President Shelton Discusses Budget and Other Topics at the 2009 Annual Meeting of All AP

The University of Arizona 2009 Annual Meeting of All Appointed Professionals (AP) hosted by the Appointed Professionals Advisory Council featured University of Arizona President Robert Shelton as the guest speaker.  President Shelton opened his presentation with a discussion of the budget and the ongoing Transformation Process and answered questions during the 90 minute dialog.

Holly Altman, APAC representative from the Office of Community Relations and 2009 APAC Chair, opened the meeting with a discussion of the influence of AP on campus and a list of accomplishments  over the past year.

Appointed Professionals are those employees on year to year contracts who do not possess continuing status and are not continuing eligible.

President Shelton noted that relative to FY 2006 when the UA had a state funding level of $440 million, the University of Arizona has suffered a state budget cut of $100 million, a cut of over 20%.  Throughout the Transformation Process, began in Fall 2008, the University was able to create new schools, combine units and cut programs to help meet the current budget shortfall.  Because Arizona Governor Jan Brewer accepted the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the UA was able to use $60 million to cover the FY 2009 shortfall.  President Shelton also detailed what the shortfall will be for FY 2012 and what income sources the UA is studying to meet that.

President Shelton also answered questions from the audience and from a list of prepared questions read by 2009 APAC Chair-Elect Ronald Wysocki, APAC representative from the College of Science and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  Topics from these questions included:  Differential Budget cuts throughout the University, Shared Governance, the public's perception of the University of Arizona's mission, the status of health care education in Arizona, on-campus child care facility and the effects of House Bill 2013 detailing benefits for domestic partners.  Other topics included annual employee performance evaluations, the Ninety Day Termination Notice and increased student enrollment.

There were over 100 participants in the audience at SUMC Gallagher Theater, 250 participants viewed the live broadcast stream on the web at http://ondemand.azpm.org and a number of participants from the two remote locations in Phoenix and Tucson.   APAC thanks Arizona Public Media for providing the live broadcast.

More information about the meeting and a transcript of the questions and answers from President Shelton will be provided on the APAC homepage.

The University of Arizona Appointed Professionals Advisory Council, APAC, advises the administration and other UA organizations on matters of concern to the University community in line with Appointed Professionals' specific conditions of employment and roles at UA.

For more information about APAC please visit us on the web at http://www.apac.arizona.edu or send us an email at apac@email.arizona.edu.