BOR Work Session on Thursday, 20 May

The BOR will hold a work session on Thursday 20 May at 9:00 a.m. in the Heritage Room.

The agenda is as follows:

1. Budget Update from President Andrews
2. 2010-11 Tuition Rates
3. Faculty Senate Constitution
4. STAMATS Enrollment Marketing Study

Obviously the first item is the most important for all of us. We now know that the Legislature will begin its special session on 24 May (after the primaries, as predicted by just about everyone) with a draft of a compromise budget put together by the Governor's office. We also know some details of that budget (see story here: http://www.moreheadstate.edu/news/release.aspx?id=55230), so it is a matter of learning how the administration is planning to respond.

At graduation, I did have a chance to talk with Rocky Adkins and Walter Blevins about how a government shutdown would affect MSU students and employees. After talking with them, and after reading the news this week, I feel somewhat more optimistic than I did before, but we'll all be relieved when this waiting game is over.

I am also curious how the Faculty Senate Constitution will be received by the administration. As far as I know, it has not been accepted or rejected by President Andrews. There may be a couple of sticking points, but the main one seems to be whether the Faculty Senate has the right to institute formative reviews of the President since the BOR bylaws state that the Board has the "exclusive right" to evaluate the President.

And the final item is tremendously important to us all as well. STAMATES is the firm that we have paid (rather handsomely) to help us determine how to improve our enrollment marketing. Headcount enrollment has been very flat in recent years, and credit hour production is going down. Increased enrollment may not solve all of our problems, but declining enrollment numbers will most certainly keep us from achieving some of our most important goals.

Look for my report on the work session next week.

Ron