May 20, 2020 Dear Faculty Colleagues: I write today to update you on enrollment and ART. As you know, there remains a great deal of uncertainty about the fiscal health of the State for the next academic year, coupled with what is currently an 8.2% decline in our Fall 2020 enrollment. In my previous communication regarding ART, I wrote that after the initial round of awards for first-year, second-year, and other pre-tenure faculty, along with very few tenured faculty, we would wait to see if we were on track to meet our continuing enrollment at the end of Spring semester, and then again in mid-July. Were we able to meet the enrollment goals we had set for those two periods, we would have been able to afford to award more ART However, given the various budget and enrollment challenges we face, I must alert you that no further ART will be awarded this year. Please know that if the financial situation changes, we will reconsider, but I want you and your Department Chairs to be able to plan now. Frankly, I do not expect conditions to sufficiently improve to allow for any further awards. I wish I had better news or that I felt comfortable enough about future finances to allow for greater ART awards. The enrollment and budgetary numbers no longer allow for such hope. Please know that we continue to value scholarly research and creative expression and hope to be able to support them more robustly in the future. Sincerely, Richard J. Helldobler, PhD President
