Black: Progress made ‘placing the College on a stable financial foundation’

Dr. Kevin Black, interim dean of Penn State College of Medicine, sent the following email Tuesday, Sept. 22, to College of Medicine faculty and staff:

Dear Colleagues,

In July, after Penn State’s Board of Trustees adopted the university’s fiscal year 2021 budget, I sent a communication to our college community to let you know that there would be no salary increases this year for faculty and staff employed by the university and, therefore, the College of Medicine. As noted previously, the effect of COVID-19 on Penn State Health and the university has been significant, reducing the amount of funds that flow to the College to support our missions.

I’m clarifying this again because although health system executives and department chairs will not receive salary increases or incentive payments this year, you will see that Penn State Health announced today that its board of directors approved an incentive payment and salary increases for front-line health system employees and mid-level management.

This is a challenging time for our College of Medicine. I am grateful to our clinical and basic science departments that have made significant adjustments that helped to reduce a substantial portion of our budgeted operating deficit. I am also grateful to the many faculty and staff who shared their own ideas on ways we could reduce expenses going forward.

During the past year, we’ve made important progress in placing the College on a stable financial foundation. I appreciate each and every one of you, and your commitment to our College of Medicine as we work together to recover from the economic impact of the pandemic. I am confident today’s sacrifices will shape tomorrow’s success.

Kevin Black, MD
Interim Dean

*I hope you can join college leadership at a town hall at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, to view a draft of our strategic plan.

If you're having trouble accessing this content, or would like it in another format, please email the Penn State College of Medicine web department.