UI president Michael J. Hogan outlined administrative changes that he said will unify the university's leadership team, reduce overhead and strengthen its missions of teaching, research and clinical health care.
Hogan, who took office July 1, said the administrative leadership of the university has grown "fragmented, with each campus focusing primarily on its interests."
"The key to a successful future for the University of Illinois is a strong leadership team with a unified vision for the entire university," Hogan said at the Sept. 23 meeting of the UI Board of Trustees on the Urbana campus.
"This vision would respect the traditional identity of each campus, while empowering academic leaders to streamline operations, eliminate unnecessary duplications and enhance cross-campus collaborations."
Trustees told the president they expect the university to achieve a 5 to 10 percent reduction in administrative operations by the end of 2012.
Hogan presented several key changes:
- Adding the title of "vice president of the University of Illinois" to that of "(campus) chancellor" for the three campus leaders, reaffirming their role in helping the president set a universitywide agenda and making it clear that the president of the university is also president of each campus, Hogan said.
"The current organization and reporting lines are not always obvious to our external and internal stakeholders, and create confusion regarding the voice of the university in key areas like fundraising, communications and legislative priorities," Hogan said.
- Creating a new position of vice president for health affairs that reports directly to the president, with a dotted-line reporting relationship to the UIC vice president-chancellor.
"The clinical work of our health science colleges and units, including our hospital and faculty practice plans, represents a distinctive and increasingly complex element of the university's operations," Hogan said.
"Our clinical enterprise is universitywide, with health science departments on our Chicago and Urbana campuses, College of Medicine sites in Chicago, Urbana, Rockford and Peoria, and faculty practicing in sites across the state."
- Expanding the duties of the vice president for technology and economic development to include university research. The vice president would encourage collaborative research among faculty members across the campuses and streamline research-related policies and processes to eliminate redundancies. The person also would be responsible for helping to communicate the university's research vision to internal and external constituencies, such as governmental funding agencies.
These changes will require amendments to university statutes and general rules, requiring consultation with faculty through the University Senates Conference and campus senates. Trustees asked the senates to report back at the board's Nov. 18 meeting in Chicago.
"Beginning this consultation promptly is important not only to fill existing leadership vacancies, but also to realize as quickly as possible the improved services, new efficiencies and cost savings these changes will generate," Hogan said. "We face a very serious budget situation in the years ahead and must take advantage of these efficiencies as soon as possible."
Other changes, which do not require campus senate consultation:
- Increased responsibilities for the vice president for academic affairs to develop and implement cross-campus policies for curricular development, student and faculty affairs and articulation agreements across the three campuses as well as with other colleges and universities.
- The appointment of executive directors for human resources and enrollment services to consolidate operations now carried out individually on each campus.
Hogan said a coordinated enrollment management program would allow the university to streamline operations for diversity, recruitment, admissions, student retention and student transfers across the three campuses.
The human resources position was among the recommendations of the Administrative Review and Restructuring group appointed by interim President Stanley O. Ikenberry.
The group made recommendations for changes in procurement, information technology and human resources that could save up to $60 million over the next three years.