July 18, 2008

1. Roll Call
Present- Ms. Elizabeth Bradbury, Governor
Mr. Ryan Childress, Student Governor
Mr. Michael Duggan, Vice-Chair of the Board
Mr. Gordon Elliott, Governor
Mr. Brian Hammons, Governor
Ms. Mary Sheid, Chair of the Board
Ms. Cathy Smith, Governor
Ms. Phyllis Washington, Governor
Mr. John Winston, Governor

Also
Present- Michael Nietzel, President
Paul Kincaid, Chief of Staff
John McAlear, Secretary of the Board

2. Presiding --- The presiding officer for the meeting was Ms. Mary Sheid, Chair of the Board of Governors. She called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. in the Milan/Venice Room in the Chateau on the Lake in Branson, Missouri.

3. Association of Governing Boards (AGB) Conference Report --- Ms. Phyllis Washington gave a report on the AGB Conference that she attended in the Spring. She commented on some of the sessions she attended and the speakers she heard. Her comments included that diversity is a process – not an outcome. Also, for some children to have a chance at college, we need to approach them as early as possible. Dr. Michael Nietzel commented that at the present time, the earliest contact we have with students is the Kauffman Scholars Summer Program for ninth-grade students.

4. Branding, Recruitment, and Retention of Students --- Mr. Paul Kincaid gave a report on some marketing initiatives that have begun or are about to begin. He showed some short video spots which will be used in marketing the University using the theme of “Imagining and Making Missouri’s Future.” He also reported on the reorganization that brings three units into the Office of University Relations – 1) Office of Web and New Media; 2) Office of Sports Information; and 3) a new marketing specialist will assist on a wide variety of marketing initiatives campus-wide - Mr. Art Hains, part time “Voice of the Bears,” has come on board full time in this position. An additional $180,000 has been added to the FY09 budget to help in the marketing effort. He also relayed that we plan to expand on our “Community Caravan” effort this next year by expanding to places like Jefferson City and Rolla.

Dr. Nietzel next summarized some scholarship enhancements to help attract students. These include: 1) increasing the numbers of students eligible for the Missouri State Promise scholarship; 2) providing a grant of $500 to those students who have been out of school for two years and are within thirty hours of obtaining a degree; 3) providing a $250 discount off the cost of one course to those enrolling in graduate school for the first time; and 4) providing about $250 per course for City of Springfield employees attending the university to make up for the recent employee benefit reductions at the City due to budget problems.

Dr. Belinda McCarthy, Provost, next distributed an organization chart of the Office of Provost showing the new additions of the traditional Student Affairs functions, for example, Enrollment Management & Marketing, Financial Aid, Admissions, and Registrar. She then gave a report on developing and marketing our public affairs mission. She said we need to align marketing and recruiting with our mission and programs. The new Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will help faculty with including our public affairs mission in all of our courses. Dr. McCarthy indicated that we are looking to greatly expand our initiatives in community engagement, cultural competence, and ethical leadership. She added that engagement is a tool to retention. She also remarked that we need to market our strengths – an example is that we have a fabulous study-away program that students don’t know about. One can participate in study away and not have to leave the United States. Dr. Nietzel added that we are investigating a program whereby we promise every new student $500 if they participate in study away, leadership courses, or community service activities.

5. Risk Management Tracking System --- Mr. Clif Smart, General Counsel, reported that at the present time, there are different types of injury accident reports on campus and there is no one place where they are all brought together into one data base. This does not permit the ability to identify items or areas that need to be addressed to reduce the potential risk of future accidents. To provide one source for all injury claims, the Safety and Transportation Department will be purchasing a new software package that all departments will be tied into. All departments also will use the same accident report form.

6. Sunshine Law --- Mr. Smart next gave a brief report on electronic communications between board members and their Sunshine Law responsibilities. If there is a majority of board members (five) involved in the email communication (including the sender), the University’s custodian of records, Ms. June McHaney, should be copied. For an email between committee members (with a membership of three) regarding committee business – if two governors are involved, Ms. McHaney should be copied.

7. Board Member Liability --- Mr. Smart next made a presentation on individual board member liability including the University conflict of interest policy, the duty of due care in conducting University business, official immunity in policy-making, and the State legal Expense Fund.

8. Real Estate Update --- Dr. Nietzel next gave a report to the Board summarizing potential real estate options.

9. University Policies --- Mr. Smart then gave a brief report on a project that Dr. Nietzel had asked Mr. John McAlear, Secretary of the Board, to perform regarding a review of university policies. He explained that there is no one place where you can go to find a university policy nor is there any consistency when a policy is brought to the Board for their approval. There are several examples of where the Board approved a policy but never approved changes to the policy that were made years later. Due to this, there are several obsolete policies that have never been repealed. After reviewing several other universities’ policy structure, a more cohesive and accessible structure would be to have a set of governing policies (to be approved by the Board), and a set of operating or administrative policies (to be delegated to the university administration). This would result in not having to bring to the Board minor necessary changes in the implementation of the policy. He added that a small committee will be working on this project and will report their results to another larger campus-wide committee and to the administrative council before it is finalized and brought to the Board. The goal is to have one website that will show all governing and operating policies. He commented that we hope to complete this overall project within about a twelve- to eighteen-month period. Governors were in agreement that this was a worthwhile project, but, it was expressed that obsolete policies should be brought to the Board for repeal as they are identified instead of at the very end of the project.

Since increasing the diversity of the University is a goal of the University’s Long-Range Vision and Five-Year Plan (2006-11), Mr. Smart next discussed the need for a Diversity Hiring and Recruitment Policy.

10. Capital Campaign --- Mr. Brent Dunn, Vice President for University Advancement, joined the meeting and brought the Board up-to-date on the status of the planning for a capital campaign.

11. Board Committees --- Ms. Sheid led the Board in a review of the board committee structure after being in place about one year. It was discussed that the committee meetings should not be made up of just presentations to the committee members – there should be time for discussion and brainstorming. The committee meeting agenda should be set by the committee chair – not the administration. After a short discussion, it was determined that the Board wanted to try a 10:00 a.m. meeting time for their board meetings with committees meeting just prior to the board meeting.

The meeting was recessed by Ms. Shied at 4:45 p.m. and then reconvened at 8:00 a.m. on July 19, 2008.

12. Review of FY08 Priorities --- Dr. Nietzel gave an update on the status of the 2007-08 twelve priorities: 1) Progress on capital projects; 2) Improve retention/graduation rates; 3) Strategically expand distance learning; 4) Develop research infrastructure and environment; 5) Establish new degree programs; 6) Launch new comprehensive campaign; increase opportunities for alumni outreach; increase national presence; 7) Assess and improve campus safety and security; 8) Finish the public scorecard; 9) Implement effective enrollment, financial aid, and tuition policies; 10) Follow through on initiatives; 11) Promote ethnic diversity; and 12) Maintain a successful intercollegiate athletics program.

13. Six Themes for Implementing Missouri State’s Five Goals in 2008-09 --- Dr. Nietzel presented the following themes for FY09: 1) foster our students’ success; 2) enrich our Public Affairs mission; 3) transform our campuses; 4) strengthen our competitiveness; 5) engage our communities; and 6) advance our understanding.

After additional input from the Board, it was decided to ensure that our: 1) diversity goals be continued for our student body in theme one and for our faculty/staff in theme two; 2) alumni and other constituent groups are included in theme five; 3) intercollegiate athletics goals be included in theme four; and 4) students’ post-graduate successes (for example, job placements and graduate schools) be included in theme one. It also was decided that the Board would communicate in writing on their unanimous endorsement of the 2008-09 themes with a specific statement describing their delight that a financial responsibility course is being discussed under theme two.

14. Board Officers --- After a short discussion, it was decided to have Ms. Sheid contact each of the board members prior to the August meeting regarding officer positions for the next year.

15. Date of Next Meeting --- The date of the next scheduled meeting was set for Friday, August 1, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. on the Springfield Campus.

16. Adjournment --- Ms. Sheid adjourned the meeting at 10:45 a.m. on the motion of Ms. Washington, the second of Mr. Duggan, and the unanimous vote of the Board.

John W. McAlear
Secretary