University Times

How is the University’s Planning and Budgeting System (PBS) working and what could be improved? As part of its review of the PBS, the University Senate budget policies committee (BPC) is seeking input from members of the University community.

BPC, in conjunction with the Office of the Provost, has devised a brief online survey that includes room for anonymous suggestions and comments.

The survey can be accessed via links at my.pitt.edu and provost.pitt.edu/pbssurvey.

To encourage participation, the Provost’s office has sent announcements via ReadGreen to faculty, staff, graduate student employees and administrators on all five Pitt campuses. It also is reaching out to current and former University Planning and Budgeting Committee members, Staff Association Council and student government leaders and student representatives to the University’s strategic planning committees.

In addition, members of the Council of Deans are being asked to encourage their own planning and budgeting committee members to complete the survey.

The survey links will be active through March 16. Results are scheduled for review at BPC’s March 25 meeting.

Under the shared governance provisions within the planning and budgeting system, BPC is responsible for reviewing whether the PBS processes are followed and whether all constituencies involved are provided adequate opportunities to participate in the process and to be informed of its outcomes.

The system calls for a review of the PBS document “approximately every five years” by surveying the constituent groups to determine whether and how the PBS document should be amended, and how the PBS process might be improved.

Faculty Assembly last month approved the formation of an ad hoc committee to perform a preliminary review of the document (see Feb. 18 University Times).

Serving on the ad hoc committee are Senate President Frank Wilson, BPC chair Beverly Gaddy and BPC member Wes Rohrer, Executive Vice Provost David DeJong and Council of Deans members law Dean Chip Carter, Swanson School of Engineering Dean Gerald Holder and Chief Enrollment Officer Marc Harding.

Committee members have indicated that the document, which was last reviewed in 2003, is in need of some streamlining and clarification rather than a major overhaul. Proposed revisions are to be presented to the Council of Deans later this month.

Senate leaders hope to complete the revisions by the end of the academic year.

—Kimberly K. Barlow