St. Cloud State President Earl Potter released his official decisions for restructuring the University in order to offset a projected $13.6 million dollar budget shortfall for fiscal year 2012. The President’s ASAOPSA recommendations are broken into two categories. The first includes initiatives to take effect this spring. Initiatives in the second category are to be implemented during fiscal year 2012.

Here are some of the immediate changes to take effect:

The university is calling for the consolidation of the University Programming Board and the Center for Student Organization and Leadership Development. Potter says combining these organizations would provide opportunities to leverage activities and build collaborations across campus. President Potter is also calling for a task force on support for students of color to help support SCSU’s growing diverse student populations. The university will also create a center for STEM education. STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, is a priority of the St. Cloud State system, according to Potter. According to the report, SCSU’s web presence will be managed solely by University Communications. The university will also consolidate communications and marketing efforts across campus.

Here are some of the initiatives to be implemented during Fiscal Year 2012:

President Potter is calling for a student one-stop to streamline student services, and a comprehensive redesign of student advising as well as SCSU’s orientation program.
The university will also develop a strategic action plan for online education. An online task force will start up this semester to carry out such goals. President Potter is also calling for a student media task force to study convergence journalism related to the university’s student media outlets of KVSC, UTVS and the University Chronicle. The task force will consider starting up a website incorporating content from all three entities.

To view the president’s full report, click here.