Ithaca College administrators will change the college’s organizational structure and decrease its target student body size following guidance from the administrative analysis study conducted with the Huron Consulting Group. They hope these actions will help reduce the college’s budget deficit and move toward long-term financial stability.
President La Jerne Cornish announced the changes and outlined the progress in the administrative analysis study in an April 3 email to the campus community.
The college started working with the Huron Consulting Group in October 2024 to determine a realistic, sustainable enrollment target and identify opportunities to decrease expenses and increase revenue. Administrators are implementing some of Huron’s suggestions as they design the fiscal year 2026 budget and a budgetary road map to close the deficit by FY 2028. Cornish will present the FY 2026 budget and the budgetary road map during the Spring 2025 Board of Trustees meeting May 15-17.
Cornish said in the email that changing the organizational structure and target enrollment size are the first two steps in the plan to balance the budget. The college will share more specific information about budgetary actions through the divisional, departmental and supervisory levels with the areas impacted.
“As a strategic first step to the work and implementation ahead, we explored how the institution is currently organized, and where there are opportunities for optimized efficiency, without additional compensation for those assuming new responsibilities,” Cornish said in the email.
According to the email, five members of the President’s Cabinet will expand their roles starting July 1.
Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, will become executive vice president and provost and lead the Division of Academic Affairs, the Center for Student Success and the Center for Career Exploration and Development.
Tim Downs, chief financial officer and vice president of the Division of Finance and Administration, will become senior vice president and chief financial officer and oversee the Divisions of Finance and Administration, Advancement, Enrollment, and Marketing and Communications.
David Weil, vice president and chief information and analytics officer, will become senior vice president for Strategic Services and Initiatives and oversee the Divisions of Information Technology and Analytics and the Office of Human Resources.
Emily Rockett, vice president, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Trustees, will additionally supervise the Office for Government, Community, and Constituent Relations.
In addition to his current responsibilities, Stanley Bazile, vice president for the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Life, will oversee the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Stein said the college plans to hire a new athletic director after Susan Bassett ’79, associate vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus Recreation, retires. The new athletic director will report to Bazile.
Stein said the reorganization aims to reduce expenses through improving efficiency, while also optimizing the student experience.
“Pulling those things together was a strategic move, because they’re things that are very interrelated and work with one another a lot,” Stein said. “It kind of sets the stage to [say], ‘OK, so now we’re pulling together … a bunch of things that have a lot of relationship with one another. So now let’s think collectively all together about how we do the work, and are we doing it in the best way, in terms of supporting our students and supporting student success. … Do we have any redundancies? Are we doing things efficiently?”
Stein said the other members of the president’s cabinet — outside of the five people named as new division leaders — will report to the division leader who oversees the area that they are responsible for. For example, Kirra Franzese, associate vice president and chief human resources officer, will report to Weil because he will start overseeing the Office of Human Resources.
Stein said these administrators’ work may slightly change with the reorganization, but they will largely still have the same responsibilities.
Cornish said in the email that each of the newly structured divisions will immediately start working toward an expense reduction target for fiscal year 2026 to close the budget deficit by FY 2028.
In the email, Cornish also explained that the college will change the undergraduate enrollment target to remain competitive amidst a changing higher education landscape.
The college has missed its new student enrollment target each fall since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started. Cornish said in the email that the college plans to shift the undergraduate enrollment target from the current 5,300 students to a more realistic enrollment target of 4,500 students.
“This number reflects a 5-year new-student enrollment average of 1,163 and a 3rd semester retention rate of 85% or greater,” Cornish said in the email. “This reduction in the desired size of the student body considers the demographic cliff, the national landscape, and institutional goals. This step will alleviate the financial pressures attached to missing larger class-size targets.”
More information and answers to frequently asked questions about the administrative analysis study are available on the Budget Resource Planning Initiative website.
