The Board of Visitors Finance Committee met Friday to discuss the University’s financial assets and allocation of funds.
The Board of Visitors previously authorized individual quasi-endowment transactions worth $4 million, creating two endowed professorships in the School of Medicine. The Finance Committee voted to approve the creation of these endowments, with income from the funds used to support chairholders’ salaries and scholarly activities.
The committee also reported an increase in operating costs of a new library to open at the University College at Wise, with the funds going towards utilities, maintenance, custodial costs and paying a new staff member.
Two capital project financing plans were discussed, including the International Residential College renovation plan estimated to cost $16 million. The debt service and operating costs will be covered by housing revenue income.
The committee also discussed research improvements, including the ResearchUVa project, which focuses on reducing the amount of administrative and bureaucratic work professors are required to do in the research process.
“The need for effective and efficient support is greater than ever,” Sarah Collie, associate vice president for organizational excellence said.
The program is a joint effort between the Office of Sponsored Programs, Information Technology Services and Organizational Excellence.
“[This is] the result of extensive analysis, including benchmarking, focus groups and details process mapping with more than 20 processes,” Collie said.
In the past, information was difficult to access due to a lack of digitization. Collie emphasized the difficulty in determining the status of proposals or awards unless faculty had access to an official paper copy.
“ResearchUVa is an enabling tool for faculty researchers,” Collie said. “These improvements are reducing the amount of time on administrative tasks.”
The financial benefits of a more efficient and transparent system are substantial, Collie said.
“A couple of hours per person translates to more than $5 million saved annually,” Collie said
Elizabeth Adams, assistance vice president for research administration, said in order for the University to continue to recruit top-tier faculty, the administrative burden for research must be lowered.
“As we move forward, we need to have all of that available as a competitive institution,” Adams said. “We will lose professors … because of the bureaucracy and administration required to do the work.”
Lawrence Kochard, chief executive officer of the University Investment Management Company, presented a report on the performance of the University’s assets. Increased market uncertainty and volatility resulted in low returns.
“The small endowments will outperform the large endowments,” Kochard said.
He urged investors not to panic at the lower returns.
“The worst thing would be to ditch our whole process,” Kochard said. “A lot of projects lead to nothing, but it makes us a smarter investor.”
Kochard said he remains optimistic about long-term returns.
“Our biggest edge is our current relationships — which are very strong — and our U.Va. alumni network — which is very powerful,” Kochard said.
The meeting closed with a vote that passed all motions during the meeting and a decision to continue discussion at a later date on the Strategic Investment Fund.
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