January 24, 2003
The Board of Regents of Washington State University met pursuant to call in Open Meeting at 9:30 a.m., on Friday, January 24, 2003, in Suite 1101, WSU West, 520 Pike Street, Seattle.
Present: Regent Joe King, President; Regents Elizabeth
Cowles, Peter Goldmark, Jason Johnson, William Marler,
Christopher J. Marr and Rafael Stone. President V. Lane
Rawlins, Provost Robert C. Bates, Vice President
for
Business Affairs Gregory P. Royer, Vice President for
University Relations
Sally P. Savage, Vice President for Student Affairs
Charlene Jaeger, Vice President for Information Systems
Mary Doyle, Senior Assistant Attorney General Antoinette
Ursich, Faculty Senate Chair Barry Swanson, ASWSU
President Scott Dickinson, GPSA President JoLie Wagner,
and Alumni Association President Ray Eldridge.
1. Opening Remarks. Regent King welcomed everyone to Seattle. He started off by introducing and welcoming the newest Regent Christopher J. Marr to the Board.
2. President of the University. President Rawlins welcomed everyone to Seattle, he also took a moment to introduce three new appointments. Mary Doyle, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President for Information Systems and Interim Vice Provost for Administration; Fran McSweeney, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Rom Markin, Interim Campus Executive Officer for WSU Spokane.
3. Minutes. It was moved and seconded that the Board of Regents approve the minutes of the regular meeting and joint meeting between WSU/UW of November 21, 2002.
Regent Goldmark asked that one correction be made to the regular Board Meeting Minutes. Carried.
Correction made to the minutes and signed.
4. Reports from University Groups.
Faculty Senate Chair Barry Swanson reviewed his report as submitted to the Board. He reported on the items that have passed through the Faculty Senate, the items being debated by the Senate and the items currently being debated by the Senate committees. He also added that they are researching newer campus representation in the Faculty Senate, and developing newer campus faculty committees for stronger representation in the Faculty Senate decision-making process. He also added that they have reviews under way by different committees looking at both student and faculty disciplinary procedures and that they are reviewing several academic undergraduate and graduate programs. He ended his report by recognizing the Athletic Department's program that continues to acknowledge faculty of excellence at basketball games.
GPSA President JoLie Wagner started her report by thanking the University for inviting her to be a part of the University Delegation to attend the Rose Bowl. She added that one of the biggest projects GPSA is currently working on is the Wiley Research Exposition, which is an opportunity for graduate and professional students to present their current research projects. She ended her report by mentioning that GPSA officer elections will soon be under way.
ASWSU President Scott Dickinson also expressed his thanks for the opportunity to attend the Rose Bowl as part of the University Delegation. He started his report by passing out a press release from Francesca Delgado, Director of Multicultural Awareness & Recruitment titled "The Great Diversity Hype" (Exhibit A). He continued his report by mentioning that for the first time in four years the Student Government Council of the various Associated Students of WSU met at WSU Vancouver to discuss its history-and how they can make necessary changes on their campus. He mentioned that ASWSU is internally looking into restructuring at the Pullman campus. He added that they are responsible for providing programming for the students on campus and that at they are one of the last student government organizations that still use the committee system. He said that most peer institutions have gone to a programming board, which is what ASWSU is currently considering. He added that the overall feedback has been positive and he believes the new system will take effect very soon. He concluded his report by mentioning the progress being made with Cooperating Communities Coalition Regent Johnson is spearheading and that they met with the University of Idaho on future planning.
After Scott concluded his report, Regent Stone referred to the handout he passed out. He asked the Board Chair if they could have a discussion on the practices of hiring faculty of diversity at a future meeting. Provost Bates commented that they have a small task force looking into the hiring practices and mentioned they are prepared to give a presentation at a future meeting.
Alumni Association President Ray Eldridge echoed the appreciation of being a part of the University Delegation at the Rose Bowl. He passed on positive comments he heard from many Cougars on the wonderful job of the Alumni Association pre-game event. He went over upcoming events and meetings of the Alumni Association.
4. Executive, Planning, Budget and Athletics Committee. Regent Joe King reported that the committee meeting was broken into two parts. The first half was devoted to budget and legislative affairs, updates on Athletics, the Agriculture Commodities meeting held in the Tri-cities, and an update on the Foundation Investment Committee. He said they spent the second half of the meeting devoted to the newer campus study overview.
President Rawlins presented the Newer Campus Study (Exhibit B). After the presentation, Regent President King asked for comments from the Newer Campus Deans.
Hal Dengerink said that this is clearly a change for WSU, it's looking at continuing and expanding the land grant mission and allows growth in many different ways. A major advantage will be the opportunities for WSU to become something greater than it has been in the past.
Larry James stated that he believes the new structure would be very well received in the Tri-Cities and the surrounding region, as it has already been very well received by faculty and staff from the Tri-Cities. He said the opportunities are tremendous and it would allow them to move forward to what communities expect from WSU.
Regent Marler commented that there is still much work to be done, but the overall discussion of the Board was positive.
5. Report from the Director of Athletics. Athletic Director Jim Sterk reported on the successful fall season of WSU Athletics. He added that the past fall has been the most successful in the history of WSU Athletics. He provided many facts that have contributed to their success, football finishing sixth in the country, women's volleyball finishing seventh, and soccer making post-season play. He also added that the football graduation rate is 58% compared to 29% among other institutions. WSU football had two back-to-back winning seasons-the most successful team as far as wins in the PAC 10 within the last five years. He said that WSU Football a program that is on the rise. He also added that three years ago WSU was ranked 138th in the country for the Sears Cup ranking-this fall, WSU finished 22nd. He said that we have some work to do to maintain that status, but they are very excited about the future.
6. Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs Committee. Regent Cowles reported on the future action items that the Board will be asked to vote on at the next board meeting of two department name changes. She said they also discussed the health and wellness fees and the services that are available to the students. She said they would be hearing more about the fees at the next meeting before action will be considered. The committee spent a great deal of time discussing the academic side of the newer campus study. She said they discussed how these different pieces will be looking at quality and coordination and also the independence of addressing the community needs on each of the newer campuses. She said they also heard a report on the student government council retreat and that they too talked about the newer campus study and how the Council will coordinate communication to the Board.
7. Report from the Provost and Academic Vice President.
Provost Bates told the Board how excited he is about the
newer campus report and is anxious to work with the
university community to develop the next phase.
8. Report from the Vice President for Student Affairs.
Vice President
Jaeger reported that Student Affairs is working with
Greek advisors to discuss strategies to fund sprinklers
in houses. She added that Student Affairs is continuing
to assist the Greek organization in their strategic
planning to have all the houses in compliance for safety
standards. Vice President Jaeger also reported that the
Freshman Seminar was one of 25 programs selected from 140
nominations for inclusion in the monograph "Strengthening
First-Year Student Learning at Doctoral/Research
Extensive Universities". Lastly, she reported that
according to a recent article in the Journal of
Hospitality and Tourism Education, WSU's four-year
hospitality school is #1 in providing "career services"
to its students. She said the article, "Exploring
Hospitality Program Rankings" explored the perceptions of
industry recruiters.
9. Business Affairs and Information Technology Committee. Regent Stone reported that the committee joined the first part of the Academic Affairs Committee to discuss the health and wellness fees and also heard about the Information Technology Strategic Plan from Mary Doyle. He added that they received status reports on capital projects. They discussed the energy plant design, the capital budget report, and received an update on real estate projects.
10. Report from the Vice President for Business Affairs.
Vice President
Royer reported that Business Affairs is currently working
on a strategic plan for real estate issues within the
University. He added that this strategic plan would
include an inventory of all WSU properties. The inventory
will identify property utilization to plan a process on
evaluating and assessment to determine if we need to
keep, trade, sell, and/or buy additional properties to
tie into our academic program and research that we use.
He added by taking a more aggressive approach to how we
can use those resources during tight budget times, and
perhaps create opportunities to generate funds needed
elsewhere. Vice President Royer also added that he and
Vice President Savage met with city officials to go over
issues that involve working with the university and the
community. He said they provided a presentation on the
College Hill project. He also added that the open
dialogue with the Mayor and city officials is an on-going
process and will continue.
11. Report from the Vice President for Information Systems. Vice President Mary Doyle provided a presentation on the Information Technology Strategic Plan.
12. University Development University Relations
Committee. Regent King reported for Regent Hill on the
meeting held on January 9, 2003. He reported they
discussed the Foundation and Regent relationship, the
current agreement and the amendments being proposed. He
said they also talked about the Investment
Committee.
13. Report from the Vice President for University
Relations. Vice President for University Relations Sally
Savage provided an update on the integrated
communications program. She noted that the joint campaign
with the University of Washington illustrates the power
of integrated communications. The student recruitment
work has been very successful and it is now time to leave
it with the appropriate offices. She added that this year
they are developing the marketing plan that will turn the
focus to the external image goal. The joint funding
campaign is at the heart of this plan, and through this
campaign and its activities, University Relations will
begin to focus on the power of unified messaging to WSU's
external audiences. She ended her report by asking Larry
Ganders to say a few words.
Larry Ganders provided comments on the WSU and UW partnership and also played two radio spots on the joint campaign of Cougars and Huskies for our economic future.
14. President's Report. President Rawlins ended the
meeting by
thanking everyone for coming. He commented how proud he
is of the team at WSU and said that we are making
progress and are positioned well for the future.
The meeting adjourned at 12:15 p.m.
Approved by the Board of Regents at its meeting
held
in Lighty Student Services Building, Room 405,
Pullman,
Washington, on March 14, 2003.
ORIGINAL SIGNED COPY AVAILABLE IN THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE