{"id":35382,"date":"2015-03-13T10:21:13","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T17:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=35382"},"modified":"2015-07-13T11:42:33","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T18:42:33","slug":"regents-told-of-nau-budget-challenges-high-performance-and-partnership-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/regents-told-of-nau-budget-challenges-high-performance-and-partnership-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Regents told of NAU budget challenges, high performance and partnership success"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a day when budget cuts set a somber tone, Northern Arizona University President Rita Cheng<\/strong>, supported by top administrators and university partners, delivered a confident yet measured operational and financial review<\/a> to the Arizona Board of Regents.<\/p>\n

The board gathered in Flagstaff to hear a presentation scheduled well before the Arizona Legislature announced a $99 million budget cut to the state\u2019s universities. But only five days after the news, the regents and the university began setting strategies<\/a> to move forward.<\/p>\n

Cheng portrayed NAU\u2019s $17.3 million share of the cuts as the latest challenge for a university that has long used partnerships, academic quality and strategic growth to leverage success. She emphasized NAU will rely on those same elements\u2014now in a context of rapid changes in funding, student composition and technology\u2014to continue the university\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can assure you it is a future that honors our most basic commitments and keeps us all well aware of why NAU matters to so many,\u201d Cheng told the regents.<\/p>\n

Cheng described NAU as \u201cwilling to defy convention\u201d if needed to serve students better. \u201cAt a time when higher education is experiencing a major transition, we\u2019re big enough to steer resources toward taking risks, and agile enough to pivot when we see an opportunity or face an obstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Establishing a theme that would be recurrent throughout the day, Cheng emphasized NAU\u2019s economic impact on Flagstaff, Coconino County and the state, also warning of the negative impact of budget cuts. For the county alone, that impact could be a loss of $170 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder such circumstances, maintaining and establishing relationships will become crucial,\u201d Cheng said.<\/p>\n

The full presentation detailed how NAU approaches academic success, student recruitment, research expansion and budgeting. All phases of those operations, Cheng and several vice presidents explained, are geared toward meeting or exceeding performance metrics established by the regents.<\/p>\n

In line with the tone of operating as a person-oriented institution, Provost Laura Huenneke<\/strong> said NAU remains committed to understanding and addressing the needs of an increasingly diverse student population that may be involved with the university on the Flagstaff campus, at a community campus or online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t just about the numbers,\u201d Huenneke said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the quality of the educational experience. That\u2019s true no matter who the students are or where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The regents heard from four key partners of the university representing education and research. One of them, Dave Engelthaler of TGen North<\/a>, summarized the spirit expressed by each of them: \u201cWe just keep building each other up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the NAU presentation began, board President Eileen Klein clearly established the stakes in a rapid-fire rundown of the state\u2019s changing relationship with higher education. She noted that of all the cuts in the state\u2019s FY 2016 budget, the universities\u2019 share is 63 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more the universities have become the solution set for the state\u2019s budget woes,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n

Cheng closed by reminding the audience of NAU\u2019s ongoing success despite funding challenges over the past eight years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no other NAU,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cWe are not a franchise or just another university. The truth is, we serve the state as only we can. We\u2019re No. 1 on that list, and we intend to stay there.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a day when budget cuts set a somber tone, Northern Arizona University President Rita Cheng, supported by top administrators and university partners, delivered a confident yet measured operational and financial review to the Arizona Board of Regents. The board gathered in Flagstaff to hear a presentation scheduled well before the Arizona Legislature announced a…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":35411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[186,969,70,38,24,831,285],"class_list":["post-35382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-arizona-board-of-regents","tag-dave-engelthaler","tag-laura-huenneke","tag-nau","tag-northern-arizona-university","tag-rita-cheng","tag-tgen-north"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}