By Logan Monteleone
Business and Distribution Manager
At last Monday’s faculty meeting on April 7, faculty members and senior staff expressed gratitude for their retiring colleagues, excitement over recent admissions accomplishments, and a mix of positive and negative feedback regarding Washington College’s financial situation.
Commending the work of the admissions team, College President Dr. Mike Sosulski said that 13 students committed to the College on-site at Admitted Students Day. As of Monday, 157 students had committed and put in deposits compared to around 108 at the same time last year.
Faculty members also celebrated the three accomplished and beloved educators and leaders retiring after this semester. Dean of Library and Academic Technology Dr. Mary Alice Ball, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies Dr. Tahir Shad, and Associate Professor and Chair of History Dr. Janet Sorrentino’s colleagues spoke of them with praise, appreciation, and admiration.
“I will greatly miss my treasured colleagues,” Chair of International Studies and Political Science Professor Dr. Andrew Oros said. “I was very moved by the tributes to them at the meeting, which emphasized their student-first approach to their roles in so many ways. I have personally learned quite a lot from each of them about teaching and about pursuing a broader mission for the College.”
Regarding finances, senior staff announced that they have received the final report from the financial audit that started in December. While details about the report will not be shared more broadly until financial administrators and the Budget and Finance Committee have reviewed it, President Sosulski said that no fraudulent behavior nor unexpected issues were identified.
However, a deficit of slightly less than $2 million still remains for this fiscal year.
“I appreciated President Sosulski’s clear response to my question about the extent of this year’s budget deficit and how far we had come together to fill the gap,” Dr. Oros said. “I’m anxious to see more detail about how spending could have been misestimated by as much as twenty percent this fiscal year, according to the numbers [Sosulski] and [Vice President for Finance and Administration] Bo Connell shared at the meeting.”
While there will not be another round of faculty and staff furloughs or reductions this fiscal year, according to Connell, many budgetary measures will remain in place beyond the end of June. President Sosulski said that minimizing the impact on faculty and staff is a priority.
Although the budget for next fiscal year is slightly behind schedule due to the finance issues of the current year, Connell said that he hopes to share the completed version with faculty and staff within the next couple of weeks.
“We have been meeting very regularly with senior management across the campus and faculty leadership to have conversations about opportunities to reduce some of our fixed costs…and it’s been very successful so far,” Connell said. “We will have a slimmer budget next year, and our primary goal is to make sure that we’re covering all of our fixed costs…and [managing] the expense part of the budget.”
Aside from finances, the Scholarship and Service Committee shared the list of nominees for Faculty Council. None of the nominees accepted the position.
Current Faculty Council Co-Chair Dr. Sara Clarke-De Reza said that although the role is demanding and time-consuming, it is important that faculty have representation through the Council. In particular, an untenured voice would be valuable in the position.
Transparency and shared governance were brought up in multiple contexts throughout the meeting, and Dr. Oros said that faculty meetings rely on these concepts.
“I see the monthly faculty meeting as one important component of information-sharing…community-building, and transparency,” Dr. Oros said. “Transparency continues to be a challenge, but the faculty meeting is only one way to deliver on this goal.”