Briefly Noted

Briefly Noted

Gilmore amendment
eliminates first year of
performance funding

It will be another month before it is known how higher education has fared in regard to state budget allocations for the 1998-2000 biennium, but an amendment submitted by Gov. Jim Gilmore has eliminated $25 million of "performance funding" for public universities in 1998-99.

Initially proposed by former Gov. George Allen, the performance funding plan called for the distribution of $50 million over the biennium to reward colleges and universities for strong performance. Old Dominion would have received $2.1 million in the first year of the biennium.

Instead, it has been reported that Gilmore will ask his Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education to review the performance funding concept and report back at the end of the year.

As originally envisioned, the performance fund would allocate money based on such measures as graduation rates, classroom usage and percentage of budget spend on teaching.

In a Feb. 6 letter to the campus community, President James V. Koch said, "Most observers believe that the blue ribbon commission will examine the concept of performance funding and the variables used. There is a bit of legislative sentiment for adding back some of these dollars to higher education, albeit for different purposes.

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Dates announced for town meetings to discuss new strategic plan

Provost Jo Ann Gora has announced a series of town meetings this semester to solicit input for Old Dominion's next strategic plan, which will cover the period 2000 to 2005.

The university community is encouraged to attend the meetings, which will include discussions of the initiatives that should be formulated in the new plan.

Each of the town meetings will deal with one of the major emphasis areas of the strategic plan, tentatively titled "The Plan for the 21st Century." Gora distributed a progress report on the 1994-1999 Strategic Plan to faculty, staff and administrators earlier this month, and the meetings will correspond with chapters from this report.

All of the meetings will be held in the Elizabeth River Room of Webb Center. The schedule is as follows:

  • March 18 - 2:30-5:30 p.m., covering chapters 1-4, which address academic program initiatives.
  • March 27 - 2:30-5:30 p.m., covering chapters 5-7, which address the quality of campus life initiatives.
  • April 3 - 3-5 p.m., covering chapter 8, which addresses community involvement and commitment.

    The progress report will soon be available on the Web.

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