UA President Pitney hosts town hall, discusses budget, COVID-19 and a goal of stability

University of Alaska Interim President Pat Pitney hosted a town hall on Jan. 27 where she discussed the current state of the University budget, COVID-19 mitigation plans and the Alaska Native Success Initiative. The town hall was conducted via Zoom and live-streamed. 

Pitney’s central message was one of optimism. After years of budget cuts from Governor Mike Dunleavy, this year’s budget features what Pitney referred to as “a modest increase.” 

This increase doesn’t quite cover the budget proposal passed by the Board of Regents in November, but it covers around half of the proposed increase of 3 million dollars. 

One of the central topics at the town hall was the continued effort to cut costs and look for “efficiencies and reallocations.”

 Key pain points in need of additional funds were deferred maintenance, which Pitney noted was supported by the state legislature last year, before being vetoed by the governor, and revamping the student registration and information system. By this Pitney seems to be referring to the UAOnline service which students use to perform many key tasks using their university account. 

Also discussed was the recently announced lawsuit by four University of Alaska students against the state government over the Alaska Higher Education Investment Fund. The suit argues that the draining of the fund in 2021 was unconstitutional. 

Pitney stated that the university supports this effort because having that fund stable would be “a game-changer.”

She added that while the court case proceeds, the university is also pursuing the same goal via the legislative angle.

Each of the universities, University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Alaska Southeast gave updates on their COVID-19 mitigation procedures. These updates largely amounted to no change, these procedures will remain in place for some time. 

UAA Vice Chancellor Bruce Schultz provided an update about UAA’s COVID-19 mitigation, saying that “those layered strategies are working well.”

Only four COVID-19 cases had a direct impact on the UAA campus last week, and Schultz stated that some in-person activities will slowly be returning to the campus. 

The final major component of Pitney’s remarks was around ANSI. There was not a major announcement about the program, simply an update that a five-year action plan was approved in November and will be implemented going forward. This plan is tied to the existing UAA 2025 initiative.

In a questions and answers session following prepared remarks, Pitney discussed university consolidation, saying that while it’s important for the three universities to retain their unique experiences, consolidation could take place on the administrative side. 

Pitney stated that outwardly, the three-university model will continue indefinitely, but internal systems could “do business in a more standard way.”

Many of the questions were tied to budget concerns. One question, from 9 members of the UAA Gymnastics team, asked whether the athletics teams will continue to be required to fundraise themselves. The gymnastics team is still actively fundraising for full reinstatement on a Jun. 2022 deadline. 

Pitney’s response suggested that will remain the case, describing a “transformative path” for UAA athletics, moving towards self-sustaining models by leaning on donors for funding. 

The limitations of the Zoom format were apparent, as no reaction from the Gymnastics team to that response was perceptible.

Other budget conversations included Pitney’s description of a need to focus on academic programs that are reaching high-demand job areas, with health listed as an example, as well as areas that will bring in more students. 

Pitney suggested here that those programs that are not high-demand may find themselves under scrutiny, saying the University is “not going to return to the state funding level that we had.” 

Ending the presentation on a lighter note, the final question was about facilities fees, specifically why online-only students have to pay them. Pitney responded that there is a committee actively looking at this. She described that things were set up in one way, before, but there is a plan to begin revisiting some areas of fees and tuition. President Pitney reiterated her desire for UAA and UAF to become competitive in their two separate fields. 

The full archive of the town hall stream is available on the President’s communications page.