Deputy Chief Financial Officer Katrina Spencer was on campus for a recent meeting to welcome new Budget and Finance staff when someone asked her if there was a restroom nearby.
She responded to the inquiry with a humorous, 鈥淧robably?鈥�
In fact, Spencer had not been on campus much since she interviewed for her job back in February 2020, before COVID-19 emerged, and is just now becoming familiar with her office聽more than a year after her official start date in June 2020.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely been surreal and I would not recommend making this kind of change during a pandemic,鈥� she said of her decision to make a cross-country move with her husband and three kids amid campus closures and stay-at-home orders to take on a new job.
鈥淎ll the normal challenges鈥撯�揼etting to know your neighbors or finding a good restaurant鈥撯�搘ere enhanced,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淎t work, I was trying to learn about the campus and to get to know my team while at the same time facing unprecedented financial challenges brought on by the pandemic,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a wild year.鈥�
Spencer鈥檚 鈥渨ild year鈥� has not been without success. With campus leadership and stakeholders from across campus, she and her team launched a redesign of the campus budget model in December 2020. Still a work in progress, the new model is scheduled for initial implementation later this year.
Throughout the 2021 fiscal year, Spencer worked with Financial Aid and other campus partners to distribute Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to students, and with the campus鈥檚 resource alignment implementation team to allocate funding to cover pandemic-related costs. In addition, she successfully completed several key hires, including a new campus controller and is getting ready to welcome a new assistant vice chancellor for budget management in August.
For Spencer, the biggest success was just seeing the campus through the last fiscal year.
鈥淭here were a lot of tough decisions we had to make as a campus, but I believe we are coming out of the pandemic positioned for success,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hile our campus was definitely impacted by COVID and the downturn in enrollments, our projections over the course of the year have been accurate and our anticipated revenue gap is much smaller than it might have been.鈥�
Spencer credits her colleagues across campus for the overall resilience of 彩民宝典鈥檚 financial position.
鈥淭he level of expertise in the colleges, schools and campus units is pretty incredible,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e would not be where we are without the care and understanding they apply to their work.鈥�
Looking ahead, Spencer said she is optimistic and grateful.
鈥淚 am so proud of my team and the work they have accomplished. That said, I鈥檓 really hoping the year ahead is a bit more 鈥榥ormal鈥�. I鈥檓 looking forward to being on campus and connecting in person with people in the year to come,鈥� she added.