USD announces budget reductions
“As in the past two years, we had to make some very difficult decisions again this year,” stated USD President James W. Abbott.
Over the past three years, state general funds appropriated to USD and the Sanford School of Medicine have been cut by $7,348,389. Decreased funding has resulted in elimination of 75 positions, reductions in 14 employment contracts, elimination of the Watertown L.P.N. to R.N. program, closure of the Business Research Bureau, significant reduction in the technology fellows program, elimination of the Computational Science and Statistics Ph.D. program, and a 50 percent reduction in the M.D./Ph.D. program.
Recommendations from university vice presidents, deans and directors were submitted to the University Budget Committee, which deliberated and forwarded a recommendation to Abbott. In accepting the recommendation of the University Budget Committee, Abbott stated, “Not only are we asking our employees to do more with fewer resources, we are asking them to do so without a cost of living increase for three years. Equally important, we are foregoing opportunities to guarantee the success of our future students and the economic development of our state.”