nine of its 10 most closely matched peer institutions, McCarthy noted, and are currently lower than eight of the 10. (The peer institutions are those private universities with whom Northeastern most overlaps in student applications.

The financial aid increase is aimed at easing the needs of families with changing financial circumstances, noted Philomena Mantella, senior vice president for enrollment management.

• The university is exploring more opportunities for academic and administrative space, with the goal of “freeing up classroom and laboratory space” on the main campus, McCarthy said.

In response to students’ expressed priorities, the proposal also calls for adding an elevator and kitchen to the Fenway Center (formerly St. Ann’s Church), upgrading Blackman Auditorium’s sound and lighting systems and seating, and redesigning display spaces in Curry, along with other student center upgrades.

These upgrades are part of a transitional facilities plan, McCarthy said, that will take a comprehensive look at space needs, with a priority on classrooms and laboratories.

• Also in response to concerns raised by both undergraduate and graduate student governments, based on student surveys, the university plans to extend library and dining-hall hours, and add more furniture and vending machines to the Cyber Café. Students will also see a laundry subsidy; more “quick-print” stations at Info Commons; and expanded Study Abroad and Dialogues of Civilization opportunities.

Key elements of the proposal fiscal 2009 budget, as presented by Jack McCarthy, senior vice president.