Deficit projected for U. budget

Executive Vice President John Fry reported a projected University deficit of more than $2 million for the current fiscal year at the University Board of Trustees' annual fall meeting Friday. In addition, the Board heard reports from its constituent committees and from other top administrators. The deficit results from the shift of Pennsylvania state legislature funds from the University as a whole to the School of Veterinary Medicine, according to Fry. "Rest assured, we have plans in the works for closing that deficit," he said. Also at the meeting, the Trustees approved several resolutions pertaining to spending and operations, including the naming of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories of the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. University President Judith Rodin said in her report that she was very pleased with the way the academic year has begun. "There have been so many positive notes," she said, citing the University's top rankings for both undergraduate and graduate studies and the appointment of several new administrators as high points. She added that searches for some vacant positions -- such as a new communications director and a new executive director for resource planning and budgeting -- would be completed "in the near future." Rodin also said that Public Safety Managing Director Thomas Seamon and Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman have been working with Philadelphia officials to reduce traffic speeds at the intersection of 34th and Walnut streets. She said University Police officers who have monitored traffic at that corner recently have timed some cars traveling as fast as 65 to 70 miles per hour along 34th Street. Rodin also presented a resolution to name Phase One of the IAST after Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos and his wife, Diana. "Philanthropists and humanists, Roy and Diana Vagelos are among the principal visionaries of IAST, which, as part of the University's great interdisciplinary community, has untold potential for advancing knowledge and improving the human condition," Rodin said in her introduction to the resolution, which was approved unanimously. Provost Stanley Chodorow then asked for and received approval for the Graduate School of Education to appoint "practice professors" who would advise Education students in finding jobs and other practical issues related to their studies. The Trustees also unanimously approved resolutions to allocate money for remodeling of the Chemistry Building and the Medical School's Anatomy-Chemistry Building, construction of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and resolutions of appreciation to four former trustees.