The Nevada Sagebrush

Mandated budget cuts dominate new provost’s time

Although Marc Johnson became provost in June, his bookshelves remain empty and his desk cluttered. Since he’s taken the job, Johnson’s devoted his time to deciding the future of the university’s budget while Gov. Jim Gibbons orders cuts. Photo by Scott Barnett.

Provost Marc Johnson’s bookshelves are bare, except for one shelf that has binders labeled with the name of each college in the university. Books with titles like “A Fiscal Agenda For Nevada,”a laptop computer and stacks of papers crowd his desk. Boxes lay strewn across the office.

As he starts sorting through papers, Johnson explains the haphazard look of his office.

“It’s meetings, meetings, meetings until the state legislature meets and we find out what cuts we’ll be dealing with for the next biennium,”he said. “Maybe after that, I can hang up pictures of my wife and son.”

Since Johnson arrived at the University of Nevada, Reno to fill the provost position in June, he hasn’t had a chance to put up family photos or posters on the walls, or fill the shelves with books he’s collected through the years.

Instead, in the midst of budget cuts, he sits in meetings with administrators, faculty and community and student leaders to figure out what to cut from the university budget. As the provost, he’s the chief academic officer at the university and it’s his job to figure out how to save the university money.

First arriving

Johnson applied for the provost job in fall 2007, aware that Nevada was in the throes of a budget shortfall. It didn’t deter him from applying for the position. As then-dean of agricultural sciences at Colorado State University and a former professor at Kansas State University, he’d dealt with budget reductions before.

“Budget challenges are just another form of problem solving,”he said.

When Johnson arrived at the university in June, UNR had gone through one round of budget cuts, amounting in $9.5 million, and was in the middle of making more cuts due to a demand from Gov. Jim Gibbons. With low taxing and gambling revenues coming into the Nevada economy, there was less state money to go around to the state agencies, including UNR.

Johnson was thrown in from the beginning, working with UNR President Milton Glick and other administrators to begin reviews of the “fat that could be trimmed off of the university’s edges.”

His first steps to begin that process were to involve all those included in the cuts, from other administrators like the vice provosts and budget director, to the deans and faculty chairs.

Glick said Johnson engaged several people in his decisions.

Faculty Senate Chair Bill Follette described Johnson as a “collaborative force.”

“He takes the faculty senate’s suggestions into account and keeps us well-informed on what he’s doing,”Follette said. “We’re interested in preserving the same thing – the university’s academic mission. No one is in opposition to what he has to do, because they understand he’s working to make sure we don’t lose the essentials.”

Stages of ‘grief’

For Johnson, continuing the university’s mission was met with some difficult decisions.

Less than a month after Johnson started at the university, Glick held a town hall meeting warning of more cutbacks. Gibbons told state programs they would need to prepare for another round of 14-percent cuts for the next biennium, which would begin on July 1, 2009.

To prepare for such a setback, administrators would have to send out notices of non-renewal to faculty members to let them know their positions would be eliminated to save money for the cuts.

By removing positions, administrators would also be removing some university programs, ranging from the student Career Counseling center to the university marching band.

When programs and positions are cut, Johnson said he sees people experience the stages of grief.

“Everyone applauds that I’m taking action and then I focus on one program,”Johnson said.

It begins with denial, when the program is first being cut, he said. Those who are a part of the program don’t want to believe that the cut will actually happen.

Next comes anger, when people reach out to the media and the Board of Regents to protest the cut.

“They said, ‘I understand you have to cut, but you can’t cut my program,’ “he said.

Eventually, people are sad about the cuts before they accept that it has to be done.

“People begin to understand that we have big cuts to make, worth millions of dollars,”he said.

Johnson said he’s experienced a range of emotions throughout the process. The most extreme case came from the announcement that the marching band would be cut. That announcement brought hundreds to Glick’s next town hall meeting, inspired Reno Mayor Bob Cashell to lead a fundraiser for the band and resulted in several letters penned to the university administration about what a mistake they’re making.

But despite all that, Johnson stands by the decision.

“It’s a funny notion that you can’t have a university without a marching band,”Johnson said. “We want students to graduate. The cuts we’ve made will ensure that at the very least, our students can graduate.”

Looking to the future

With more cuts looming in the future, Johnson’s job has barely begun. Johnson is preparing for another round of cuts when the state legislature meets in the spring. Though initially proposed at 14 percent, the governor’s office warns that 20 percent cuts could be on the horizon.

Johnson said he agrees with Glick when he says that the cuts will change the direction of the university.

“That can’t be helped,”he said. “What you try to do is be creative with what you have.”

Because state money is being cut, Johnson is working with faculty chairs to apply for more grant and federal money. If the university can raise funds in those ways, they will still be able to keep a research-based initiative.

Johnson also is in the middle of reviewing academic programs and centers that may be cut because of their costs. The writing and math centers were a part of this review, and the German and French programs are still under consideration for potential cuts.

Jeff Thompson, College of Science Dean, said Johnson has been deliberate in his decisions about where to save money.

“With the teaching, research and service missions, he’s been very careful to keep integral parts of the university,”Thompson said. “He’s planning ahead for the cuts that may need to be made and making commitments to save money. But he also won’t make decisions about cutting academic programs unless he’s forced to do so. I think everyone appreciates that.”

With the challenge of cutting at least $31 million from next year’s budget, Johnson said he doesn’t plan on decorating his office anytime soon. He’ll continue with his meetings and thumbing through paperwork.

But it isn’t something he regrets.

“When I applied for this position (last fall), I knew there were budget challenges,”he said. “But I was up for meeting those challenges. I still am.”

Jessica Estepa can be reached at jestepa@nevadasagebrush.com.

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