University Times

In all Pitt academic units, faculty and staff appear to have a voice in unit-level governance through planning and budgeting committees (PBCs), according to a review by a University Senate group that is charged with monitoring the University’s Planning and Budgeting System (PBS).
“Basically, it would appear that everybody is following the system guidelines – primarily, that there are PBCs in existence and that the majority of the members of those committees are elected as opposed to being appointed,” Thomas G. Zullo reported at the April 23 meeting of the Senate’s budget policies committee. Zullo chairs the committee’s PBS process review subcommittee, which evaluates the system annually.
This year’s review gave the PBS a clean bill of health. Not one problem was brought to the review committee’s attention, nor did any disgruntled professors or staff members complain that the system wasn’t being followed. “This was the first year that our subcommittee received no criticism about the PBS,” Zullo said. “Usually, we get at least one negative comment.”
The PBS was created in 1992 by a group of faculty, staff and administrators to encourage wider participation in University planning and budgeting. Under the system, all Pitt schools and academic centers and some large departments are supposed to maintain their own PBCs, each with a majority of elected members. The provost chairs the institution-wide University Planning and Budgeting Committee, which advises the chancellor.
Phil Wion, chairperson of the Senate budget policies committee, commented: “It does seem as if the [PBS] guidelines are being followed. Again, how much responsibility a given PBC has, how much weight its recommendations have, may vary. Undoubtedly, it does vary.”
According to Wion, it’s important that the Senate group continue reviewing the planning and budget system “so that some representative group is keeping an eye on the process to make sure it’s being followed.”
– Bruce Steele