Students enter the Kansas Union from the parking garage using the walkway, which connects the two buildings.

In 2010, “change” will be the word at Kansas University.

As Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little finishes her first semester leading the university, she said she’s looking forward to the changes that the next year will bring.

It’s an important year for KU, Gray-Little said. It’s the last full year before the university applies for National Cancer Institute designation. KU officials also will choose three top academic officers: a new provost, a new dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the first dean of the newly created School of Music.

Also, Gray-Little will continue to focus on her three top goals for the university: to increase student retention and graduation rates, to improve the level of scholarly research and to increase fundraising levels.

Task forces

Beyond the changes in leadership, Gray-Little said she’ll be looking forward to the results of three new task forces: one on student retention, one on admissions standards and one on scholarly research. All three have already been formed, and they will bring forth new recommendations for Gray-Little to consider.

Danny Anderson, KU’s interim provost, said it’s important to think about the limitations of the budget, but to remember that this can be the time to focus on creating new opportunities.

“When I speak with different groups around campus, I often emphasize how we live in a time when you’re looking at a lot of contrast,” he said.

He said that while budget difficulties persist, the task forces that KU is creating in the next year will create a blueprint for the future.

With more leeway to adjust admissions standards granted from the Kansas Board of Regents, KU’s admissions task force will be allowed to move away from the old system, which was the same for all six Regents schools.

“We can look broadly at some of the students who would really bring the best talents to KU from across the country,” Anderson said.

Facing the money

“With all of this going on, of course, there is the budget,” Gray-Little said.

KU Endowment is preparing to launch a major capital campaign in the next year. As the university plans to increase its private funding, however, projections for its public receipts continue to shrink.

Although it’s possible that some goals can be achieved without additional funds, Gray-Little said, the school needs to figure out how will be able to move forward while working within budget constraints.

Anderson said that, with all the cuts to its budget, some things at KU will be done differently. But, he said, that doesn’t necessarily mean the whole school willsuffer significantly.

“We need to find an effective way to explain why KU, even with the cuts, has a lot to offer,” he said.

KU Medical Center

In Kansas City, Kan., where the budget crunch is being felt even more than on the Lawrence campus, Barbara Atkinson, KUMC’s executive vice chancellor, said she’s still working to improve the school in 2010.

Even as it deals with less available funding, KUMC will apply to its accreditation agency to increase the number of students in its School of Medicine in Salina and Wichita, Atkinson said.

“We’re looking for philanthropy to fund at least the first part,” Atkinson said of the expansion, which includes a new curriculum.

The school also will continue its quest to attract new researchers as it continues to build the school’s case to receive National Cancer Institute designation.

Atkinson warned that further cuts to KUMC’s budget would hamper the school’s overall mission.

“We want to make progress,” Atkinson said. “We’re at a stage where so much progress has been made over the past few years, to see it stop or slow down would be a shame for the state of Kansas.”