The university today announced an initiative to ensure that its centralized, nonacademic support functions are efficient, cost-effective, and supportive of Johns Hopkins' missions.
"Growth has slowed in the university's largest source of revenue—federal research funding—while other costs, such as compliance with federal regulations, have increased," Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert C. Lieberman, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Daniel G. Ennis, and Vice President for Human Resources Charlene Moore Hayes said in an email message sent today to employees within University Administration. "Yet even in this constrained environment, Johns Hopkins strives for excellence and must plan strategically for the future."
Lieberman, Ennis, and Hayes reported that leaders of operations within University Administration (UA) were asked to plan for a reduction of their budgets of up to 10 percent in fiscal year 2016, prioritizing investments that align to the university's core missions.
"To meet these budget requirements, department leaders have outlined steps to reduce expenses, and together we have made the difficult decision to eliminate some staff positions," Lieberman, Ennis, and Hayes wrote. "We know this is difficult news for our University Administration staff. Leadership did not arrive at this decision easily and recognizes the impact this will have on affected employees and their families."
Today, managers began informing 41 staff members from a number of UA departments that their positions are being eliminated, and another 13 staff members that their positions will be restructured over the next several months. In addition, 51 vacant positions across UA departments will not be filled. Employees affected include support, professional, and managerial staff. The occupied positions being eliminated or restructured represent approximately 4 percent of the more than 1,300 employees in all of UA. The university as a whole has more than 20,000 full-time employees.
Affected employees are being offered a severance package that recognizes an employee's length of service, as well as benefits counseling and career management and placement services.
The University Administration budget initiative is the latest in a series of cost-control efforts that have included changes to employee health care benefits announced in 2013 and new procurement strategies introduced over the past year. The university has also taken actions to grow revenues in areas such as online education and technology development.
University Administration provides a variety of services, coordination, and oversight for the university's nine academic divisions and other operating units in areas such as finance, fundraising, communications, human resources, information technology, facilities management, legal representation, and others.
"We want to assure you that, through this process, University Administration will have taken an essential step to position ourselves for the years ahead," the message said. "On behalf of the entire university leadership team, we extend our sincere gratitude to departing employees for their years of service to Johns Hopkins University. We also thank all University Administration staff for their continued service in support of the university's missions."
