2013 Budget Request

2013-2015 operating budget requests

Retention and Compensation for Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students

Washington State University seeks $36.2 million in funding to provide merit-based,
retention and compensation increases in both years of the biennium to ease a chronic recruitment and retention problem among the university’s faculty and staff ranks. Compensation levels must become more competitive in order to recruit and retain the right faculty and staff to produce a college-prepared workforce and the related research innovations essential to driving Washington’s globally competitive, knowledge-based economy. This package will help slow the loss of talented workers from WSU and the state, while providing a much needed economic stimulus.

Enrollment at All Campuses

WSU seeks $5.4 million in state funding to help meet the statewide demand for higher education and the state’s stated desire to increase educational attainment. As the two largest classes of freshmen and sophomores in WSU’s history move into more expensive junior and senior coursework, new state support will help students get the courses they need to graduate in a timely manner and begin working in the state’s knowledge-based workforce as soon as possible.

Enrollment at the University Center of North Puget Sound

WSU seeks $2 million in state funding to help meet the need for higher education in the North Puget Sound region by bringing in-demand programs to the University Center of North Puget Sound. The most recent data available indicates Washington ranks 48th nationally in public higher education participation. As bad as the state’s overall college participation rates are, they are significantly worse in the North Puget Sound area, where just 8 percent of those over 18 were enrolled in college or graduate school in 2010. Funding this package will help meet the industry need for the most highly sought programs in the region, including electrical engineering, hospitality/business management, and communications.

Expansion of Medical Education and Biomedical Research in Spokane, plus one-time funding

Washington State University requests $5.0 million for continued expansion of medical education and the associated biomedical research as well as graduate education programs on its Spokane campus. This request will support basic science teaching in the WWAMI program and will expand medical education by 40 additional medical students in Spokane by the end of the biennium, while creating a foundation for cutting-edge biomedical research and the preparation of new PhD scientists.

Additionally, WSU requests $2.0 million in one-time funding to purchase the scientific instrumentation needed to equip the new Biomedical and Health Sciences building on the Spokane campus. In addition to facilitating the expansion of biomedical graduate education and the production of more PhD scientists, this one-time investment will form the foundation for a contemporary biomedical research industry.

Operating Support for the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health

WSU requests $7.2 million in state funding to hire new faculty and staff to capitalize on millions in private investment and to bolster the state’s efforts to protect human health and food safety from infectious disease. Teams would be organized in four clusters to address issues related to (1) emerging disease surveillance, (2) the spread of antibiotic resistance, (3) zoonotic disease transmission and (4) vaccine development.