The coronavirus crisis has brought into sharp focus a long-standing issue for UMKC. In recent years, the campus financial landscape has been one of tight budgets, narrow margins and low reserves. In this time of crisis, UMKC has an opportunity to fundamentally reimagine its mission as a public research university serving Greater Kansas City and beyond.
UMKC has it in its power to determine how to emerge from this dark period and evolve into a much more dynamic place — one that will better serve future generations in what is certain to be a very different higher education landscape after COVID-19.
The goal is to put survival mode away for good and reemerge into lasting excellence. UMKC must boldly restructure, realign, trim and invest. From hard decisions will come an exciting new edition of UMKC that will serve future generations of students, faculty and staff for decades to come.
This process will be known as UMKC Forward. In a fast-paced but collaborative process, teams of stakeholders will work together to deliver options for restructuring, realignment and investments.
Two teams will work simultaneously:
Recommendations and Chancellor Report
Town Hall Videos and Committee Documents
February 18, 2021: UMKC Forward Update
December 3, 2020: UMKC Forward Update
September 18, 2020: Pay Cuts to be Discontinued
August 12, 2020: UMKC Forward Update
July 20, 2020: UMKC Forward Survey
July 10, 2020: UMKC Forward Update
June 16, 2020: More Than 80 Ideas Submitted for UMKC Forward
May 27, 2020: Faculty, Staff Participate in UMKC Forward Town Halls
May 19, 2020: Changes to Salary Reduction Plan (PDF)
May 4, 2020: FY21 Temporary Measures (PDF)
April 22, 2020: UMKC Forward Committees Announcement (PDF)
April 20, 2020: FY21 (PDF)
April 15, 2020: FY20 (PDF)
Charge: Within the context of our UMKC mission, provide recommendations for unit/department/program reenvisioning that will reorganize and/or downsize for both efficiency and optimal future growth. Simultaneously provide recommendations for program or service elimination for significant future cost savings, particularly for programs that are not mission critical.
Chancellor
Team A Steering Committee: Provost (Jennifer Lundgren, co-chair), Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration (Sharon Lindenbaum, co-chair), University Budget Committee chair (Mark Johnson), Intercampus Faculty Council representative (Jake Marszalek), trustee representative (Debby Ballard), student representative (Brandon Henderson, incoming SGA president), Staff Council representative (Roland Hemmings)
Team A Project Manager: Sheri Gormley, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives
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Health Sciences: School of Medicine, School of Dentistry + Faculty Practice, School of Nursing and Health Studies, School of Pharmacy |
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Life, Natural and Computational Sciences: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, School of Computing and Engineering, Physics, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics |
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Social and Behavioral Sciences: School of Education + Berkley Child and Family Development Center, Henry W. Bloch School of Management, School of Law, Sociology, Psychology, History, Social Work, Criminal Justice and Criminology, Political Science, REGS |
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Arts and Humanities (including REP): Conservatory, Art, Communication Studies, English Languages and Literatures, Foreign Languages and Literature, Architecture, Urban Planning + Design, New Letters/BkMk Press |
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Interdisciplinary/Cross-Campus Academic Programs: Honors College, University College, School of Graduate Studies, High School College Partnerships |
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Libraries and Emeritus College |
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Infrastructure: Information Services and Technology + Facilities |
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Institutional Research and Data + Office of Research Studies + Centers and Institutes/Institute for Human Development |
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MCOM + KCUR + Innovation Center + Talent Link |
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Finance and Human Resources |
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Athletics + Swinney Recreation |
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External and Constituent Relations + Foundation |
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Faculty Affairs + Diversity and Inclusion + Offices of the Chancellor and Provost |
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Student Affairs + Residential Life |
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Student Success + International Affairs + Applied Language Institute |
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April 24: Announce plan publicly, finalize committee structure and set up data repository for review groups; begin meetings with committees and community partners.
June 5: Initial review group reports, validated by the fiscal team, due with specific targets for consolidation, reorganization, elimination and investment.
June 12: Academic and operational review groups meet separately to discuss subgroup reports.
June 26: Final review group recommendations, validated by the fiscal team, to Steering Committee.
July 20: Team A and B recommendations delivered to Chancellor and will be posted online, along with a survey to gather feedback.
July 27: Survey closes.
July 29: Survey input is presented to the Chancellor.
August 12: The Chancellor will announce ideas that can move forward for immediate implementation and initiatives that will move forward for longer-term development and implementation.
August-December: Phased implementation of immediately actionable decisions.
Spring 2021-Spring 2023: Phased implementation of longer-term program eliminations and restructuring.
Charge: Identify universitywide opportunities for innovation, growth and investment that will generate revenue through academic, auxiliary and external services to advance the mission of UMKC.
Chancellor
Team B Steering Committee: Director of Innovation Center (Maria Meyers, co-chair), Vice Chancellor for Research (Chris Liu, co-chair), incoming chair of Faculty Senate (Viviana Grieco), trustee representative (Jean-Paul Chaurand), student representative (Daphne Posadas), Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation (Laurie Ellinghausen), Director of Athletics (Brandon Martin), staff representative (Karen King)
Ex officio: Provost (Jennifer Lundgren), Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration (Sharon Lindenbaum)
Team B Project Manager: Kimiko Black Gilmore, Chancellor’s chief of staff
Subcommittee members to be appointed to the work groups below
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Academic Programs |
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Faculty Research |
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Student Success, Enrollment Management, Branding and Marketing |
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Community Programs |
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Auxiliary Services and Events |
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April 24: Announce plan publicly, finalize committee structure and set up data repository for review groups; begin meetings with committees and community partners.
June 5: Initial review group report due with high-level targets for innovation and growth in two categories: academic programming, and operational investment and auxiliary services.
June 19: Internal deadline for the final reports.
July 20: Team A and B recommendations delivered to Chancellor and will be posted online, along with a survey to gather feedback.
July 27: Survey closes.
July 29: Survey input is presented to the Chancellor.
August 12: The Chancellor will announce ideas that can move forward for immediate implementation and initiatives that will move forward for longer-term development and implementation.
August-December: Phased implementation of immediately actionable decisions.