“I’m excited about the confluence and renewed spirit I’m seeing throughout the faculty and staff as well as through the new leadership on campus,” Burger said. “We are investing in areas that will increase Southwestern’s visibility as a singular academic and intellectual experience unlike anything else in Texas and beyond.”
Along with overseeing changes to the Paideia (see Page 21) and the university relations department, Burger’s first years in office were spent restructuring the school’s budget, which had been operating at a deficit.
“Because of a lot of very difficult decisions that were made by President Burger, the senior leadership and our trustees, the budgetary issues have been resolved. We cut significantly; we got things not only back into balance but also moving into the right direction,” said Paul Secord, vice president of university relations. “Even during the times of budgetary shortfalls we weren’t a failing university. We were spending more money than we had, and you can’t do that for very long without getting yourself into trouble.”
Secord joined the university on June 1.
Changes to leadership
At the end of the 2012-13 school year the university had a structural operating budget deficit. Burger said during his first year he focused on learning about the university’s budget and identifying ways to correct issues that led to the deficit.
“We worked collaboratively, across campus, to find solutions and opportunities that improved our operations,” he said.
In 2014 the university cut 11 positions, including some unfilled positions, and began restructuring departments to help move forward with achieving goals set in its 10-year strategic plan adopted in the 2010-11 school year, Burger said.
Burger said many changes in leadership came from people retiring and being promoted.
“Each time a senior staff member announced his or her desire to retire, we looked very closely at the current needs of the university and identified key directions in which new leadership could help us move toward those strategic goals,” he said.
“When you’re introducing a new vision and direction, many elements must align to fully realize the vision’s potential. By this logic, a reallocation and restructuring of resources comes more naturally,” he said. “So regardless of any … shortfalls and deficits with our previous bottom line, our financial goals evolved to match a new and bold direction for the university and to meet the needs of our students.”
The restructuring included moving the university’s marketing and media relations functions out of university relations and into its own department. The change allows university relations to focus on fundraising, alumni and parent relations, and university events.
“Back in the former ways of thinking everybody put communications under university relations because they thought fundraising and messaging is all the same, but they are really very different,” Secord said. “We work exceptionally close together, but the marketing, communications and promotion, and advocacy of the university happens at all levels [of the university].”
Future goals
Secord said his focus is on expanding fundraising efforts for the university and outlining the strategic goals of his revamped department. The department’s purpose is to support and advance the rest of the university including the engagement of alumni, parents and friends, he said.
The annual fund, which is mostly generated by fundraising, accounts for about 4 percent of the university’s operating budget, he said. A majority of the money raised by Secord and his team is used to advance educational opportunities and provide scholarships.
“It’s a matter of articulating the value and the case for support,” Secord said. “It’s that philanthropic investment that makes the future better.”
Chief Marketing Officer Gabe Gomez, who joined the university in June, said the marketing department is completing an assessment of the university’s marketing programs.
The goal is to create a marketing department to share information about the university more effectively, he said.
The process could take three to six months to complete, he said.
“We’re starting at a fundamental level,” Gomez said. “We hope to begin implementing a new [marketing] plan by the first of the year.”
Burger said he expects the changes to continue to improve the university.
“These changes will make us stronger, more distinctive and competitive, and unified in support of a truly life-changing intellectual experience for our students,” he said. “As we celebrate our 175th anniversary, we continue to be an integral part of this wonderful community. Now is the perfect time to learn more about SU, and we invite the community to [visit the campus and participate in events]. These are just a few ways to foster an even richer connection between Georgetown and Southwestern.”
