Last spring and early summer seem far away now, and the budget cuts that figured so prominently in the news are now a bit off the radar (although in certain areas we are feeling the effects of being stretched very thin by the impact of cuts).

It is pretty clear that most economists think that although the recession has bottomed we are in for an extended period of fairly flat economic activity, and then an extended period of slow growth.  Thus, state government revenues have stopped their free-fall, but they will be slow to come back.

This scenario has been playing out in the state of Washington, as evidenced by the most recent revenue forecast.  Things have really stabilized compared to a year ago, but we are not out of the woods.  On the other hand, things have not worsened to the point that a special legislative session is needed to address the further drop in revenue.  Nonetheless, when the legislature convenes early next year, they will undoubtedly have additional budget cuts on their mind.  These will not begin to approach the size of cuts the university had to take going into this new fiscal year, but any additional cut will obviously further challenge us.  If we do have to take additional cuts I know we'll work through it well, just as we did last year. 

Compared to the cuts other units on campus had to make this year we were blessed and are doing very well, all things considered...and I remain eternally grateful for all the good people we have and the good work that we do.