TO: Sonoma State Employees
FR: Ming-Tung “Mike” Lee, President
I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for your commitment to Sonoma State as we navigate our current administrative and budgetary realities. Your hard work, dedication, and resilience have not gone unnoticed, and I want you to know that we truly value and appreciate your continued efforts.
Over the past few years, we have implemented several initiatives aimed at addressing the challenges brought on by declining enrollment and the associated budget deficit. We have had to make tough decisions that affect our people and our work – holding vacant position lines, running two early exit programs and, most recently, reorganizing administrative units by eliminating some management positions across campus. These actions, including the loss of highly skilled employees, are the most difficult of the changes we have had to make as a campus and are not entered into lightly. They were, however, necessary due to budgetary constraints and the need to align our workforce with our future goals.
Please let me reassure you that while we will continue to explore opportunities to reorganize our workforce to leverage our strengths and develop new service models, the planned administrative reorganization efforts we undertook this summer are now behind us. We will instead focus on identifying ways we can support our employees, providing development opportunities and promoting a positive campus environment. With the start of the fall semester nearly upon us, our focus also shifts towards welcoming our new and returning students to campus. The road ahead may still be tough, but it is important to remember that our strength lies in our unity. I appreciate the many ways each and every one of you has committed extra effort to accomplishing our shared goals for a better and brighter future.
We know that when the organization changes, people need information about how the institution will continue to serve students, faculty, and staff. Here is the document with specific resources and information on the reorganizations.
In closing, I want to once again express my gratitude for your resilience and dedication. Your ongoing commitment and hard work are what will carry us through these challenging times and ultimately contribute to our success. Thank you for all that you do, and I look forward to working alongside each and every one of you as we continue building a stronger and more vibrant Sonoma State University!