University Office for Planning and Budgeting
The University Office for Planning and Budgeting (UOPB) has evolved over the last sixty years as a result of numerous changes in the internal and external environments of the university. In the 1940s, the University of Illinois had a campus at Urbana-Champaign and “Professional Colleges” in Chicago. The major officers of the university were the President, Provost, Comptroller, and the Director of the Physical Plant. The major data gathering agency was the Bureau of Institutional Research.
After World War II and during the 1950s, there was a great influx of students due in part to the GI Bill. The university developed an undergraduate division at Navy Pier in Chicago to handle the student demand and began planning a large building program which included the development of an undergraduate campus at Chicago. At the same time, the state of Illinois formed the Illinois Bureau of Higher Education to supervise and develop a plan to manage the enormous enrollment growth in higher education. During this same period, the federal government passed bills to provide assistance to the states for building programs. There was an increase in graduate students, and research grants became available from federal, state, and private agencies. All of these conditions resulted in the development of additional offices to interact with state and federal agencies to plan for the future. During this period, the Central Office on the Use of Space was formed to determine the facilities required to address the projected growth and to prepare program statements for new buildings.
In the 1960s, a new campus for undergraduate students was constructed at Chicago. In 1961, a reorganization of the university administration was made with the appointment of vice presidents for the new Chicago Campus and the “Professional Colleges” which was then called the Medical Center. The President appointed the existing Provost as Executive Vice-President. Then, in 1966, the Board of Trustees approved the appointment of chancellors for the Medical Center at Chicago, Chicago Circle campus, and the Urbana-Champaign campus.
In the 1970s, the President, Executive Vice President, and Comptroller retired. A new president was appointed and titles of the top administrative officers were changed to Vice President for Administration and Comptroller and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Vice President for Administration and Comptroller organized his office into four main units—Planning, University Services, Financial Affairs, and Personnel. Each of the offices for institutional data and facilities was combined into four offices—Bureau of Institutional Research, Long Range Planning and Analysis, Resource Planning, and Special Studies. Each of these offices had a director who reported to the Associate Vice President for Planning. In the mid 1970s, it was decided that better communication and operation could be achieved if the four offices were combined into a single office. The result was the present University Office for Planning and Budgeting (UOPB). At various times, UOPB has been given additional responsibilities, like developing the university's enterprise data warehouse, and housed other units, like developing the Illinois Library Computer Systems Organization (ILCSO), and the university's Decision Support department. However, the traditional planning and budgeting operations have remained the core responsibilities of the office.