TO: CALS Faculty and Staff

I’ve appreciated the comments and suggestions received regarding the budget from conversations, e-mail, phone calls and the two open forums we held with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which were attended by several hundred people.

January 26 CALS-LAS Open Forum cancelled
The open forums were a starting point for discussions that resulted in many questions and comments to consider. After conferring this week with LAS Dean Whiteford, we have decided to cancel the third CALS-LAS forum scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 26. Instead, both CALS and LAS will take the next step and schedule separate meetings for faculty and staff to discuss the budget in our individual colleges. Before those occur, I hope there will be more information to share as details emerge from the Governor’s Office, the state legislature and our university administration.

One of the goals Dean Whiteford and I had was to make sure you understand the gravity of this unprecedented budget situation. Both colleges may be looking at state budget cuts of $7 million or more. For CALS, this comes on the heels of the $5.4 million cut we started the year with, in July 2009.

It truly is about what was outlined at the open forums: what will a “new CALS” look like, how will it be configured and how will our priorities evolve and be maintained with fewer state resources available.

Please continue to let me know your thoughts and suggestions. The presentation and summary of comments from the Jan. 14 open forum will be posted shortly on the CALS Budget Updates page, http://www.ag.iastate.edu/budget/.

Wendy Wintersteen
Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences