Thursday, March 19, 2009

A new letter from Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences

From: Michael D. Smith, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences [mailto:fasdean@fas.harvard.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 6:21 PM
To:
Subject: Endowment Planning Guidance

Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,

Today the University provided the deans of the Schools with endowment planning guidance for FY10. The guidance instructs us to plan for the funds paid out from the endowment in support of our operations to be reduced by 8% in FY10, and for a decrease of at least that same magnitude in FY11. For the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, this guidance will mean a $52 million reduction in FY10 funds vis-à-vis our FY09 budget.

Because we in the FAS have been planning for a range of aggressive scenarios, we have the ability to absorb some of this decrease in funding by adjusting our FY10 budgets to implement more of the measures proposed in our planning. I deeply appreciate all the hard work, sacrifice, and institution-mindedness that has driven our planning to date. In addition, the academic deans and I will continue to work with senior administrators and our colleagues at other Schools and in the Center to find additional cross-cutting efficiencies. Whatever gap remains after those efforts are complete will be closed using our limited reserve funds.

Please know that we are taking every possible measure to protect our core mission, to support our priorities and even to pursue some new initiatives in the midst of this crisis. We are each joined here together in the pursuit of excellence in teaching and research, and we must support, in the best ways we know how, our very special community. The additional measures we pursue now will all be guided by these core principles. With this news, I ask again for your partnership, your understanding, and your patience as we continue to navigate uncharted terrain.

Sincerely yours,

Michael D. Smith

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