The first Board of Trustees meeting of 2016 will focus on the implications of the Bicentennial Strategic Plan, residence hall housing rates and reports on the media and academic initiatives each IU campus is taking.
This Thursday and Friday, board chairs and officers will meet in the University Tower at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis to report on prominent issues extending across all eight campuses.
Notably, the Trustees will discuss the findings of the first Bicentennial Strategic Plan Report.
The plan, which was enacted December 2014, is a detailed draft of how IU can move forward in the areas of student excellence, scholarship and research.
Board of Trustees members will discuss the many initiatives targeting these areas, all of which lead up to the celebration of IU’s 200th anniversary.
“This report, the findings of which will be revealed at the meeting, is the focal point of the upcoming Trustees meeting,” said Debbie Lemon, Board of Trustees secretary. “These efforts fall under all of our campuses and you’ll be able to see the eight primary topics of the plan being discussed in great detail.”
The Board of Trustees is the governing authority of IU, and their meetings are open to the public. They approve all major projects, make final budgeting decisions and oversee the development and expansion of the many programs the university has to offer.
MaryFrances McCourt, treasurer of the Trustees, is responsible for managing approximately $2 billion of annual operating funds.
She will give a presentation at the Trustees meeting detailing the year’s budget assumptions, as well as advancements in residence hall housing rates.
“We are going to discuss several models to analyze different potential scenarios,” McCourt said. “After we propose these, we get a better sense of what might happen in the course of the next few years, in terms of our budget.”
McCourt said student affordability is one of the centerpieces of the conversation.
The trustees are not permitted to increase yearly tuition by huge rates, but they must find ways to bring in funding to meet the rising costs of managing the University.
“IU is going through facility renovations, new constructions, increased maintenance costs and more,” McCourt said. “Despite this, we can’t match these standard expenses by simply inflating the amount students pay — more planning has to go into it.”
Faculty members have also faced slow, incremental wage increases for years, McCourt said.
The Board of Trustees will facilitate a presentation and conversation to combat these issues, and provide a pool of solutions for each problem that balances the needs of every group on campus.
Other items on the agenda include progress of the campus’s media and marketing initiatives, as well as updates from honors colleges on each IU campus.
“The Board of Trustees cover several topics of interest in a short period of time,” Lemon said. “They will, throughout the two days, address new degrees, a lengthy review of approved construction projects and updates on higher education trends.”
Although the meeting materials will not be released until after the event, a comprehensive Board of Trustees agenda is available to the public at trustees.iu.edu.
