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GREENSBORO — UNCG Chancellor Linda Brady used her state of the campus address Wednesday to focus on the school’s core missions as it copes with budget cuts.

“For all of us, it was a year marked by uncertainty and a difficult and constantly changing budget situation,” Brady said.

“Little did any of us know that we would be facing the most serious economic crisis of our lives,” Brady said. “A crisis that has forced us to clarify what is truly important in our lives and in our institutions.”

For UNCG, the economic downturn and state budget crisis meant a reduction in state funding of $5.7 million.

Brady told the crowd in Aycock Auditorium that an additional 5 percent reduction might still be necessary.

Further reductions of 1.5 to 2 percent could come in 2010-11.

Foreseeing this, UNC President Erskine Bowles asked all 16 campuses in the UNC system to cut their budgets by 10 percent. In the next few weeks, UNCG will begin making those cuts.

Brady explained that the General Assembly has mandated that each school look at reducing budgets for senior and middle management, centers and institutes, degree programs with low enrollment, speaker series and nonacademic activities before making cuts that affect teaching.

But she stressed that the cuts will be felt across the campus.

“Make no mistake about it,” Brady said. “This will be a very difficult year for UNCG. Students will feel the impact in larger classrooms and greater difficulty in getting the classes they need to graduate. In addition, they will face longer lines and waiting times for a range of services. Faculty and staff will feel the impact in increased workloads as a result of personnel reductions across the university.”

As the chancellor spoke, the streets surrounding UNCG were clogged with traffic as students returned for the fall semester in record numbers.

“As of early this week, UNCG expects to welcome more than 2,600 first-time freshmen and 1,500 transfer students,” Brady said. “These numbers represent record enrollments.”

UNCG officials say they expect a record-breaking 18,100 students this school year as growing numbers of people go back to school in reaction to the down economy.

Brady said faculty and staff are already stepping up to take on more work, including half the faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences adding an additional class to their normal workloads.

Faculty and staff in other schools and colleges across the campus will also be asked to take on more work for no more pay.

“Yes, this will be challenging,” Brady said. “But working together, we will rise to the challenge.”

Despite the challenges, Brady emphasized the progress of the university’s big projects: expanding housing and developing a school of pharmacy, still to be approved by UNC General Administration.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com