Reviewing UTM's budget model and organizational structure
Dear colleagues,
I’m writing to launch formally a process I’ve described widely over the past year: UTM’s review of budget model and organizational structure, co-led by vice-principal, academic, and dean, Bill Gough, and me.
Context
UTM’s budget model and organizational structure differ from U of T’s institutional approach, as it is applied across the St. George campus. Deans of St. George divisions are responsible for revenues and spending tied to their academic activities, like enrolment; UTM’s vice-principal, academic, and dean is not, even though he is “the academic officer in charge of his division.” At UTM, the academic budget is led by the vice-president and principal, who manages the campus’ larger operational budget, too.
Our review pays particular attention to two questions accordingly:
- What advantages and drawbacks might result from delegating management of UTM’s divisional academic budget from the vice-president and principal to the vice-principal, academic, and dean?
- If our approach to academic budget management evolves, what else about our structure needs to evolve to match?
Guided by community feedback, this review leaves other questions intentionally out of scope:
- The review won’t change U of T tri-campus policy. That means the vice-president and principal, under the policy for the appointment of academic administrators, will continue to hold overarching responsibility for the divisional and campus budgets, including budgets for operations and services.
- The review won’t recommend budget devolution to individual academic departments – a change implemented recently at, e.g., the Faculty of Arts and Science. Department-level devolution is a question for the future. This review considers the smaller step of devolution of the academic budget from the vice-president and principal to the vice-principal, academic, and dean.
- The review won’t assess the performance of individual people. It focuses on assessing structures needed to support all our people’s success.
Process
Bill and I will co-chair an advisory committee, with membership, listed below, that reflects the review’s central question. Academic leaders in our arts, science, and business division, supported by staff with area-specific expertise, will advise on the management of our academic divisional budget.
Faculty
Steven Bernstein: Distinguished Professor and Chair, Political Science
Margarida Duarte: Professor, Economics; Vice-Dean, Undergraduate
Yuhong He: Professor, Geography, Geomatics, and Environment; Associate Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation, Facilities
Arsalan Kahnemuyipour: Professor and Chair, Language Studies
Bree McEwan: Professor, Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology
Bryan Stewart: Professor, Biology; Vice-Dean, Academic Programs
Alison Syme: Associate Professor, Visual Studies; Vice-Dean, Faculty
Soo Min Toh: Professor and Acting Chair, Management
Staff
Christine Esteban: Interim Executive Director, Budget, Finance, and Business Services
Adam Fraser: Assistant Dean
Chris Meledes: Director, Academic Finance
Anuar Rodrigues: Executive Director, Strategy
Secretariat
Jeff Espie: Director, Strategy and Brand Integration
Starting on October 19, 2026, the committee will begin meeting weekly to assess evidence and invite input, including in presentations from divisional, campus, and tri-campus teams. All campus operational portfolios – e.g., digital and physical infrastructure, student affairs and services, UTM library, etc. – will have an opportunity to provide input on the review’s key questions to the committee directly. So too will other faculty, including the many nominees for the committee whose number we couldn't accommodate but whose insight we'll appreciate deeply.
In spring 2027, committee members will guide publication of a report, on which, in consultation with Bill and U of T’s president and provost, I’ll base decisions about UTM’s budget model and organizational structure going forward. Questions are encouraged at any time through this form, which Bill and I will answer in regular updates at campus council, among other places.
On change and opportunity
Our budget model and organizational structure were designed decades ago – to support work at Erindale College, with a third the students, a fifth the workforce, and an eighth the academic budget UTM has today. UTM has changed, even if our structure hasn’t, which opens a special opportunity for us now: to review (and celebrate) the different place our campus has become and consider ways to support its next success.
Thanks for everything you do to make that success possible.
Best,
Alex
Alexandra Gillespie
Vice-President and Principal
University of Toronto Mississauga
