Monthly updates on Bridge to the Future,
PSU's plan for financial sustainability
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We are entering the most consequential weeks of the Bridge to the Future 2.0 process where months of study, input and planning inform our next phase of decision making and implementation. If you weren’t able to attend the Administrative Briefing earlier this month, and you’re in need of a deeper understanding of our financial sustainability efforts, I strongly encourage you to watch the recording. It’s an excellent overview of the what, why, when and how of our plan to make sound, structural changes to PSU to ensure that we can continue to serve our students, our community and our region.
In the coming weeks we will learn the initial results of the PIVOT process and start to gain a clearer picture of how PSU will move forward. I will be focusing on our future strategy for growth at a campus Town Hall on March 10 and I invite you to mark your calendars to join that presentation and discussion.
As always, thank you to everyone who has dedicated their time and energy to this Bridge to the Future process. I am grateful for the dedication and collaboration.
— Ann Cudd, PSU President
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Over the next few Bridge Bulletin updates, we will be focusing specifically on the "why" behind our structural changes—a perspective many of you have shared was missing from our previous communications about Operational Excellence. This first update addresses the strategic evolution of Human Resources at PSU. We are shifting from a decentralized model that burdened staff to a professionalized support system designed to let you focus on your core mission.
PSU’s culture deeply values individual empowerment and decentralization. However, current data reveals a hidden cost: over 75% of HR work is currently performed by employees whose primary jobs are not HR-related. This creates a "shadow workload" of complex, sporadic, and high-stakes administrative tasks that distract from our service to students and the community.
The following initiatives are designed to bridge this gap:
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- Establishing HR Support Hubs: We are moving complex administrative flows—like recruitment and search management—away from front-line supervisors and into the hands of HR professionals. This reduces burnout and ensures specialized tasks are handled with expert precision.
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Expanding the Training Team: Responding to years of consistent feedback, we are prioritizing "clearer guidance." By centralizing the onboarding framework and adding more comprehensive university training, we ensure every employee has a consistent, supportive path for growth from day one.
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Redesigning Protected Leave: The current regulatory landscape is fragmented and stressful. We are creating a unified, PSU-centric pathway to handle leaves, ensuring data accuracy and, most importantly, a more empathetic experience for employees during major life events.
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Ultimately, these changes aren't about centralizing control, but about providing the infrastructure necessary for employees to thrive in their core roles, while the Hubs handle the specialized, high-compliance administrative functions that require dedicated expertise.
— Andria Johnson, Vice President of Finance and Administration
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PIVOT is Academic Affairs' and Research & Graduate Studies' comprehensive assessment of PSU's academic programs and support operations. Through this process, we are realigning our academic offerings and support structures to be financially sustainable, mission-driven, and responsive to student and workforce needs while contributing to closing PSU's structural deficit.
Track 1: Academic Programs
The Academic leadership Team including the Deans Council and Provost continue to work collaboratively to refine program classifications, which will be reviewed by President Cudd beginning next week.
Track 2: Academic Support Units, Centers, and Institutes
After unit self-studies were submitted for all Academic Support Units, Administrative Structures, and Centers and Institutes, each unit was reviewed by three or more academic leaders, including deans, vice provosts, SFOs and associate vice provosts. Primary reviewers evaluated unit self-studies, sought clarification from unit leaders, and developed preliminary classifications. Secondary reviewers provided additional perspective on those classifications, surfaced questions or concerns requiring further attention, and ensured consistency and fairness across similar units.
Earlier this week, the review team met to discuss possible classifications (Invest, Sustain, Reassess, Restructure/Consolidate, Phase Out), cross-unit collaboration opportunities, and intersections between PIVOT Track 2 decisions, Track 1, Operational Excellence, and the Non-Academic Administrative Review processes. In the coming weeks, engagement will continue with the Track 2 points of contact to review preliminary classifications and gain input, to inform potential updates to the classifications.
The Provost's Office is now working with unit leaders to conduct financial reviews that estimate savings, investment needs, and consider impacts. Targeted consultations continue to be held on restructuring opportunities, shared services, the operational efficiencies initiative and leadership configurations.
— Shelly Chabon, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
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Non-Academic Administrative Review | The Non-Academic Administrative Review (NAAR) is focused on ensuring that our administrative footprint matches our current scale.
NAAR uses three separate sets of data to evaluate non-academic programs and services.
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- The leaders of every non-academic department (24) completed self-studies that covered questions about mission or business criticality, compliance or risk factors; Innovation, Efficiency, and Accountability, Impacts and Outcomes, and Future Outlook.
- We provided those leaders quantitative data about the history of their budgets and their personnel that offered context over time.
- We also asked each unit to name 3 to 5 internal stakeholders to respond to questions about the reach, quality, and innovation of each unit.
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NAAR used three three sources of data and a rubric to rank each program in the following areas:
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- Mission or business criticality (including regulatory or compliance risk);
- Operational excellence and efficiency; and
- Operational Performance and financial sustainability.
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NAAR will present those rankings in a matrix that will help us identify what programs might be maintained, which should be reengineered, and which should be phased out.
The next step is to meet with the leads of each unit to discuss how they were rated and how they might put together an efficiency plan that optimizes our non-academic functions so every dollar is directed toward our core priorities: student success and long-term institutional stability.
— Sheila Martin, Chief of Staff and Vice President for Public Affairs
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Here are the most recent questions received about Bridge to the Future 2.0. Please submit your questions, ideas and feedback to the Financial Sustainability Feedback Form. Questions will be answered monthly in this newsletter and included on the Bridge to the Future 2.0.
Q. What about buildings, parkings, what is our situation there? Should we sell or rent some of our properties?
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We are absolutely looking at our physical footprint through our Bridge to the Future work, but real estate is a 'slow lever.' Between state bond restrictions and the current Portland rental market, we can't simply lease or sell buildings to fix an immediate budget gap; instead, our focus right now is on understanding our space utilization and reducing maintenance costs to match our smaller footprint.
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