By Frances Lawrenz, Interim Vice President for Research, and J.D. Burton, Chief Government Relations Officer
The beginning of the 2022-2023 academic year is when we initiate our process to evaluate the University’s priorities for fiscal year (FY) 2024 federal appropriations bills, a process outlined in our FY 2024 Appropriations Process and Advocacy Timeline.
As you may know, members of Minnesota's congressional delegation are often willing to champion requests on behalf of the University of Minnesota that support increased funding for and/or provide guidance to federally funded programs through annual appropriations bills.
As in prior years, this FY 2024 effort is coordinated through the University’s Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) and Office of Government and Community Relations. Along with our partners at Lewis-Burke Associates in Washington, DC, we seek to build on the University’s successful track record in advocating for its federal priorities.
To help us collect and evaluate potential federal priorities, we have created a FY 2024 Requests Submission Form that faculty, department heads, deans, and chancellors can use to submit their priorities or the priorities of their colleagues for consideration. Because the University can only put forward so many requests to the congressional delegation, the questions on the form will provide information to assist the University in evaluating submissions, determining a request's “readiness,” and identifying areas of research on campus aligned with current or anticipated federal agency priorities and with MPact 2025, the University’s systemwide strategic plan.
It is our intention that all reasonable requests, regardless of whether they are put forward to the delegation for FY 2024, will receive due consideration and feedback.
To provide more information about the process, OVPR, Government Relations, and Lewis-Burke Associates will hold a webinar on September 20, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. central time to give an overview of the process and requested information as well as answer questions from interested attendees. Please use this link to join the webinar that day (no pre-registration required).
If you have questions about the process, timeline, or Requests Submission Form please feel free to contact Chief Government Relations Officer J.D. Burton, Director of Federal Relations Sarah Neimeyer, or OVPR Communications Director Dan Gilchrist.