photo by: Richard Gwin

Diane Hoose Goddard, Kansas University’s vice provost for finance, is on the front line of managing budget changes at a time when state appropriations have fallen 12 percent.

Diane Hoose Goddard, Kansas University’s vice provost for finance, has been on the front line of cutting the school’s budget during the current recession.

It has been painful as state appropriations have fallen 12 percent.

“We have worked very hard to preserve the quality of the education that students get here,” she said during an interview in her Strong Hall office. “I would love to say we have managed to do this and students won’t feel the impact, but they will feel the impact. They have to. This has just been too large.”

The most immediate impact is that some classes will be larger than before, she said.

The economic downturn has been like nothing Goddard has experienced in her 25 years at KU, and it will take years to recover from. In fact, she said, the state budget problems probably haven’t hit bottom yet.

But Goddard said there is no time to dwell on it.

Most financial discussions at the university now focus on “how do we best position ourselves to take advantage of the recovery when it does happen,” she said.

But when that recovery will start is unknown.

And when it does, it will probably be different than anything that has happened before, Goddard said.

The financial rules have changed, she said, and KU must adjust accordingly.

Goddard said KU’s fiscal team is up to the challenge.

“The support that people give each other on this campus, it’s one of the things that makes KU a really wonderful place to work,” she said.

Danny Anderson, interim provost, said Goddard’s experience in financial affairs has been valuable.

“She has been one of the key forces in looking at what we can do to be more efficient,” Anderson said.

Prior to being named vice provost for finance — the school’s chief fiscal strategist — in December 2008, she had served as interim vice provost for administration and finance for six months. Prior to that she was associate vice provost for administration and finance since 2002.

Goddard joined KU in 1984 as an assistant director for research administration at the Kansas Geological Survey. She was promoted to associate director of the survey in 1991 and was named comptroller in 1994. She then was appointed director of purchasing in 1995 and was acting budget director from 1997 to 1998 before being named comptroller and assistant to the associate provost.

Goddard earned a master’s of business administration from KU and bachelor’s degree in economics from Southern Connecticut State University.

Anderson said Goddard has been instrumental in helping KU plan for the future.

“We have to develop plans beyond our immediate struggles,” he said. “Diane is good about that strategic thinking on how do we look at the hole we are in, and where do we want to be when we get out of it.”