Moss Adams and the Moss Adams Foundation make $50,000 gift to SOU Honors College

 
SOU LOGO HZ 186 POS
 
For further information contact:

Sylvia Kelley
March 25, 2014

 
The scholarships will support students pursuing business degrees with a focus on accounting.
Medford and Ashland, OR – March 18, 2014: The Medford office of Moss Adams and the Moss Adams Foundation generously made a $50,000 scholarship gift to support Southern Oregon University Honors College students. The scholarships will support students pursuing business degrees with a focus on accounting.
The SOU Honors College offers talented students the opportunity to work closely with faculty in small classes and to build dynamic relationships with employers and community leaders through a personalized mentoring program.
“We are proud to support Southern Oregon University and the Honors College. It is important to our region and the business community that SOU continues to be competitive and attract the best and the brightest students. SOU helps build a talented pool of educated employees that Moss Adams, our clients, and the entire community benefit from,” says Jason Lukaszewicz, Partner in Charge of the Moss Adams Medford office.
About Moss Adams
Focusing on assurance, tax, consulting, risk management, transaction, and wealth services, Moss Adams has a staff of over 2,000 that includes more than 260 partners. The firm serves public, private, and not-for-profit enterprises across the nation through specialized industry and service teams. Moss Adams has 22 offices in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Kansas. The Moss Adams Foundation, funded by the firm, its partners, and employees, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that supports accounting and business related study and students at colleges and universities throughout the West and worldwide disaster relief.
About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University provides outstanding student experiences, valued degrees, and successful graduates. SOU is known for excellence in faculty, intellectual creativity and rigor, quality and innovation in connected learning programs, and the educational benefits of its unique geographic location. SOU was the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power, and it is the first university in the nation to balance 100% of its water consumption. Visit sou.edu.
About the SOU Honors College
Combing real world projects with intellectual rigor, The Honors College at Southern Oregon University aims to provide a challenging learning environment. Our creative curricula take advantage of the university’s unique location by drawing on the rich natural, cultural, and artistic resources that are Southern Oregon. Southern Oregon University seeks to create a community of learners prepared for a lifetime of intellectual curiosity, inquiry, scholarship, and service.
 

########## SOU ##########

 

SOU final retrenchment plan balances program cuts with reinvestment in students

For further information please contact:

Liz Shelby, Chief of Staff and Director of Government Relations

shelby@sou.edu

541-552-6733

Plan reinvests in growth and cuts low enrollment, low demand programs to meet budget targets

Ashland, OR – March 14, 2014: Southern Oregon University released today the final retrenchment plan for the university. The plan eliminates a number of academic programs to ensure the long-term fiscal strength of the institution. Programs targeted for cuts have low enrollment, attracting few students and producing very few graduates, or are not currently meeting the needs of the regional workforce.

SOU president Mary Cullinan said, “I am very proud of our campus for pulling together as a community to solve our budget issues. This is a solid, realistic plan. It will enable SOU to focus resources in areas that are in demand and are core to our mission and student success.”
This final retrenchment plan lays out a process to achieve SOU’s overall goal of financial sustainability: a 5% fund balance, or reserve, by the end of the 2013-15 biennium, and a 10% fund balance by the end of the 2015-17 biennium. The plan calls for $6.2 million in permanent savings and $7.8 million in one-time savings.
“The hardest part of this process is seeing a number of our talented faculty leave SOU,” said Cullinan. “Because the retrenchment plan is phased in over a few years, faculty will get at least a year’s notice so they have time to plan for their next opportunity. Nonetheless, they will be a loss to our university.”
Implementation of the plan eventually reduces permanent faculty lines by 13 FTE, and increases over time the overall student/faculty ratio from 17:1 to 21:1. The retrenchment plan specifically focuses on reductions in academic programs. It does not impact financial aid, student life, or other areas of the university.
Majors and minors considered for reduction or elimination will continue to offer courses in the discipline. The programs being phased out graduate fewer than 10 students a year. Majors being eliminated include Art History and French. The current Physics major will be suspended, and SOU will review establishing a new, more contemporary Physics program that aligns with current workforce demand.  Photography, Professional Writing, and Film Techniques are among the minors that will be eliminated.
Current SOU students need to declare by April 1st to be included in the teach-out process.  Students with questions about affected programs should contact the Provost’s Office at provostsoffice@sou.edu or at 541-552- 6114. “We’re committed to all our students being able to complete their degrees if they are in affected programs,” added Cullinan.
A recent appropriation of $500,000 by the legislature to SOU will be used to make strategic investments in student success during the retrenchment process.
Dr. Cullinan said, “I look forward to beginning a strong strategic planning process that will move us forward. We need to reinvest in our strengths and in our students. They’re the foundation of this outstanding university.”
Please visit https://stateoftheuniversity.sou.edu for the complete plan and supporting documents.
Direct link to plan here: https://stateoftheuniversity.swp.sou.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/01/Final-Retrenchment-Plan-SOU-March-2014.pdf
 

# # # SOU # # #

2014 Legislature Approves Important Measures for SOU Capital, Operations, and Governance

For further information contact:

Liz Shelby
shelby@sou.edu
541.552.6733

2014 Legislature Approves Important Measures for SOU Capital, Operations, and Governance
March 12, 2014
With the help of our southern Oregon delegation, Southern Oregon University achieved our legislative objectives during the 2014 legislative session that started in early February and ended on March 7, 2014.  SOU had visible advocacy throughout the session, including Salem visits from President Mary Cullinan, VP Craig Morris, Government Relations Director Liz Shelby, and SOU students who were in the Capitol every day of the session.
Outcomes for SOU from the 2014  Legislative Session include approval of the following measures:
Capital Budget
Senate Bill 5702 and Senate Bill 5703 amend the limits established during the 2013 legislative session on the maximum amount of bonds and/or third party agreements that state agencies may issue.
In connection with this budget action, SOU received $21.3M in XI-Q Bonds for the McNeal Hall Seismic/Deferred Maintenance Upgrade.  Our project was among those on the OUS top three life-safety priority list for this session.  The total approved for OUS capital projects was $29,351,100.
Operating Budget
HB 5201 is a budget reconciliation bill that modifies the state budget for the 2013-15 biennium. The measure adds $2 million General Fund to OUS for SEIU compensation agreements ($850K for PSU and $1.15M for the four technical and regional universities).
The bill also redirects $3.5 million of the Chancellor’s Office General Fund operating budget, into a special purpose appropriation that a subsequent Emergency Board will allocate for higher education governance cost changes. Of this budget, $500,000 is re-directed to EOU and another $500,000 to SOU as one-time financial assistance to be used for strategic reinvestment in student success during a period of budget cutting actions.
University Governance
HB 4018, which changes the date by which Eastern Oregon University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Southern Oregon University or Western Oregon University may request institutional governing board to May 15, 2014, and changes process of board formation, passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate on March 7, 2014.
Essentially the bill provides the State Board of Higher Education (SBHE) with more options when deciding whether to endorse or not endorse a university’s request to have a governing board. With HB4018, the SBHE can now endorse a university to have a governing board, with some conditions, which will be mutually agreed upon, in addition to the two previous options of not endorsing a request for a board or endorsing a request for a board unconditionally.
Representative Peter Buckley, Senator Alan Bates, and Senator Michael Dembrow had significant roles as negotiators of eight rounds of amendments that helped produce a consensus bill.