URBANA – A second round of budget-review teams will examine for possible savings the University of Illinois Graduate College, small units on campus and programs that support teaching.

One panel will also look at how the campus can generate new sources of money – possibly through more out-of-state students or online learning – to cope with a half-billion-dollar state funding backlog and potential budget cuts down the road.

Interim Chancellor Robert Easter and Richard Wheeler, acting vice chancellor for academic affairs, appointed five teams of faculty and administrators Monday as part of an ongoing evaluation of how the campus can use its resources more efficiently.

Four other teams were appointed last month to examine the Institute of Aviation, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement, information technology services and scholarships funded by the campus, including $1 million in Title IX scholarships for female athletes.

Easter emphasized that no decisions on any programs will be made until the committees complete their reviews and make recommendations to the chancellor's office.

"We're not going into this with the notion we have specific things we want to see stopped," Easter said Tuesday. The idea is to ask the groups for ideas and recommendations on possible redundancies "so we can invest in other areas," he said.

The Graduate College is a freestanding unit of faculty and administrators that establishes academic policies and programs for UI graduate students. Easter wants the panel to determine if there's a more efficient way to provide oversight of graduate programs, as "a substantial amount" also occurs within departments and academic programs.

The charge letter to the review team asks: Does the campus need a separate graduate college? Is there overlap between its functions and those provided by individual colleges, and could those be consolidated? Would merging it with another unit save money? How do other universities oversee graduate programs?

The panel will also review growth in the Graduate College's staff and budget in the last five years. The review is due by April 30.

The dean of the college used to carry the title of vice chancellor for research, but those positions were separated some years ago. Easter said he wasn't sure "if that's on the committee's radar," but administrators have said they're looking at how to consolidate top positions.

Regarding new revenue, the letter from Easter says the budget crisis presents an opportunity to explore "innovative approaches" to bring in new money and become less reliant on public funding.

In particular, it asks: How can the university make money through online learning? How can it boost income from student enrollment to offset declining state support? What are the pros and cons of increasing nonresident enrollment? Could the campus adopt more flexible policies regarding the use of private gift funds and research money? Is there "untapped" potential in master's degree programs and short-term educational certificate programs?

Other teams named Monday will review:

– Programs that support teaching, including the Center for Teaching Excellence, Campus Programs on Teaching and Learning (in the provost's office), the Office of Continuing Education and CITES/Research and Learning Technology Services.

The panel will look at the budgets for the programs, how many faculty and staff benefit from their services, how they overlap and whether potential redundancies could be eliminated to save money. The report is due April 30.

Over the last decade, many colleges have launched their own teaching-support programs, Easter said Tuesday.

– Recent initiatives, including small centers such as the Division of Biomedical Sciences, the Health and Wellness Initiative, the Center for Education in Small Urban Communities and the Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society.

That panel will look at how the programs were created; the source of their funding and stakeholders, both on and off campus; how students, faculty and the community benefit; whether they've met their goals; and whether external funding could carry the programs if UI funding ceased.

The team will also recommend criteria for establishing new centers. The programs were created over time and are all worthwhile, Easter said, but "let's look at this and see if it makes sense." The report is due May 17.

– Small colleges and units. As reported last month, this team will examine freestanding units with 40 or fewer full-time equivalent faculty, including the College of Media, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the School of Labor and Employee Relations and the School of Social Work.

The panel will examine whether they could collaborate with or be combined with other units on campus, how a merger might save money through lower administrative overhead or personnel costs, and whether the units have unique elements that require them to be independent. The review is due June 1.