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K-State Today

June 17, 2020

Kansas Board of Regents June meeting agenda items

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

The Kansas Board of Regents will meet virtually June 17 and 18. A livestream will be available for individuals to listen remotely. The board will consider the following agenda items related to Kansas State University during the meeting.

Consent agenda

K-State requests approval to offer a Bachelor of Science in geographic information science and technology and a Bachelor of Science in sports nutrition. The geographic information science and technology program will deliver focused content in the specific areas of geographic, or spatial, data management, analysis and application development. The sports nutrition program will focus on nutrition principles as they relate to sport and human performance. Both programs will be offered beginning fall 2020.

K-State requests approval to finalize the sale of the old gym building and 5.04 acres of land on the Polytechnic campus through the Department of Administration's surplus property process.

Discussion agenda

The Regents will act on the proposed associate-to-baccalaureate program transfer plan. The creation of a systemwide program transfer approach is intended to preserve credits and establish a clear transfer pathway between two-year colleges and universities. A working group is recommended to develop a proposed policy to address general education requirements and how the requirements will apply within an associate-to-baccalaureate transfer framework. Brian Niehoff, associate provost for institutional effectiveness, will represent K-State on the working group.

The Regents will receive a report on research outcomes produced by tenure and tenure-track faculty at K-State, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University.

Provost Chuck Taber will present K-State's strategic program alignment recommendations for Regents' approval. K-State reviewed its Bachelor of Science in computer science and Master of Science in software engineering programs. The computer science department has partnered with the College of Arts and Sciences to create a new Bachelor of Science in integrated computer science to serve students who want computer coding skills but are not seeking an engineering degree. The program will combine the basic courses in computer science in which students learn coding skills with preparation in a specialized content area defined within the arts, humanities, social science and hard science realm. The Master of Science in software engineering is one of two master's degrees offered by the computer science department. Due to declining enrollments, admissions to the program have been suspended and the university recommends the program be formally discontinued.

The Regents will finalize guidelines for the review of low-enrollment undergraduate programs under strategic program alignment. K-State has seven programs that are active with five-year averages of enrollments or majors that are below the KBOR minimum threshold.

The Regents will take final action for setting fiscal year 2021 tuition and fees. K-State is not recommending tuition or fee increases. Proposals will be made public on the Regents' website.

The Regents will receive an update on the University Engineering Initiative Act, which was enacted to expand the state's professional engineering training programs at K-State, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University to address needs for engineers in industries that were not being met with the current levels of graduating students.

On Thursday, the Regents will act on a proposed amendment to board regulations to ensure continued student eligibility for the board's student health insurance plan. Current board regulations preclude online only students from eligibility for the student health insurance plans. Due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, in-person classes were suspended and there may be a need to do so again.

Agendas and complete meeting minutes are available online. For live updates on all Kansas Board of Regents meetings, follow @ksregents on Twitter.