Rhonda Gibler, MU’s associate vice provost for extension management, will assume the position of director of budget at the beginning of January, Chancellor Brady Deaton announced Wednesday.
“We are very fortunate that she possesses not only the budgetary and management skills, but that she also brings vast institutional knowledge that is invaluable for this position,” Deaton said in a news release.
Gibler will take the position when the current director, Tim Rooney, retires at the end of the year. Rooney spent the last year working around the 7.8 percent budget cut passed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon for 2013. This cut will leave the entire MU system with $30 million less than it was given for fiscal 2012, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“It’s great to follow someone like Tim Rooney who has done an admirable job with our budget through some very difficult years,” Gibler said in the release. “The landscape of higher education is shifting in terms of funding. I will be working with the schools, colleges and administrative departments to understand their business models and how we can help make them financially successful. The financial strength of the university as a whole influences the individual units’ abilities to be strong.”
Leading up to the announcement, Gibler had served on a committee that developed a three-year plan to try and increase revenue for the university.
When Rooney announced his retirement in August, articles were released with quotations detailing his honesty, loyalty and commitment to his work.
“I like to think I have always been a champion of supporting the student experience here,” Rooney said in an interview with the Columbia Daily Tribune.
Gibler is excited to pick up where Rooney will leave off to aid the chancellor and provost on how to best manage campus budget conditions.
“I’m very honored and excited about this wonderful opportunity,” Gibler said in the release. “I have been a member of the university community for a long time; this is an opportunity for me to give back to that community and hopefully make a difference on a broader level.”
