UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State’s Faculty Senate held an off-cycle meeting on June 12 to hear updates from senior administrators and to ask questions about the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) and regional leadership model announced for the Commonwealth Campuses.
Tracy Langkilde, interim executive vice president and provost, and Rick Brazier, interim dean of Penn State’s University College, addressed the Faculty Senate. In a separate meeting with the University Staff Advisory Council (USAC), Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Margo DelliCarpini shared updates with staff members.
With the VSIP enrollment period closed, the University announced on June 11 plans to implement a regional leadership model for the Commonwealth Campuses, as well as a one-time cash infusion of up to $20 million in additional funding from the presidential strategic funds to support the Commonwealth Campuses. An accelerated timeline for implementing optimized service teams (OSTs) intended to create efficiencies across campuses and reduce expenditures also was announced.
The Commonwealth Campus VSIP was launched May 8 as a tool to help reduce the $49 million deficit, in aggregate, at the campuses by incentivizing employees to depart Penn State to pursue other opportunities or retire. In all, 383 employees – about 21% of those eligible across the commonwealth – opted for the VSIP, resulting in an overall 10% reduction in personnel. Of those who participated, about 77% are staff.
Despite these faculty and staff reductions, Brazier said he does not anticipate any service disruptions this upcoming fall semester. Of those who enrolled in VSIP, 76% of faculty and 52% of staff are leaving June 28. For others, the administration extended the departure date to no later than Dec. 31 to cover critical University needs and create more time to reorganize and backfill positions.
“We have already begun the next steps for immediate course coverage for 2024 and are receiving backfill requests,” Brazier said. “About 3% of the courses we offer across the Commonwealth Campuses will be impacted. We are covering these courses through a combination of identifying whether there are alternative courses students can take, extending the separation dates, looking at regional or digital learning options and backfilling to cover those needs.”
In addition to extending the separation date for some employees to cover critical needs for the fall semester, Langkilde said that Vice President for Human Resources Jennifer Wilkes and her team are ready to assist the campuses in ensuring vacancies are filled as quickly as possible; they may also post jobs internally to campuses as appropriate.
While the associated dollar value of these salary savings is $43 million, the actual savings connected with VSIP won’t be known until later in the year when the new structure and backfill needs are understood, Langkilde said. The additional $20 million in presidential strategic funds also will allow the University extra time – until June 3, 2026, to take thoughtful action to balance the Commonwealth Campus budget.
During their respective meetings, both faculty and staff members expressed uncertainty and voiced concerns about how these changes will be implemented and what the impact will be on individuals and the campuses. Administrators acknowledged that were unable to answer every question, because they are still processing VSIP data and determining what positions must be backfilled, as these determinations were not possible before seeing which positions elected to participate. They said they are working quickly to finalize the new structures and provide answers.
As they did during the senate’s previous special session on VSIP, senior leaders agreed to provide written answers to the remaining questions, which will then be published on the Penn State Faculty Senate’s website.
Langkilde also emphasized that the regional model is about consolidating leadership and that the individual campuses will maintain their unique qualities.
“We are not regionalizing the campuses. This is not a hub,” Langkilde said. “They are not being melded into a single identity. It is going to be critical that our campuses maintain their unique identities and strengths.”
One faculty senator asked why the DuBois campus, as one of only two of the 14 campuses that comprise Penn State’s University College, was not included in the new regional leadership model.
The decision mostly had to do with location, Brazier said. Campuses were grouped regionally under the new leadership model, for ease of student access and shared services, and based on existing program synergy. Langkilde said that the groupings could change if a different model makes more sense in the future.
Regarding the regional leadership model, a few faculty members raised concern about campuses not having a chancellor on the ground, the loss of institutional and historical knowledge tied to losing the people in these positions and concern about whether this will result in a decrease in advocacy from the leadership level for those campuses.
“We are going to have to have a person in charge at each of the locations who really understands and who can be the contact person for the regional chancellor,” Langkilde said.
Details about who that person will be, what type of position and their exact responsibilities are still being determined, according to Brazier.
Human Resources staff are reaching out to all departing staff for voluntary exit interview invitations, and faculty exit interview officers are contacting departing faculty. There also have been ongoing conversations with directors and managers in the units that will be shifting to OSTs – facilities, information technology and finance – to identify gaps that will need to be filled.
In response to questions about what impact these changes could have on enrollment and the long-term growth and sustainability of campuses, Langkilde said that the ongoing work of envisioning a more sustainable future for Penn State – including the Academic Portfolio and Program Review – will be happening simultaneously with the short-term efforts to respond to VSIP changes.
“As we’re preparing for how to cover positions this fall, we also have to be thinking about how we can adjust the structure, so we have a more sustainable business model to deliver exciting opportunities for our students,” Langkilde said. “The APPR is going to help us identify our strengths across all of our campuses and opportunities for us to prepare our students for the workforce by partnering with our communities to really meet those critical needs. Once we’ve thought through these pieces and filled the important gaps, we can start working with our external partners to identify future areas of growth.”
Vice President for Enrollment Management Matt Melvin said his office has been working with enrollment management directors across the Commonwealth Campuses to build upon some of the work that’s already begun to take a more regional and student-centric approach to recruiting. As an example, Melvin pointed to the west region, where campuses have already been collaborating in admissions and financial aid.
Both faculty and staff raised questions about whether the VSIP changes will create an increased workload for those remaining at the campuses this fall. Langkilde said that not every position is going to be directly refilled, and that the University is working to reorganize in a way that allows it to function effectively with fewer personnel.
Langkilde encouraged everyone in the Penn State community to ask more questions, give feedback and share ideas via the feedback form on the Penn State Roadmap website. The VSIP2024@psu.edu email is also still open to anyone who has questions about their individual cases.
Senate Business
The Faculty Senate passed two motions related to VSIP. The first motion was to form a special committee to investigate and report back to the full senate on the impact of budgetary and employment changes related to VSIP on curriculum and academic program offerings.
The second was a nonbinding resolution, advising the president and administration to involve faculty in the decision-making process from the onset for any future consideration of a voluntary separation program, and to include non-tenure-line faculty in the eligible employee group.
Senate Chair Michele Stine acknowledged that because of VSIP, special elections may need to be held to make sure all Senate seats are filled and every unit has full representation, including alternates. She also said the Senate plans to recognize anyone who is leaving in September.
The next regular meeting of Faculty Senate will be held at 1:30 p.m. July 9 via Zoom.
About Faculty Senate
Faculty Senate is a legislative body comprised of 200 faculty, elected by their peers from each college and campus. The senate also includes representatives from the undergraduate and graduate student body and University administration. The senate holds legislative authority on educational matters including curriculum, student policies, admissions, and retention/graduation requirements. The senate also serves as an advisory and consultative body to the University administration, a process referred to as shared governance.