Monday Memo June 12, 2017

Announcements

Temporary Hiring Freeze: June 6 - October 1, 2017 (General Funds Positions)
Personnel attrition during FY 2018 aims at a required savings of at least $10 million. Tuition revenue is likely to be less than last year’s, so revenue projections have been reduced by about $6 million for presentation to the Board next week.

In light of these circumstances and in order to present a positive cash balance at the end of FY 2017 as well as a balanced 2018 projected budget, the university has instituted an immediate, but temporary, general-funds hiring freeze for faculty and staff positions. On October 1, the provost and Budget Office will analyze progress towards meeting cost saving and attrition targets and then determine how to proceed for the second quarter. Stringent attention to the following conditions make it more likely that the freeze will be short:

  • For the remainder of FY 2017, vacant positions are frozen and searches are suspended as of June 6.
  • General-fund positions vacated between now and July 1 will be centrally captured. Monitoring reports will be provided weekly to unit leadership by the Budget Office.
  • Beginning July 1, any general-fund position that is vacated will be centrally captured.

During the freeze, General Fund positions will be managed this way:

  • General fund budget equal to the position’s unspent annual salary will be moved to a central program, from which any sick and vacation time payments will be paid to the departing employee.
  • Funding source information will come from Position Management.
  • Vacated positions will be inactivated by Position Management.

Positions will be frozen and no new searches will be authorized except in documented emergencies and with explicit review and consent by the university provost in consultation with the budget advisory committee. Details of emergency documentation will be provided soon. Questions should be addressed to provost@louisville.edu.

Monthly monitoring will indicate the university’s progress toward meeting its anticipated reduction figure. If, at the end of the first quarter, the university is not on track to meet its targets, the freeze may be extended or other stringencies imposed.

A&S Research Newsletter online
The Arts and Sciences Research Newsletter - Spring 2017 has been added to the website.

Prof. Kielkopf aids in discovery of new planet
Prof. John Kielkopf (Physics & Astronomy) is part of a research team that discovered a new planet recently. Twice the size of Jupiter and 650 light years away, KELT-9b was found using Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescopes. The team published their findings in the article, “A giant planet undergoing extreme-ultraviolet irradiation by its hot massive-star host,” in Nature.

In the News

NBC OUT #PRIDE30 (NBC News) – Prof. Kaila Story (Women’s & Gender Studies/Pan-African Studies) honored as one of the 2017 NBC Out #Pride30, in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month.

Open Walls exhibit showcases UofL faculty, staff artistry (UofL News, 6/6/17) – Artwork by faculty and staff members will be on display through June 29 in the lower level of Ekstrom Library.

Amal Clooney, Beyoncé’s twins turn motherhood into summer blockbuster (KGMI, 6/7/17) – Prof. Ann Hall (Comparative Humanities) on motherhood.

Girls Run The World At U of L’s Digital Media Academy (WFPL, 6/8/17) – On the Digital Media Academy, led by the Department of English.

Riddle studying abroad through prestigious UofL scholarship (Morehead News, 6/9/17) – On undergraduate Elisabeth Riddle (Theatre Arts/French), who is studying abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, through the University of Louisville’s prestigious Etscorn International Summer Research Award.