TO: All employees
FR: M. Monir Ahmed, Vice President of Administration and Finance
I have been here just over 90 days now. During this time, I have been acclimating myself to the campus, my surroundings, meeting with staff, leadership, students, campus constituents, and the Cabinet. In my first few weeks on campus, we were still navigating the local restrictions due to COVID-19, and our students and much of our faculty and staff were schooling and working remotely. In my new role as Vice President for Administration and Finance / Chief Financial Officer, I have been excited, eager to dig in and get going. I couldn’t wait to find out what was working, where we needed help, and what our processes looked like. I am always on the lookout for ways we can do things differently and, perhaps, better.
Key word responses from the "Share your Love of SSU" event
When our local restrictions were lifted, we celebrated as a campus with the event "Share Your Love with SSU" in the Seawolf Plaza, with donuts, coffee, and hearts to share what we love about SSU. Our first day for everyone to return in person was also Valentine's Day! Over 150 of us - staff, faculty, and students, completed hearts, sharing what we love about SSU. Improving enrollment is at the top of all minds, and from what I learned that day, it seems we need to do a better job of sharing all that there is to love about Sonoma State University. Looking at the responses people gave, how they love the beauty, the services, and the support they receive from their professors and departments and the people that make up this campus. People need to know what an amazing school and campus this is and how the people who attend, teach at, and work here feel about it.
Soon after, I had my first meeting with the leadership of Administration and Finance. I shared with them how my core values are in line with those of the University:
- Diversity and Social Justice
- Sustainability and Environmental Inquiry
- Connectivity and Community Engagement
- Adaptability and Responsiveness
And how I believe, we need to also look at how these align with the future of higher education and what the students will be, and already are, demanding:
- Convenience and Flexibility
- Higher-Quality
- Self Service Better/Improved Communication
- Broader Engagement and Partnership
I participated in our Spring Budget Forum and appreciate that while there are many positive steps we as a campus have already taken, our enrollment and retention are not where we want them to be. The state does have a surplus, this year, and we are asking for more funding to help our campus address some infrastructure deficits. Nothing is guaranteed and we know our campus, to improve our enrollment, must get a handle on our deferred maintenance needs.
I am enjoying listening and learning from everyone I meet. Below are a few opportunities as I see needing our attention:
- Balance our Budget - we will need to continue our conversation on how to realign our services to our enrollment
- Reimagine our services delivery to see where efficiency gain might be possible
- Work on our communication strategy to ensure the campus community is equally informed of important administration and finance matters in a timely manner
We are currently advocating supplemental funding opportunities for various one-time campus infrastructure needs such as water, power, and campus sustainability initiatives.
We were successful in securing a 3-year grant from NACUBO to work with 25 other campuses to develop a framework for sustainable student success initiatives, especially as it relates to equity. I am grateful for a number of our colleagues from academic affairs and student affairs joining me on the project planning team for this important work.
I intend to keep in mind the feedback we received from all of you as we move forward. I will come back to you all with updates as we make progress in other areas where either a process is being reworked to gain efficiency or a new stream of revenue is achieved. And until then, I welcome your emails and my door continues to be open. I look forward to working with you all as we solve the challenges we face as well as expand on our successes.