Oct. 10, 2023
Dear URI Faculty, Staff, and Students,
The past year has been one of great momentum for the University of Rhode Island.
In February, we launched a new 10-year strategic plan, called Focus URI, which was developed in partnership with, and through the collaborative efforts of, hundreds of members of our University community. That plan articulates a bold vision for the University we will become—together.
In June, the governor and the Rhode Island General Assembly approved $105.4 million in the general state appropriation to URI, an increase to our operating budget of $14.1 million over the prior year, as well as $65.8 million for much-needed and long-awaited capital improvements to our athletic and recreation facilities. This renewed investment by the state is a promising step forward, and has strengthened our partnership and emphasized the importance of our shared responsibility to shape URI’s future.
Work is well underway to remake our Fine Arts Center, and construction is now beginning at the Narragansett Bay Campus on a series of projects that will transform our ocean engineering and oceanography work and cement our place as a global leader in advancing the blue economy, which is central to Rhode Island’s economic future.
And yet, while we are excited by these significant milestones and by the efficiencies we have implemented over the past year, our ability to expand our reach and impact, enhance student opportunities and outcomes, and be the university our state and world need is limited significantly by our current budget model.
That is why we are beginning a process to design and adopt a new budget model at URI, called an incentive-based budget model (IBB). This new model will empower colleges and departments to set and achieve priorities, provide greater transparency in the budget process, incentivize revenue-generating opportunities that drive innovation, achieve cost efficiencies, encourage research collaboration, and support the strategic initiatives of our Focus URI plan.
Designing and implementing the new model will be a multi-year effort. And it will be an effort that invites participation from all corners of our University. To ensure broad stakeholder engagement, we have appointed a steering committee and a design committee. Over the next several months, they will meet regularly and will engage in conversations with colleagues across the University. I encourage you to share your thoughts and questions with them. Soon we also will launch an IBB-dedicated website where you can learn more about the model, read answers to common questions, and follow our timeline to implementation.
I will discuss aspects of our budget-model transition during my State of the University address today at 3:30 p.m. in Edwards Hall. I hope to see many of you there.
Our momentum at URI is building. This new budget model will accelerate our progress and power our promising future.
Go Rhody!
Marc