For the first time since the University-wide capital campaign kicked off in the early 1990s, senior central administration officials are visiting each of the University’s schools to discuss financial and academic planning.

The budget reviews, led by Provost Steven E. Hyman and three of the University’s five vice presidents, will finish tomorrow morning at the Graduate School of Design after nearly two months of meetings.

The reviews come as schools are forced to reexamine current programs and consider cutting back future plans because of the current recession.

“We really want to make sure the schools are on firm footing,” Hyman says.

Though formal budget reviews are an annual occurrence, the combined meeting of senior central administration officials with top level administrations at each school is a rare occurrence—part of the efforts of the new administration of University President Lawrence H. Summers to increase coordination between schools.

“I think it’s very important that the central administration function so that all people who need the information and can contribute it are in the room,” Hyman says. “It creates a spirit of cooperation.”

Hyman emphasizes that the budget reviews looked beyond the balance sheet, and encouraged schools to continue to be academic innovative.

Taking risks, Hyman says, is also important. The challenge is “balancing vibrant, ambitious plans with a good dose of fiscal reality,” he says.

The reviews, which each lasted for several hours and were generally informal in tone, were based on annual budget reports and other statistics submitted to Mass. Hall.

“It was very relaxed. The provost structured the meeting so that it was very open,” says School of Public Health Dean for Academic Affairs James H. Ware.

Playing Left Field

The budget reviews come five months after Hyman first entered his Mass. Hall office, pledging to work with Summers to reshape the ambiguously-defined provost position.

And as he begins to develop a sense of the inner workings of the University, Hyman says, the redefinition process has begun.

“We’re beginning to recreate the job,” Hyman says. “As the provost’s role was developed, the provost also became kind of a left infielder—he picked up the stray balls.”

Hyman points to the budget reviews as an example of the provost’s evolving role.