May 21, 2015
Kansas Board of Regents May 20 meeting university updates
Submitted by Communications and Marketing
The monthly Kansas Board of Regents meeting on May 20 included several items related to Kansas State University.
Students' Advisory Committee
2014-2015 Student body president Reagan Kays gave his final Students' Advisory Committee report. He and the committee discussed how a tuition cap would be detrimental to the state's universities. He also noted how the Kansas Legislature may take up the Lifeline911 bill this week. Kays transitioned his position to next year's chair and the Regents expressed appreciation for his leadership.
3+3 Law Program
Kansas State University will now partner with the University of Kansas School of Law 3+3 program. The program allows undergraduate students at Regents universities to enroll in the KU School of Law after completing three years of undergraduate studies.
Consent agenda
The Regents approved the demolition of a 51-year-old wood shed building that is significantly deteriorated at the Southwest Kansas Research and Extension Center in Garden City.
Discussion agenda
JCERT budget
The Regents approved the 2016 fiscal year budget for the Johnson County Education Research Triangle Authority, or JCERT, which includes 85 percent of the K-State Olathe campus budget. The Regents praised the work of K-State Olathe.
Tuition and fee proposals
The Kansas Legislature has not finalized the state budget and the Regents have tentatively scheduled a June 1 special meeting to make a decision on tuition and fee proposals for fiscal year 2016.
Capital improvements
The Regents received and discussed the first readings of capital improvement requests. The board staff provided several recommendations for capital improvement for fiscal years 2017-2018 and a five-year plan. Read Kansas State University's capital improvement requests. The source of funding for deferred maintenance and new construction was debated. Action on this will happen at the June meeting.
K-State's Climate Survey report
Provost and senior vice president April Mason presented a report on the university Climate Survey results. Employees and students at all four campuses and Research and Extension were included in the survey. The survey was conducted by an independent consultant, Rankin & Associates. It was a 100-question survey. Kansas State University community members completed 7,411 surveys for an overall response rate of 25 percent — faculty and staff participation was 49 percent. Results were presented to the university in April.
For live updates on all Kansas Board of Regents meetings follow @ksregents on Twitter. Agendas and complete meeting minutes are available online.