School may be out, but for those who run the show at Arizona’s three public universities, summer is business as usual.
The Arizona Board of Regents and leaders of Arizona’s public higher education system are heading north this week to Northern Arizona University’s campus for their June board meeting. Here are a few of the bigger items up for discussion:
FY 2017 Annual Budget
Arizona State University, NAU and the UA will be asking the board’s approval of their respective annual budgets.
Due to increases in grants and contracts, tuition and fee revenues and state funding, the UA expects total net revenues to increase by $120.2 million.
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The UA is also looking to set aside $9.5 million for faculty, staff and graduate assistant salary adjustments to show what they called a focused commitment to their employee’s performance. The UA is currently ranked last out of its fifteen peer institutions for average faculty salary.
RELATED: UA to increase wages for faculty, staff and graduate assistants
Financing Building Projects
UA, NAU and ASU are all asking the board to approve their FY 2017 Capital Development Plans.
The UA is asking the board to approve this total project budget of $341.7 million for five already approved projects which include:
• $16 million for phase two of a north campus infrastructure, which is currently on hold
• $18.5 million for a south stadium parking structure which will be 282,000 square feet
• $63 million engineering innovation building which is also on hold
• $79.2 million interdisciplinary chemical science renovation and expansion project that’s currently on hold
• $165 million health sciences innovation building which will be 212,000 square feet
Revisions, Revisions, Revisions
The board is being asked to review a proposed revision to the regent’s requirements to be considered a resident, which would allow those who have participated in AmeriCorps program or the Volunteers in Service to America Program in Arizona for more than a year to be classified as an in-state student.
They will also review a proposed revision to their academic credit policy, which would allow certain former and active military to receive academic credit based on their knowledge, skill and length of service.
Strategic Plan
The UA is asking the board to approve their proposed addendum to its 2016-2017 Academic Strategic Plan.
Their addendum is to add two new academic programs—a B.S. in meteorology and a B.A. in world literatures , as well as replace the current B.S. in psychology with a B.S. in psychological sciences.
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