The Arizona Board of Regents will hold their first meeting of the new semester on Sept. 23 – 24from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Memorial Union at Arizona State University. Below is a list of some of the major agenda items the Regents will be discussing.  

Regents High Honors Endorsement Scholarship:

The topic that will be most closely followed is a vote on the future of the Regents High Honors Endorsement Scholarship. The scholarship, which was implemented in 2004, grants full tuition scholarships to students who exceed standards on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards test (AIMS). In 2010, the cost of these scholarships was approximately $12 million. The Regents are considering reducing the scholarship amount due to a lack of state funding, and the reinstatement of the ACT and SAT I as criterion for receiving the scholarship in place of the AIMS test. Any changes approved by the Board of Regents would not take effect until 2012.     

University budget requests:

The State Operating Budget requests for the Arizona University System for fiscal year 2012 will be submitted for approval to the Regents. Arizona’s three universities are requesting a total of $966.2 million in funding, an 8.5 percent increase from last year. 62 percent of the new requested funds would go to fund enrollment growth at NAU and the UA, which has not been funded since 2009. ASU’s proposal does not request funds for this purpose.

Potential campus developments:

The UA will present its Capital Improvement Plan for 2012-14 for approval. Some projects the UA hopes to fund as a part of the plan include a new parking structure on South Campus, a new library on North Campus, the construction of a new mathematics building, the renovation of the Bear Down Gymnasium to add a new expansion to its southern side and a new facility for KUAT and Arizona Public Media. All these projects will primarily be funded with resources from the UA.

Reorganization of the College of Medicine:

Regents will also finalize some details regarding the restructuring of the UA College of Medicine academic center, including the formation of UA Healthcare, Inc., with the University Medical Center Corporation as an affiliate.