Pres. Mortensen Provides Compensation Review Feedback Opportunity, University Updates

Editor's note: This message from USU President Brad L. Mortensen was sent to faculty and staff Thursday morning.

Dear USU faculty and staff,

I’m writing to update you on several projects we are working on over the summer semester.

Compensation Review

One of the themes we consistently hear from employees is the importance of ensuring that Utah State University remains competitive in how we attract, retain, and support talented faculty and staff. To help inform future decisions, we have engaged Huron Consulting Group to conduct a comprehensive review of our compensation and benefits programs. This effort will include collaboration with university leadership, faculty and staff representatives, and the Office of Human Resources to assess our current approach. The review will examine both staff and faculty roles, including our compensation philosophy, position classifications, and benefits offerings, and will compare our salaries and benefits to relevant labor markets and peer institutions to evaluate market competitiveness.

Huron is in the process of collecting feedback from stakeholders to understand what is already working well and what opportunities may exist to modify our compensation and benefit offerings. To gather input from across the university, I invite you to complete a brief survey regarding your compensation and benefits experiences so your perspective can be added to the assessment and inform recommendations.

While this review will identify opportunities to strengthen our compensation and benefits structure, implementing any recommendations will require a phased approach over multiple years and must be considered alongside available resources, institutional priorities, and our responsibility to ensure the university's long-term financial sustainability. Although this study may inform future compensation investments, it should not be viewed as a process that will result in a salary increase for every employee. Rather, it will provide valuable insights into how we can thoughtfully and strategically invest in our faculty and staff over time.

2026-27 Budget Model Update

On July 1, the university will implement an updated budget philosophy for the 2026-27 fiscal year, beginning with our academic colleges.

The initial model, developed with external expertise, produced an analytical tool to inform academic decision-making. Drivers include student credit hours (SCH) taught, graduates, and research revenue from our different majors. However, no model is perfect. Even as we continue to refine the model, it will never serve as the sole basis for resource allocation decisions. Consideration of budget priorities will continue to be given to institutional priorities, statewide needs, program review outcomes, student success, workforce needs, innovation opportunities, and feedback from colleges and divisions. This process will rely heavily on revisions in the academic program review process, which is still being refined with a team of faculty and administrators.

In addition, beginning July 1, open faculty position lines will be centrally managed by the Office of the Provost through a structured allocation process aligned with institutional priorities and long-term sustainability. Departments will continue to retain one-time savings generated each fiscal year, and ongoing resource allocation decisions will be informed by a combination of strategic priorities, performance indicators, program review outcomes, and operational needs. Deans and financial officers will share additional information as these processes continue to be refined.

Budget Process Revisions

We are also revising our approach to budget requests, starting with the FY 2027-28 budget. As part of a new planning process, we have asked deans and vice presidents to identify anticipated budget needs for FY 2027-28 by Aug. 1, 2026. Previously, requests were considered at the end of each legislative session based on available funding. Starting this process earlier will allow us to better assess university priorities and position ourselves to pursue funding through a variety of avenues, including federal opportunities, legislative appropriations, philanthropic support, and institutional reallocations.

Together, these efforts will help us better align resources with our mission, strengthen long-term planning, and support the implementation of the university's strategic priorities.

Additional Updates

Here are a few additional updates for your attention:

• The next phase of our strategic planning work will begin this fall and include design events. These processes will help position the university to make thoughtful investments in our people, programs, and our statewide mission.
• In the next few weeks, we will share additional training and guidance related to travel and purchasing card practices as part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen stewardship, accountability, and consistency across the institution.
• Athletics has planned numerous events related to USU joining the PAC-12 on July 1.
• As part of our ongoing commitment to accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement, we have implemented a more formal executive review process across the university. In that same spirit, I am sharing my presidential key performance indicators, which will be reviewed as part of my annual performance evaluation by the Commissioner of Higher Education and the Utah Board of Higher Education.

Thank you for your engagement in all the important work across the university and for all you do to serve our students and communities throughout Utah.

Best,

brad