In 2023, President Whitten asked the university and each of its campuses to redesign their budget models to meet the challenges facing higher education now and into the coming decade. Provost Shrivastav convened the Budget Model Redesign Steering Committee, co-chaired by Vice Provost for Finance and Administration Aimee Heeter and Ash Soni, Dean Emeritus of the Kelley School of Business. Heeter and Soni worked alongside representatives from the Bloomington Faculty Council (BFC) and BFC’s Budget Affairs Committee, academic deans, vice provosts, and senior financial staff from the Bloomington campus to establish a set of recommendations for IUB’s next generation budget model.
Since then, the Steering Committee has sought best practices and opportunities for the IUB budget model; developed guiding principles; assessed limitations of the current model; and conducted extensive deliberations about model components—from incentives to stimulate innovation and interdisciplinary work to metric-based formulas that will accurately reflect and fairly allocate the costs of running a large public research campus.
A key recommendation of the Steering Committee is the formation of an advisory group with broad representation to regularly review and make recommendations for improvement of the budget model methodology. This Budget Model Financial Advisory Committee will serve in an advisory role for the Chancellor and the Provost, analyzing the budget priorities and impacts across units and the campus. Members of this committee will include the Vice Provost for Finance & Administration, academic leadership—including deans and members of the Bloomington Faculty Council—and representation from staff and student leadership groups.