OU Associate Vice President for Budget and Finance Stewart Berkinshaw presented the university's plan to add 150 new faculty positions over the next six years as part of OU’s Lead On, University Strategic Plan in a Monday meeting.
Tactic 1 of Pillar 1 — to “become a top-tier public research university” — reads the university plans to hire new faculty in areas consistent with the "Lead On, University Strategic Plan" through a new annual investment of $35 million over seven years.
During the meeting, Berkinshaw said OU has already implemented initiatives to achieve 150 new faculty positions such as collapsing the health plan tier structure from six to three and moving from Delta Dental to Blue Cross Blue Shield Dental.
The tactic also includes changing the third-party administrator Blue Cross Blue Shield to OU’s self-funded medical insurance, potentially revising the current Defined Contribution Plans structure for new employees and limiting its payments from the university to base pay only, impacting supplemental overload and summer pay actions.
“The goal of these changes and other changes is to get us to (do) a biennial raise program for (OU) where we can have some line of sight into knowing that we have a consistent raise program structure,” Berkinshaw said.
In addition, staff positions could be added in “critical student-facing” and faculty support positions to sustain OU’s projected faculty growth, Berkinshaw said.
OU's strategic plan will also seek to grow revenue and minimize costs that do not directly supports students and faculty in Academic Affairs, a $350 million area on campus focused on academic strategy and policy.
Berkinshaw said all non-grant funded areas on campus will be assessed a 1 percent charge equivalent to their payroll expense beginning in fiscal year 2022. This charge will increase to 2 percent in fiscal year 2023 and 3 percent in fiscal year 2024.
"This permanent reallocation directs funding to priorities within the Strategic Plan and allows colleges and departments a phase-in period to respond," Berkinshaw said. "This percentage may need to increase if other actions to fund the Strategic Plan are not successful."
During the meeting, OU Human Resources representative Lee Camargo-Quinn announced OU Benefits Open Enrollment will be available from Oct. 25 to Nov. 5. She said changes will take effect on Jan. 1, 2022.
Camargo-Quinn announced OU will host a benefits fair starting Oct. 19 in Andrew’s Tower, Room 109 at the OU Health Sciences Center from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Oct. 20, the fair will be in the Stephenson Research and Technology Center Atrium at the Norman South Campus from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Oct. 21, the fair will take place in the Oklahoma Memorial Union's Molly Shi Boren Ballroom from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The final day of the fair will be on Oct. 22 in the Schusterman Learning Center in Founders Hall at the Tulsa Campus from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This article was updated at 4:55 p.m. to reflect that the OU Associate Vice President for Budget and Finance Stewart Berkinshaw presented a hiring expansion plan instead of announcing the plan.
