November 14, 2017
Kansas Board of Regents November meeting agenda items
Dear campus community,
The Kansas Board of Regents will meet Nov. 15 on the Wichita State University campus. The board will consider the following agenda items during the meeting.
The Athletic Training Strategic Alliance announced that the entry-level professional degree that has been offered at the bachelor's degree level must transition to the Master of Science degree level prior to the 2022 fall term. Kansas State University currently offers an undergraduate athletic training program in the College of Human Ecology. K-State requests approval to add a Master of Science in athletic training to comply with this change. The proposed master's program will have two admission paths: a five-year degree admission and a post-baccalaureate admission.
Kansas State University requests approval to add a Bachelor of Science in business administration with a major in professional strategic selling. The proposed major will be implemented in fall 2018 and will focus on providing students with the business skills necessary to be successful in a sales career. There are currently only 18 universities across the United States that offer a sales major.
The Regents will approve fund investment line-up changes in the board's mandatory retirement plan. The Retirement Plan Committee has reviewed and approved the recommended changes, which were made by Segal Marco Advisors, the board's contracted investment consultant.
All state universities submitted fiscal year 2019 housing and food service rates for first reading. The board will take final action in December, and approved rates will go into effect on July 1, 2018. As auxiliary enterprises, housing and food service operations must cover the total cost of operations with user fees. Housing and Dining Services staff determine proposed rates with input from the student leaders of the Association of Residence Halls. Proposed rate increases for fiscal year 2019 are recommended to cover increased operational costs for expenditures for food, utilities and facility maintenance, as well as for planned housing and dining building renovations and repairs. Housing and Dining Services works hard to keep campus housing and meal options affordable. K-State's room and board rates continue to remain below the national average and rank in the lower one-third of the Big 12 Conference. View a PDF of the proposed rates.
Board staff will provide an overview of the demographics of students at state universities and highlight various web-based tools available to assist parents, students and high school counselors in obtaining information about postsecondary institutions. Board staff also will provide an overview of campus facilities that enhance the student experience.
During the September meeting, the Regents adopted a theme related to faculty development. The Regents will begin exploring this theme with an overview of the different types of faculty at state universities and board policies related to faculty. Provost and Senior Vice President April Mason will present data from the Delaware Cost Study for K-State and how the date compares to national benchmarks. The Delaware Cost Study is a benchmarking project and data sharing consortia among four-year colleges and universities.
The Kansas Board of Regents is authorized to charge fees to cover the necessary expenses to regulate private and out-of-state postsecondary educational institutions that operate or offer degrees in Kansas. The collected fees generate the revenues necessary to support regulation and oversight of this section. The Regents will vote to approve proposed amendments to state law to reduce the amount charged to institutions incorporated in Kansas that wish to renew the certificate of approval previously granted to a branch campus site. This reduction is warranted because the staff resources necessary to regulate the branch campuses is negligible.
The Regents will receive the first reading of nonbudgetary legislative proposals, which includes a proposal to unify statutes related to performance based budgeting and performance agreements. The proposal would provide clarification to universities that they do not have to complete the additional paperwork required by the new performance based budgeting system enacted by the 2016 Legislature. Instead, universities would continue to complete the Board of Regents' performance agreement process.
If you have any questions about these agenda items, please contact me at cab@k-state.edu or 785-532-6226. The meeting also may be streamed live online. 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