The Departmental FY '06 budget plan is balanced, healthy and contains a significant amount of investment in developmental areas - thanks in part to the significant increase in extramural grant support generated by MIP researchers (associated indirect cost recoveries to the Dept increased ~24.7% over last year), previous planning and (of course) the fact that we had no CSU budget cuts to deal with. Along with the usual stuff (salaries, operating costs, etc) in the budget, substantial investments are planned for the construction / renovation of MIP facilities, purchase of equipment for the foothills campus, faculty recruitment/developmental commitments, bridge funding and staff development. Thanks goes out to Janice Riegel for her tireless efforts in the MIP budget / fiscal management arena and congratulations to all for your contributions to the department. It truly is a team effort.