Standard V. Administration and Finance

V.5 The parent institution provides continuing financial support sufficient to develop and maintain library and information studies education in accordance with the general principles set forth in these Standards. The level of support provides a reasonable expectation of financial viability and is related to the number of faculty, administrative and support staff, instructional resources, and facilities needed to carry out the school's program of teaching, research, and service.

In recent years, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has significantly decreased the state appropriation to state and state-related colleges and universities. This has particularly impacted the state-related institutions, of which the University of Pittsburgh is one. Commonwealth funding decreases have now reached $43 million over the last three years: state support now accounts for less than 10% of the University’s budget, as compared to more than 30% in the 1970s. To address these cuts, without putting an undue financial burden on students by instituting severe tuition increases, the university curtailed or froze salaries, instituted an early voluntary retirement program for long-term staff, and carefully constrained spending across the university. The budget cuts were spread equitably across the university, with each unit mandated to decrease budgets by 5% each year for 2010, 2011, and 2012.

University Allocation to the iSchool table has been removed.

The School administration was determined that those declines in the University-allocated funding would impact students and faculty as little as possible. Therefore, the resources initially allocated for a proposed teaching theater on the 8th floor were re-assigned to the development of more general purpose student study and collaboration spaces.

In spite of these significant cuts, the School retained sufficient resources to hire several new faculty members over the past six years.  

Over the same time frame, 12 staff members were hired to bolster the school’s ability to recruit, retain, and graduate students. Most of these hires did not require additional funding; rather the School reallocated funds from retiring and resigning staff members.

In addition, the School has maintained a significant level of support for students – tuition remission, stipends, and salaries.

iSchool Student Expenditures (tuition, scholarships, stipends) has been removed.

At this time, the School has initiated searches for four faculty positions.  It is expected that they will be filled for Fall 2013.

In response to the deteriorating climate of state funding for higher education in Pennsylvania and across the country, the University asked each unit to prepare contingency budget plans to anticipate the possibility of further reductions in the Commonwealth appropriation over the next five years. This action followed a the major reduction in Commonwealth support in FY 2012. Since that time, the Pitt appropriation has remained essentially flat at $136M. The Dean and the Director of Administration have determined that the School should strive to cover any such cuts by increasing the enrollment in the Information Science and Telecommunications programs.

In addition, the School receives supplementary university funds through the Net Tuition Review (NTR). This program rewards careful planning and management of enrollment. The School projects enrollments, across all programs, for the subsequent year. If enrollments exceed projections, a significant proportion (~65%) of the additional tuition is budgeted to the School in the following year. If enrollments fall short of the projections, the School remits a like proportion of their budgeted funds to the university in the following year. 

The University Registrar provides resources to enhance the iSchool’s 4th floor classrooms with furnishings and teaching technology, and the Provost has provided supplementary resources to renovate and refurbish student collaborative spaces on the 8th and 3rd floors. The Office of Facilities Management recently upgraded the environment of the iSchool building by weatherproofing windows and expanding air circulation capabilities in lab spaces.

Another source of funding is endowment and charitable gifts to the School. The iSchool enjoys the services of a Director of Constituent Relations, who reports to the University’s Office of Institutional Advancement. The School has contributed to the success of the University’s $2 billion capital campaign by exceeding its goal of $10M, which includes funds to support scholarships, special projects (such as the iSchool Inclusion Institute and the Cyberscholarship program), and academic endeavors including research institutes.

Philanthropic gifts table has been removed.

The School will make more complete financial details available on-site. The information provided will document School revenue (university allocation, research, charitable) in FIN 1, aggregate salary expenditures (in FIN 2), tuition support (by type and academic program) and teaching support expenditures (in FIN 3).

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