The University of North Dakota has used new flexibility given it by the Legislature and the State Board of Higher Education to leverage and focus its budget toward strategic objectives.

Perhaps most important, said President Charles Kupchella, is tangible progress in making UND more competitive nationally in what it pays its faculty, thereby maintaining and building further the “brain power” upon which the University depends for almost everything it does.

In remarks this spring to the University Council, the institution’s principal internal governing body, Kupchella said UND was also targeting its resources to address needs related to growing enrollment and its burgeoning research programs.

Kanishka Marasinghe (right), assistant professor of physics, here with graduate student Mustafa Rajabali, is part of the new generation of faculty. He arrived in 2000 after receiving his Ph.D. and then serving seven years as a postdoctoral research fellow and faculty member at the University of Missouri-Rolla. With the support of UND’s Faculty Research Seed Money Program, North Dakota’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the National Science Foundation, Marasinghe has helped to establish his department as a player in nationally important research. He also is interested in teaching innovation, recently developing UND’s first truly online physics course.

He stressed that new dollars going into these efforts came from several sources, including but not limited to higher tuition rates (see the accompanying article about tuition on Page 3).

Among these have been tuition revenue from higher-than-projected enrollment (as distinct from rate increases), the reallocation of funds internally in ways that were once impossible, increased state appropriations in the 2001-2003 biennium, and new dollars resulting from UND’s success in attracting grants and in forging partnerships with third parties.

Kupchella credits the Roundtable “compact” with reinvigorating higher education’s role in enhancing the economic and social vitality of North Dakota. Adopted as policy by the 2001 Legislature following an interim study that came to be known as the “Roundtable Report,” the new consensus calls for “flexibility with accountability,” and sets the state on a course to increase its investment in higher education over several biennia.

This is to be done in part by comparing each North Dakota college and university with its group of national “peers,” selected for their similarities in size and mission. Looked at will be North Dakota’s per-student investment from state dollars and tuition in the “core” costs of each institution. The goal: reaching 85 percent of the median of the peer group by the end of the 2007-2009 biennium and 95 percent by 2015.

Some improvement in UND’s peer institution ranking has been achieved, Kupchella said, in small part because North Dakota’s economy has fared better than that in other states. “Two years ago I came to work every morning with just 65 cents to spend compared to every $1 available to my counterparts,” he said. “Today that figure is more like 72 cents.”

This figure includes both general fund and tuition revenue. In terms of state general fund dollars, UND is actually at a much lower percentage of the median for its nine benchmark schools (see sidebar at the end of this article). Calculations provided by the North Dakota University System this May put UND at 56 percent of its benchmarks. To reach the 85 percent target level, UND would need $60.4 million in additional general fund dollars.

The Long-term Finance Plan agreed to by the Legislature called for increases over time both of tuition paid by students and of general fund dollars provided by the state. Unfortunately, as was the case across the country, the 2003 Legislature, faced with uncertain economic prospects, actually cut higher education’s appropriation 1.5 percent.

Again as in most states, students were asked to shoulder a larger share of the commitment through higher tuition rates. It was either that, Kupchella said, or abandon the quest for quality implicit in the Long-term Finance Plan.

Kupchella argues in favor of maintaining the Roundtable commitment to the plan, an issue certain to be debated anew in the 2005 session.

“Students generally appreciate the importance of the relationship between funding and quality,” Kupchella said. “Even though none of us want to see high tuition, we generally recognize that tuition is the only other major source of revenue after state appropriations. Fortunately, even after two years of significant increases, UND’s tuition is still a bargain and will be below the national average next year.”

Progress on salaries

Since 1998 the gap between UND and national faculty salary averages has been cut in half, Kupchella observed, in part because UND made it a strategic priority and, he concedes, in part because of serious funding cuts in many states.

At the assistant professor level — the rank at which new faculty most often enter — UND now lags the nation by just under 12 percent, compared to 27 percent in 1999-2000, according to figures compiled by the American Association of University Professors, regarded as the definitive source for comparative data.

Despite the progress, full professors — the most experienced and accomplished of the 650-plus faculty in UND’s brainpower pool — continue to lag their peers nationally by 38 percent, compared to 49 percent four years ago.

Investing in faculty is not an inexpensive proposition, Kupchella says, especially in a state that despite better-than-average growth in personal income still lags the nation. On average, a full professor at UND today earns $68,620 per year, compared to the $94,606 earned by those holding the same rank at similar universities.

That salary seems high to some North Dakotans, Kupchella says. But the bottom line, he points out, is that UND competes in a national market for faculty and must be competitive if students are to have top-notch professors in their classrooms and if UND is to contribute fully to helping the state meet its challenges.

UND will attempt to maintain its momentum in this area, budgeting an overall 5 percent pay increase for faculty and 4 percent increase for staff in the year beginning July 1, 2004.

The president also noted that faculty increases have been higher than staff because faculty salaries over the years have been much further behind their counterparts.

Enrollment, research

Obviously not all of UND’s new resources derived from tuition and other sources have gone or will go to improve salaries, Kupchella emphasized.

Rob Kweit, professor of political science, here teaching via North Dakota’s Interactive Video Network, came to UND in 1976. An example of UND’s cadre of senior faculty whose energy and brain power are invaluable not only to their students and professions but to citizens generally, Kweit has focused his research, writing and public service almost exclusively on local government in North Dakota. He also practices what he preaches, having served more than two decades on the Grand Forks Planning and Zoning Commission.

The University’s enrollment has grown by nearly 2,500 students since 1999, reaching 13,034 in the fall of 2003 and well on track toward the goal of 14,000 on-campus and distance learning students by 2005. UND’s research programs as measured by new external grant funding have climbed continuously during that same period, reaching $71 million on the way to $100 million.

UND has prioritized funding to support both areas, Kupchella said, to ensure that students continue to enjoy quality experiences in and out of the classroom and that faculty have the infrastructure necessary to be competitive researchers and scholars in their fields.

He cited several examples from UND’s 2004-2005 budget, recently approved by the State Board of Higher Education:

Nearly $1.4 million in new full- and part-time faculty positions will go toward meeting needs associated with increased enrollment.

About $104,000 will to go toward administrative positions in the Graduate School, Registrar’s Office, and Financial Aid Office, also to deal with enrollment demands.

Some $800,000 in new funds will be focused on operating and equipment costs that have grown because of inflation and the University’s growth, including about $340,000 for the library.

Another $800,000 will be invested in painting, repairs, and other improvements to the physical plant.

About $541,000 will be targeted toward utility, maintenance, and custodial costs associated with UND’s research enterprise.

The University’s budget for the 2004-2005 fiscal year will be $341.6 million, Kupchella said.

“Although we know we have less than our peer institutions,” he said, “it is indeed a lot of money if we invest it in a disciplined way. That is why UND has insisted that its strategic planning and budgeting processes be connected. That commitment is bearing fruit in a greater University of North Dakota.”