[Plsfaculty] [Plantsci] Graduate Student Funding Plan Form

Wed Apr 10 16:43:52 MST 2024

Hi Leslie (and ID Brown),

I'm confused by the need for a four year funding plan. A four year funding
plan is not a requirement of CALES. PhD students who enter our program are
*guaranteed* support for five years in their offer letters and this support
encompasses a variety of mechanisms over that time period (GTA, GRA,
fellowships). The actual mechanism of support is designated in each
student's contract issued by HR, and this occurs *each semester*. The form
sent earlier today will burden faculty to provide undoubtedly inaccurate
projections of future funding. A one year funding plan seems reasonable and
is something we have provided in past years. More recently, the Graduate
Coordinator has sent a form to all students and an advisory note to all
faculty ~ 3-4 months prior to the start of each semester. The form asks
students and advisors to discuss and report the funding mechanism they
project for the upcoming semester. I would like the GC to send this form
soon, however since I have yet to receive information about unit funds for
instructional support, the form has not been sent. I have now sent multiple
requests to discuss the topic of instructional support but have not
received a reply from ID Brown except to request analyses I'd already
provided.

On the topic of correcting salary errors, I don't see how projecting future
funding for graduate students will address this issue. Obviously you need
historical data and I have some of this data (AY 2024) which includes grant
accounts for GRAs, TA assignments, and CALES funds used to support
students. These spreadsheets live in our Grad Admin box folder. Moreover, I
am willing to help identify additional historical data that predates my
time as DGS if this will help solve the misallocation of salary to our unit
IDC account.

I suggest we table this issue and discuss it at our upcoming faculty
meeting so that we don't waste more of Leslie's valuable time by collecting
likely irrelevant projections.

Best,
Mark

On Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 1:33 PM SPLS-BIZOFFICE <SPLS-BIZOFFICE at arizona.edu>
wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
>
> I appreciate your response.  I am not sure how this information was
> documented processed or communicated to the business office in the past.  I
> know that I don’t have the information needed and am asking for your
> assistance in completing and submitting this form so that I do have current
> and accurate information.  I know that salaries have not been charged
> correctly in many cases due to various factors affecting the business
> office.  This is the simplest and fastest way that I can identify the
> salary errors and get them corrected prior to the beginning of FY25.
>
>
>
> Going forward a process will be created and implemented to avoid future
> duplication of this effort.
>
>
>
> Again, I appreciate everyone’s help and apologize for any inconvenience
> this may cause.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> [image: The University of Arizona block 'A' logo.]
>
> *Leslie Bonilla*
> Manager, Finance and Administration
> School of Plant Sciences
> THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
>
> Forbes, 303
> 1140 E South Campus Dr | TUCSON, AZ 85721
>
> Office: 520-621-8689 |
> lesliebonilla at .arizona.edu
> *cals.arizona.edu/spls <https://cals.arizona.edu/spls>*
>
> [image: Integrity, Compassion, Exploration, Adaptation, Inclusion,
> Determination] <https://brand.arizona.edu/signature>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Bucksch, Alexander - (bucksch) <bucksch at arizona.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 10, 2024 1:10 PM
> *To:* Bonilla, Leslie Anne - (lesliebonilla) <lesliebonilla at arizona.edu>
> *Cc:* plantsci at list.cals.arizona.edu; SPLS-BIZOFFICE <
> SPLS-BIZOFFICE at arizona.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [Plantsci] Graduate Student Funding Plan Form
>
>
>
> Hello Leslie,
>
>
>
> we provided this information to DGS Monica Schmidt at the time I hired
> Will. I guess everyone else had to do the same and provided the funding
> scheme information when they hired their students.
>
> The information is certainly already existent.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Alex
>
>
> —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dr. Alexander Bucksch
> Associate Professor - School of Plant Sciences
> BIO5 member
> GIDP Faculty in Data Science & Statistics and Applied Mathematics
>
>
> e: bucksch at arizona.edu
> w: http://www.computational-plant-science.org
> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abucksch/
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.ipps8.org/
>
>
> We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land
> and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to
> 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham
> and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the
> University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native
> Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings,
> partnerships, and community service.
>
>
>
> On Apr 10, 2024, at 11:30 AM, Bonilla, Leslie Anne - (lesliebonilla) <
> lesliebonilla at arizona.edu> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dr. Brown has requested that I send out the attached form to assist our
> office to accurately calculate projected expenses for Grad Student
> Funding.  This form is to be used for clarifying how Graduate Students will
> be paid over the course of their time in our unit.  Having a funding plan
> for Graduate Students is not just a policy of CALES, it’s imperative
> information that the SPLS business office needs to ensure accurate
> financial projections for accounts.  This form will also work as a tool to
> easily ensure that student’s salary is moved timely to the correct
> accounts, according to the funding plan, avoiding additional work caused by
> errors.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Plantsci mailing list
> Plantsci at list.cals.arizona.edu
> https://list.cals.arizona.edu/mailman/listinfo/plantsci
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/plsfaculty/attachments/20240410/c9a33877/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 14173 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/plsfaculty/attachments/20240410/c9a33877/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 24654 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/plsfaculty/attachments/20240410/c9a33877/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9761 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/plsfaculty/attachments/20240410/c9a33877/attachment-0005.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 8946 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/plsfaculty/attachments/20240410/c9a33877/attachment-0001.jpg>