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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

MSU Extension update

As many of you know, due to challenges associated with the State of Michigan budget, state funding to both Michigan State University Extension (MSUE) and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) has been vulnerable for a number of years.

That trend continued this year, when Governor Granholm’s proposed fiscal 2010 budget called for combining the MSU-run Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station with MSU Extension and cutting their funding in half to $32 million. Since the Governor’s proposal, both the House and Senate have supported alternate budget proposals calling for varied, but increased, levels of funding.

In an era of significantly reduced state funding and increasing expenses, MSU is working to change how we work while holding true to our core values and commitments. This process is aimed at building value and ensuring quality. It seeks to build a new model that will transform the way we work on behalf of our students, stakeholders, and the communities we serve both locally and globally. Background information related to that process, along with planning initiatives and communications to campus related to that process, may be found on the Shaping the Future Web site.

In the same way that a set of design principles are guiding our thinking in key focus areas for change across the University, a set of design principles specific to MSUE has been drafted to guide their redesign. While the urgency of this redesign has been hastened by the current budget situation, it is a necessary action for MSUE to remain relevant, responsive, and a leader in realizing MSU’s land-grant mission.

Five key principles will guide MSUE’s redesign.

• Focus MSU Extension programs on key needs, and feature a more specialized role of educators.
• Be accountable for fundamental indicators of impacts statewide.
• Ensure delivery of programs and outcomes in communities across the state.
• Reduce administrative overhead to ensure a greater proportion of budget is dedicated to programs and outcomes.
• Ensure ability to adapt and respond quickly to emerging needs, challenges, and opportunities.

Using these design principles, MSUE Director Tom Coon and College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Dean Jeff Armstrong created two task forces in early August, one charged with identifying statewide programmatic areas for MSUE, the other with developing an organizational structure to best carry out this programming. Task forces were chaired by MSUE regional directors, comprised of MSU faculty and MSUE community-based academic staff, and included at least one department chair from CANR.

As the redesign process continues, MSUE is communicating to its employees the need to fundamentally evolve their organization to best serve Michigan residents and communities. In late August and early September, seven regional town hall meetings were held, one in each of the MSUE regions, and two on campus. At these meetings, to which all MSUE personnel were invited, MSUE leadership

• shared information about current and future funding;
• discussed statewide programming priorities and the concept of a specialized staff;
• discussed restructuring in MSUE community-based offices and on campus; and
• answered key questions regarding both programmatic and structural changes to the organization.

MSUE leadership has begun discussing the organizational redesign with key stakeholders across the state and will continue these discussions through November 2009. I expect MSUE to share their thinking with me later this fall.

Please check the Shaping the Future Web site regularly for additional MSU budget-related communications. The better informed we all are, the better we will be able to engage in the challenges we collectively face.