March 1, 2010

Greetings!

Early this morning, after nearly a week-long special session, the State Legislature and the Governor agreed to a deal that will result in a 6.9 percent operating reduction for the Nevada System of Higher Education. At DRI this will equate to approximately a $170,000 cut for the rest of this fiscal year and about a $510,000 cut for next.

We should be able to take most if not all of this year's reduction out of operations and maintenance, but we'll likely lose about $360,000 in Applied Research Initiative funding next year. As many of you know, this is a difficult time to give up state research funding because DRI and the two research universities are being asked for greater federal grant matches. We have made tremendous headway during the past year in successfully applying for renewable research grants, however our required matches are at least 20 percent and in some cases have been as high as 100 percent.

I would like to publicly thank our legislators and the Governor for their careful thought, hard work and long hours that that they put into crafting a budget during this special session. While this latest round of budget cuts will put an additional strain on our campus, we realize how much Nevada's economy has suffered and their actions could have been much more severe.

On Thursday and Friday, the Board of Regents will meet at the College of Southern Nevada where I'm sure the details of this budget deal will begin to emerge. With that cautionary note stated, I am grateful that no more salary cuts were imposed onto the furlough that many of us are currently taking.

Thank you for your perseverance through this difficult time. I will plan to provide you with additional update in an open institutional meeting after the Board of Regents meeting this week.

Sincerely,

Dr. Stephen Wells
DRI