The University announced yesterday –– just two days before members of Cornell’s Board of Trustees gather in Ithaca for their quarterly meeting –– a massive restructuring of the administration that could trim Cornell’s projected $135 million budget deficit by over $2 million annually.

The University simultaneously eliminated several top administrative posts while also seeking to centralize its management structure. In the process, the University created a new vice president position responsible for strategizing external communications and formed a committee to oversee Cornell’s information technologies.

Administrative overhaul

The two currently void vice president positions will be eliminated: the executive vice president and the vice president for risk management and public safety. The responsibilities of these axed positions will be redistributed to existing top administrators. For instance, President David Skorton will have increased oversight over Cornell’s finance. The changes are set to take effect Nov. 1.

At the same time, the formal termination of four senior positions in the provost’s office — vice provost for life sciences, senior science advisor, associate provost for outreach and the vice provost for equity and inclusion — is expected to save over $1 million in the provost’s budget, according to Provost Kent Fuchs.

The savings come from the salaries paid to these top administrators, as well as their support staff, Skorton told The Sun yesterday.

Nobody has been laid off as a result of the changes announced yesterday, according to Skorton. Former Executive Vice President Steve Golding announced his resignation in May and now serves as the president’s senior consultant. The last vice president for risk management and public safety, Richard McDaniel M.P.A. ’74, M.B.A. ’78, retired in January. The three support positions cut yesterday from Day Hall are all currently vacant, according to Skorton and Fuchs.

Some of the duties formally held by the executive vice president — such as overseeing the University’s investment office and the audit office — will now fall into Skorton’s hands.

The University’s vice president for financial affairs and chief financial officer will also now report directly to Skorton. In addition, Skorton will directly supervise the division of facilities services, which manages Cornell’s construction projects, on a temporary basis.

The president, however, said that his “more intensive role” in Cornell’s budgetary issues does not have anything to do with Cornell’s recent endowment performance, which suffered a 26-percent plummet in the fiscal year ending June 30.

“Decisions about investment and construction are obviously always important, but we need to be especially fearful at a time of great monetary stress,” Skorton said, adding that these decisions require constant revisiting. “My role is to be as involved as I can be.”

While two vice presidential posts were eliminated, Skorton also established the new position of vice president for University relations. He appointed Prof. Glenn Altschuler, American studies and the dean of continuing education and summer sessions, to the new post. Altschuler will oversee and develop strategic approaches in communicating with Cornell’s constituents, such as representatives in Congress, Albany, the SUNY system and alumni. Altschuler could not be reached for comment yesterday evening.

“It is important to have collectively agreed-upon strategies, messages and communications,” Skorton said.

Vice President for Communications Tommy Bruce, Vice President of Government and Community Relations Stephen Johnson and Vice Provost Ronald Seeber will remain in their current positions, though they will now report to Altschuler.

Among all the announcements yesterday, the creation of the new vice president position is the only decision that is subject to the ratification of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, which will convene later this week, according to Skorton.

“I have the final responsibility for making all these decisions, along with Provost Fuchs,” Skorton said.

In light of this reshuffling, top administrators will now have to take on more responsibilities.

At the Provost’s office, following the formal elimination of the vice provost of life sciences, vice provost of research Robert Buhrman will now be responsible for matters related to all kinds of scientific research, according to Fuchs. Fuchs also noted that Buhrman has begun a search and will later appoint a faculty member to assist his duties.

The responsibilities of the vice president for risk management and public safety will be shared among several other administrators. Vice President for Human Resources Mary Opperman will now oversee four additional offices: the Cornell University Police Department, the office of emergency planning and recovery, the office of environmental health and safety, and the office of risk management strategic initiatives. University Counsel and secretary of the corporation Jim Mingle will oversee the office of risk management and all University risk management functions.

Moreover, vice president of facilities services Kyu Whang will now head the office of environmental compliance and sustainability, according to the University.

The Information Technology Governance Committee is also set up to bring together members of Cornell Information Technologies, the administration and the academics. Led by Fuchs and Dean of Computing and Information Sciences Dan Huttenlocher, the committee will set priorities and make budget recommendations, while chief financial officer Joanne DeStefano will have the administrative oversight on Cornell’s central information technology structure, according to Fuchs. Interim executive director of information technology Steve Schuster is also a member of the committee.

While the University leadership takes more on each of their plates, everyone at Cornell is in the same boat, according to Skorton. He expressed concern about employee’s morale and stressed that everybody at Cornell is working a lot harder. He also added that the University has tried hard to initiate a campus-wide dialogue and be as transparent as possible.

Fuchs said that the timing of the cuts occurring days before the Board of Trustees meeting was simply a coincidence. Skorton said that it is important to gather feedback from the trustees, but he wants to “as soon as possible begin to realize these savings.”

Skorton also told The Sun that the changes announced yesterday conclude the restructuring of top administrative positions in the president’s office, but added that the community can expect more announcements on budget saving strategies in the weeks to come. Fuchs, on the other hand, is expecting more changes in the provost’s office.

“I want us to spend this academic year looking for further opportunities to reduce administrative expenses in the provost’s office,” Fuchs said.