In late March, President Gamble charged me with assembling a team to review SW programs and services.� This is an update on the team, its activities to date, and what you can expect going forward.

First, the team – we have intentionally kept the core group small so we can get this effort off the ground quickly.� At the same time, I recognize how important it will be to engage the skills, knowledge and commitment of all staff if this effort is to be successful.� In assembling this team, we brought in representatives from the three universities that, along with SW, comprise our system, and we identified attributes and experience that would be helpful to the process (e.g. strategic thinking, knowledge of organizational planning and process change, experience in collaboration, familiarity with both system and campus level work).� Following are the team members:

Bruce Schultz, UAA Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs
Rashmi Prasad, UAA Dean College of Business and Public Policy
Nettie La Belle-Hamer, UAF Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Director Alaska Satellite Facility
Julie Queen, Director, UAF Office of Management and Budget
Michael Ciri, UAS Vice-Chancellor Administrative Services
Maren Haavig, UAS Assistant Professor of Accounting, Senate Faculty President Elect
Carla Beam, UA Vice President University Relations, President UA Foundation
Michelle Rizk, UA Chief Strategy, Planning and Budget Officer

We have met twice, focusing our initial discussion on defining, “What is the essential role for UA SW administration?”� Starting from a blank page, we developed a working draft that will now be reviewed against past reports and recommendations to see if we are missing anything.
As we begin reviewing services and functions, we will also share the role definitions with the president, chancellors and possibly the Board of Regents as to the essential role SW should fulfill.� �

We have a general timeline to deliver initial recommendations to leadership in August or September with final recommendations available by October or November.� This timeline is designed to facilitate FY17 implementation of agreed on recommendations.� As mentioned previously, while this is not primarily a budget exercise, it will help to inform some decisions that can be made to support FY16 reductions.

At the Transformation Team’s next meeting, we will begin to line out the process for this review which should give us a bit more information to share on when and how we will engage your input.� I appreciate your patience in letting us work through these early steps so that we can engage you in a meaningful way.

Michelle Rizk
Chief Strategy, Planning and Budget Officer

University of Alaska System
P.O. Box 755260
Fairbanks, AK 99775-5620
Office (907) 450-8187
Fax (907) 450-8181
e-mail: michelle.rizk@alaska.edu