Assistant Provost Academic Budget Planning

Job Responsibilities
Operating Budget, Faculty Planning, and Portfolio Management

· Lead annual operating budget development for assigned schools and units, including revenue and expenditure planning, faculty and staff assumptions, compensation costs, program activity, strategic investments, and institutional budget parameters.

· Monitor budget performance through budget-to-actual review, variance analysis, root-cause assessment, and corrective action planning.

· Develop multi-year financial projections incorporating staffing, compensation, program activity, enrollment trends, restricted fund use, and strategic investment scenarios.

· Review and approve budget transfers, reallocations, and position changes within assigned portfolio parameters.

· Evaluate new, replacement, or restructured faculty and staff position requests for affordability, timing, financial impact, instructional need, and alignment with school and institutional priorities.

· Coordinate salary and compensation planning, including merit, equity, market, promotional, overload, adjunct, summer, leave, sabbatical, course buyout, reassigned time, and grant release-time costs.

· Conduct salary savings and resource availability analyses and translate findings into reallocation recommendations.

· Ensure faculty workload, adjunct staffing, compensation plans, academic personnel costs, and operating budgets are fiscally sound and aligned with institutional policies.

Endowments, Restricted Funds, Capital Planning, and Strategic Resource Use

· Manage endowment, designated, and restricted fund planning for assigned schools in coordination with appropriate University offices.

· Maintain fund status reports, statements of change, spend-down plans, and analyses of available balances.

· Advise Deans on strategic use of endowment distributions, designated funds, restricted funds, and start-up funds while ensuring compliance with donor intent and institutional policy.

· Integrate capital planning implications into school operating budgets and multi-year financial plans.

· Identify opportunities to use restricted, designated, or available funds strategically to support academic priorities and offset operating budget pressure where allowable.

Program, Initiative, and Academic Investment Analysis

· Serve as the primary financial advisor to assigned Deans, leading portfolio discussions and providing data-informed recommendations on budget performance, fund balances, staffing plans, program investments, operating risks, academic demand, and strategic resource decisions.

· Conduct program-level financial analyses, including revenue, expense, ROI, P&L, credit hour production, staffing costs, space, technology, overhead, and other operating costs.

· Evaluate proposed academic initiatives through pro forma modeling, scenario analysis, and sustainability review.

· Incorporate academic demand, enrollment trends, retention, completion, market indicators, assessment findings, accreditation requirements, mission considerations, and strategic priorities into financial recommendations.

· Identify programs or initiatives that are financially strong, marginal, or unsustainable and advise Deans on investment, restructuring, partnership, phase-out consideration, or other action.

· Analyze cross-subsidization patterns, operational efficiencies, shared service opportunities, and potential duplication of resources.

· Track approved initiatives and implemented efficiencies against original projections and identify risks or corrective actions.

Assessment Process Oversight and Academic Planning Integration

· Serve as the school-level operational partner to the Associate Provost for Academic Assessment and Accreditation for assigned schools.

· Support implementation of institutional assessment standards, timelines, and documentation expectations at the portfolio level.

· Advise Program Directors and academic leaders on assessment plan quality, including learning outcomes, measures, targets, collection timelines, findings, and action plans.

· Represent the assigned portfolio on the University Assessment Committee or related assessment and accreditation working groups.

· Identify and communicate assessment concerns, accreditation risks, or documentation gaps to the Dean and appropriate OASPA leadership.

· Participate in annual strategic reviews that connect assessment findings, academic quality indicators, program review results, and budget planning decisions.

· Ensure assessment and accreditation findings are incorporated into academic planning and resource discussions where appropriate.

Pre-Award Grants Planning and Budget Integration

· Serve as the school-level operational partner to the Associate Provost for Grants and Sponsored Research for assigned schools.

· Support pre-award grant planning by reviewing budget sustainability, cost-share commitments, faculty workload implications, and post-award financial obligations.

· Ensure grant-funded positions, course buyouts, faculty release time, cost-share commitments, and related budget impacts are accurately reflected in school operating plans.

· Notify the Associate Provost for Grants and Sponsored Research of financial constraints, sustainability concerns, or institutional commitments that may affect proposal feasibility.

· Coordinate with portfolio teams, Deans, faculty, and relevant administrative offices to ensure grant activity is integrated into academic and financial planning.

· Support planning for the transition from proposal approval to award implementation, in coordination with Business Affairs and other responsible offices.

Director Supervision and Cross-Training

· Supervise, mentor, and evaluate the assigned Director of Academic Budget Planning.

· Review Director work products and ensure analyses, reports, dashboards, and planning materials meet division standards.

· Provide coaching to strengthen the Director’s analytical, technical, communication, and strategic advisory skills.

· Participate in OASPA’s cross-training strategy to develop working knowledge of portfolios beyond assigned schools.

· Support onboarding and development of Directors and incoming Assistant Provosts.

Competencies, Education, Experience
Required Qualifications

· Master’s degree required in higher education administration, finance, business, public administration, public policy, or related field.

· Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in academic budget planning, institutional finance, higher education administration, resource planning, or related work.

· Demonstrated expertise in operating budget development, multi-year financial modeling, salary planning, position authorization, variance analysis, and resource allocation.

· Experience advising Deans or senior academic leaders.

· Demonstrated ability to exercise budget authority and make sound financial planning decisions.

· Supervisory or mentorship experience with analytical professional staff.

· Excellent analytical, communication, relationship-building, and strategic thinking skills.

Preferred Qualifications

· Doctoral degree or advanced coursework in a relevant field.

· Experience in a Provost’s Office, Academic Affairs, academic budget office, or central university planning environment.

· Experience with FLAC, endowment and restricted fund administration, capital planning, assessment systems, accreditation processes, and pre-award grants planning.