Despite fiscal headwinds and other uncertainties, Interim Chancellor Dele Davies, MD, reminded UNMC faculty and staff on Monday that their work is important – and that the university will continue to improve people’s lives.
“I know these are challenging times, but our mission is really strong, and I thank you for all you are doing,” Dr. Davies said.
Among other news shared at Monday’s all-campus forum, Dr. Davies said that because of fiscal challenges, there will be no specific allocation for general salary increases for UNMC faculty and staff this year.
“We realize this is not a message most are looking forward to hearing,” said Anne Barnes, who joined Dr. Davies at the forum. Barnes serves as vice chancellor for business, finance and business development for UNMC and interim vice president for business and finance for the NU System.
Barnes said guidance recently issued by the NU System outlines that NU’s 2025-26 operating budget will not include an allocation for general salary increases and no across-the-board raises from any funding source will be granted.
Campus units, however, will retain the ability to identify special circumstance salary increases such as promotions, she said, with approval of the chancellor and reporting to the NU president.
Barnes, in response to an audience member’s question, said salary increases for faculty in the collective bargaining units at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska at Kearney must be funded by existing appropriations to each campus.
UNMC faculty, students and staff can watch the forum on the campus intranet.
The salary guidance was issued on the heels of state lawmakers approving Nebraska’s mainline appropriation bill, which provides the university a 1.25% increase over the biennium or a .625% each year – below NU’s request for a 3.5% annual increase, but a slight increase over the governor’s recommended cut. In addition, the Legislature restored the tobacco settlement funds that support biomedical research across the NU System, as well as Creighton University and Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Dr. Davies thanked NU leaders and UNMC’s legislative affairs team for the work they’ve done at both the state and federal level. “It’s been a challenging time, and their work has made a difference,” he said.
Fiscal uncertainty remains, Barnes said, related to federal funding, health insurance costs and supply costs. Still, the salary guidance will help units as they continue planning for their fiscal year budgets. The NU Board of Regents will vote in June on NU’s operating budget and tuition rates.
Also in June, Dr. Davies said the Higher Learning Commission will conduct a site visit June 2 and 3, as a result of NU’s application to pursue a single institutional accreditation for UNL and UNMC. Following the visit, the group will make a recommendation to the HLC board.
Dr. Davies said unified accreditation will reduce barriers, increase collaboration and allow for streamlined reporting that will raise the university’s academic profile among its Big 10 peers. Barnes agreed, saying “changes will be nominal in the way we report, but will not be structural changes.”
Dr. Davies and Vice Chancellor Barnes also provided the following updates:
- A draft of UNMC’s Strategic Plan for academic years 2026-29 now is available for review by the UNMC community. The plan mirrors NU’s five foundational pillars/strategic priorities, and adds a sixth pillar to highlight UNMC’s commitment to clinical care and patient safety.
- Promotion and Tenure letters were sent to faculty last week.
- Utility and site work for Project Health is underway. In April, the regents’ approved the first intermediate design report, which allows for utilities work, installation of water and drainage systems, site excavation and preconstruction work for heavy building components such as elevator shafts.
- As UNMC explores ways to innovate, grow and partner with others, researchers submitting grants also should consider how their work might fit within the federal government’s focus on chronic disease.
- Reminded the UNMC community about IT’s work with DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) compliant emails. DMARC is an industry-standard email authentication tool that helps protect emails from being spoofed or used fraudulently. IT will institute a new system this summer to help users interact with the quarantined emails they receive.