The records of the Office of Budget and Planning document the activities of the office from 1970 to 1982. This period includes the transition of the office from the Office of Institutional Research to the Office of Academic Planning and Analysis (renamed Office of Budget and Planning in 1997) and the concurrent shift of core office activities from data collection to planning and analysis. One such analysis and planning activity that is well documented in the records is the Evaluation and Planning Project, 1974-1982. These records both document the planning process as well as provide a unique portrait of the academic units which reported to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. There is also material relating to formal unit reviews and self-studies, 1978-1982, that were not formally part of the Evaluation and Planning Project. In addition to the records from the 1970-1982 period, the record group includes a complete sequence of the Standard Survey Response Document (SSRD) starting in 1991. The records of the Office of Budget and Planning are organized into four series: Administrative Files, Unit Reviews, Correspondence, and Standard Survey Response Document.
The Office of Budget and Planning (OBP) was founded as the Office of Institutional Research in 1962. From 1967 until 1973, Dr. Donald Lelong served as the Director of the office. Under his direction, steps were taken to align the activities of the office to support university-wide systematic and comprehensive planning. In 1973, the office was renamed to the Office of Academic Planning and Analysis (OAPA) due to a subsequent administrative reorganization. It was at this time that the office acquired new responsibilities including developing planning structure and procedures, conducting specific evaluation and planning studies, and evaluating and planning data to aid in decision making.1 The office also transferred back to reporting to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs from reporting to the Office of the Vice-President for State Relations and Planning from 1969 to 1973.
OAPA continued to evolve from data collection to strategic planning throughout the 1970s. One such project that moved the office towards strategic planning activities built on the work of the three committees overseen by the Office of Budgets and Planning (Long Term Planning, Program Evaluation, and Budget Priorities). The records of those now-defunct committees can be found via a separate finding aid titled Office of Budgets and Planning records, 1970–1979.
In 1974, the office developed an evaluation and planning project linking evaluation of academic units to planning and budgeting activities within the Office of Academic Affairs. As originally conceived, the project was to be implemented in three phases over a three-year period. The ultimate goal of the project was to improve the processes by which the university: a) evaluated its activities and programs, b) established priorities, and c) allocated resources. A series of grants were obtained from the Carnegie Foundation beginning in 1975 to conduct case studies of the planning process at other universities and to formulate procedures for the Evaluation and Planning Project. The project encompassed academic units (colleges, schools, and departments) academically related units, and academic service units. Impetus for the project came in part from the budget crisis the university faced in the mid-1970s.
In Phase I of the project, each unit answered a questionnaire designed to elicit an articulation of the unit's objectives and their operational implications. Phase II consisted of the evaluation of each unit's operations in light of the objectives stated in Phase I. In Phase III, each unit delineated preferred courses of actions and contingency alternatives based on the results of Phase I and Phase II. This resulted in a "Memorandum of Understanding" between the unit and OAPA intended to serve as operating guidelines for the unit over the next five years. Although originally seen as an ongoing process of periodic review, the Evaluation and Planning Project was significantly altered and eventually abandoned as a distinct project when Harold Shapiro succeeded Frank Rhodes as Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1977.
In 1997, OAPA again changed its name, this time to the Office of Budget and Planning. OBP reports to Associate Vice President for Budget, Planning and Administration within the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Glenna Schweitzer served as the Director of the office (2003- 2015) and has been succeeded by Tammy Bimer. OBO has historically provided access to the College Resource Analysis System (CRAS) reports housed at the Bentley as well as online access to the Standard Survey Response Document (SSRD) and University Common Data Set.
