Budget
The NMSU’s WP houses its own budget, which derives from the sales of their “homegrown textbook”, Paideia. This budget is rightfully controlled by the WPA, Lauren Rosenburg. Lauren describes the account as “very informal”, and since it is completely controlled by Lauren, funds roll over each year. Lauren doesn’t have to request funds since her budget doesn’t come from the university, giving her full control over how the money is used. From the types of budgets Irwin Weiser lists in “What Are the Administration and The Budget?”, Lauren’s budget most closely resembles “Responsibility Centered”, which is described as “each unit receives the revenue it generates from tuition and fees, gifts, endowments, and so on, and is responsible for all of its own expenses” (305). Since Lauren’s revenue comes from their in-house textbook, the WP budget is “Responsibility Centered”.
Since the budget is informal, there are not budget categories or restrictions on how the funds can be spent. Whereas many universities and programs have restrictions on costs, such as food, that is not the case for Lauren’s WP. Lauren shared that she uses “a lot of my budget for food, in fact. For example, during the week of new GA orientation, I provide lunch every day for 5 days. During the Welcome Back Workshop the day before each semester begins, I provide coffee and donuts in the morning, and pizza for lunch for the writing program. Occasionally, I will buy lunch for the writing program coordinators if we are having a long planning meeting.” Laurens control over the budget allows her to use the funds as she deems fit, which includes fostering a warm, enjoyable environment through nourishment.
Aside from providing food at various WP occasions, Lauren also uses her funds for the development of staff and the program. Lauren shares that, “This semester was the first time that I used a large chunk of my budget. It was to bring a visiting scholar to campus. That person, a specialist in disability studies and the teaching of writing, came for 2 days on campus. My budget paid for her travel expenses and for a speaker’s fee.” Lauren consistently uses the funds of the WP to strengthen and benefit the WP. In “What is Faculty Development”, Carol Rutz and Stephen Wilhoit discuss that “Faculty development work takes a number of forms, all of them adapted to the usual range of rhetorical situations: audience, purpose, institutional context, time sensitivity, and exigency” (239). The form of faculty development that Lauren uses in this instance is a visiting scholar, showing that she values professional development by making room for it in the budget.
This visit cost the WP a “large chunk of … budget” and additional funding was needed. Though Lauren has full control over the WP budget, when extra funds are needed, she seeks funding from the “English department head or the Dean of Arts and Sciences. I have only done that once, which was a few weeks ago. I had a visiting scholar coming to campus, and I asked the Dean and the English DH to pay for sign language interpreters. Actually, the dean offered to pay, and he and the DH split the cost.” Though this is the first time Lauren has needed to request extra funds, these options are available when needed, within reason.
Lauren also shared, “Other expenses of the writing program (aside from food) are occasional stipends for work for the writing program. I haven’t yet used funds in this way; however, I expect to this summer. I will be hiring one of our graduate students who just graduated to do some work for the writing program, and I will pay her out of my budget for services to the writing program.” Since Lauren has full control of her budget, she is able to determine how funds are spent when needed. Funds aren’t categorized and do not have restrictions on how they are spent. Instead, funds are used when a need arises and the availability of funds are based on the home-grown textbook. Anson states, “Like most aspects of administration, a budget never stands still. Money is flowing in and out of accounts in certain planned way…” (245). Lauren’s budget is constantly fluctuating based on sales and expenses, and, as Anson says, “never stands still”.