President’s Message — April 6, 2009

Dear members of the university community:

Our most recent Board of Trustees meeting was focused on concerns about the overall economic situation and our own budget. We presented our trustees with an overview of our budget-planning process and revised projections based on the recent revenue estimates out of Tallahassee.

The shortfalls for next year’s budget remain a real concern. As you know, the state’s recent revenue estimating conference indicated that collections for FY 2009-10 would be considerably lower than expected. The $20.1 billion in general revenue now projected to come into state coffers next year is the lowest revenue in a decade, representing a $6.3 billion deficit.

For us, this could mean a cut of $11.5 million on top of a $23.2 million cut we had planned for in our three-year budget reduction plan. In other words, the aggregate cut for 2009-2010 likely will be in the range of $34.7 million. We plan to mitigate some of the impact by dipping into our reserves, with the expectation that revenues will pick up and other sources of income, such as the tuition increase, will begin to make a difference in our bottom line. Still, we must be strategic and disciplined in our budget planning. We reminded the Board that our strategy is not to cut across the board, weakening the entire university in the process. Rather, we intend to proceed with the cuts, as we did last year, in a strategic manner, according to the areas of focus for the university: health, international and environment. I invite you to review the presentation we made to the Board.

In the meantime, our team in Tallahassee continues to work to see that the university, as well as the College of Medicine, which is funded separately, sustain as little damage as possible. The Governmental Relations website will continue to post updates on the session and provide the tools for members of the university community to share their views with our legislators.

Town Hall meeting

Our next Town Hall meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 4, after the legislative session has concluded. By then we expect to be able to discuss actual scenarios regarding next year’s budget with greater degree of certainty.

The May 4 Town Hall meeting will take place at the usual location -University Park’s Graham Center Ballrooms – at 10 a.m. The meeting will be telecast to the Wolfe University Center ballrooms at Biscayne Bay Campus.

Dates to remember

I urge you to stay abreast of the evolving budget situation as the legislative process moves forward. Some key dates to note:

• Reduction plans due for all university units: April 10
• Program closure documents submitted to provost: April 17
• Unit restructuring and program closure documents submitted to Faculty Senate: April 27
• Legislative session ends: May 1
• Town Hall meeting: May 4
• FY 2009-10 budget loaded into PeopleSoft: May 8
• Special meeting of Faculty Senate: May 26
• Recommendations due from Faculty Senate: May 26
• Board of Trustees Budget Workshop: June 1
• Board of Trustees meeting: June 12

I hope to see you at the Town Hall meeting. Your engagement in this process is central to its success. Thank you for your feedback and continued participation. Please send me your comments and questions to presmail@fiu.edu.

Modesto A. Maidique

President