February 15, 2016
Kansas Board of Regents February meeting agenda items
The Kansas Board of Regents will meet on Feb. 17 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 amend the fiscal year 2016 capital improvement plan and accept the program statement for the Kansas Veterinary Diagnostic Research Center. The 80,833-square-foot multipurpose facility will provide additional research and teaching space for College of Veterinary Medicine faculty and graduate students and consolidate Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory operations. The proposed building site directly behind Mosier Hall maintains close proximity to the Veterinary Health Center, incurs the least amount of impact on existing parking and provides necessary public access. The estimated total project cost is approximately $43.2 million to be financed through bonds and repaid with diagnostic laboratory revenue and College of Veterinary Medicine special enhancement funding.
The Regents will receive a report on the accreditation status of state universities and various programs within each that have specialized accreditation. Accreditation is a process certifying institutions and programs have met a specified set of standards. There are two broad types of accreditation in postsecondary education: Institutional accreditation and the specialized accreditation of academic units or programs. Each state university is fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. K-State reported 47 programs accredited by specialized accrediting bodies. Six programs are either certified, licensed, registered or Federal Aviation Administration approved according to the standards of their respective regulatory bodies. View K-State's accreditation report.
The Regents will receive an update on the University Engineering Initiative Act and the University Research Grants program. Through the act, the Kansas Legislature appropriated $1 million in 2011 and $3.5 million beginning in 2012 over 10 years for the purpose of expanding the state's professional engineer 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. The University Research Grants provide $5 million annually to both K-State and the College of Veterinary Medicine for specific legislative charges. K-State's focus is global food systems and Veterinary Medicine's charge is improved rankings. Gov. Sam Brownback recommended reducing the global food systems grant by $1 million in fiscal year 2016 and $4 million in fiscal 2017.
Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology and Coffman Chair for Distinguished Teaching Scholars, will serve as one of three panelists discussing the impact of new technologies on the teaching and learning process.
If you have any questions about these agenda items, please feel free to contact me at cab@k-state.edu or 785-532-6226. The meeting will be streamed live. 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