June 19, 2019
Kansas Board of Regents June meeting agenda items
The Kansas Board of Regents will meet June 19 and 20 at the Curtis State Office Building in Topeka. The board will consider the following agenda items during the meeting.
Kansas State University requests approval to offer a Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering. The program will provide an undergraduate degree for students interested in protecting the environment and developing sustainable engineered solutions for water, air and soil resources. No other environmental engineering bachelor's programs are currently offered in Kansas.
Kansas State University requests approval to execute a land transaction in Johnson County. The K-State Olathe Innovation Campus will convey a tract of 11.58 acres back to the city of Olathe.
Kansas State University requests approval to amend the five-year capital improvement plan to include renovations to Mosier Hall. The project was approved by the Regents in September 2018 and is revised to include additional renovations to create a retail space within Trotter Hall that increases the cost to $8,209,000. The project will be funded from affiliated corporation revenue from the K-State Veterinary Clinical Outreach Inc. and corporate gifts.
The Regents will reappoint three members with expiring terms and appoint one new member to the Retirement Plan Committee. Diane Goddard, chief financial officer and vice provost for finance at the University of Kansas; Gary Leitnaker, director of labor relations and special projects at Kansas State University; and Stacey Snakenberg, senior human resources director at the University of Kansas Medical Center, will be reappointed for three-year terms. Steve Scott, president at Pittsburg State University, will be appointed as the new Council of Presidents representative.
At the June 2018 meeting, the Regents approved a policy related to the strategic alignment of programs and selected the University of Kansas and Wichita State University to pilot the policy. The Regents will act on the timeline for the remaining state universities to undertake strategic program alignment review.
The Regents will consider changes to state university admission requirements to admit otherwise qualified students who may not meet the ACT requirement for qualified admissions. The primary difference in the proposed criteria is the addition of an option for admission based on an applicant's cumulative high school GPA for five state universities including Kansas State University. K-State recommends a cumulative GPA of 3.25 for admission.
State universities submitted tuition and fee proposals for first reading in May. The Regents will take final action for setting tuition and approving fee increases at the June meeting. Revised proposals will be made public on the Regents' website.
The 2019 Legislature appropriated $15.7 million to be distributed to the state universities in fiscal year 2020. The Regents will act on the distribution of the fiscal year 2020 postsecondary education operating grant. Kansas State University is expected to receive approximately $4.4 million additional state general funds.
K-State requests the Regents adopt a resolution for the issuance of bonds by the Kansas Development Finance Authority for $15 million to finance the Derby Dining Center renovation and expansion project.
The Regents will act on K-State's request to name a department after an individual. Provost and Executive Vice President Chuck Taber will announce the name at the meeting.
The Kansas Higher Education Coordination Act requires the Board of Regents to develop and present to the Governor and Legislature a unified request for state appropriations for postsecondary education. The Regents will receive and discuss proposals for the fiscal year 2021 unified state budget request.
If you have any questions about these agenda items, please contact me at cab@k-state.edu or 785-532-6226. For live updates on all Kansas Board of Regents meetings follow @ksregents on Twitter. Agendas and complete meeting minutes also are available online.
Sincerely,
Cindy Bontrager
Vice president for administration and finance