Regents voted March 10 to approve a request by the UA to begin offering two new degrees: a doctor of nursing practice degree and a transcultural German degree.

Provost George Davis told the Arizona Board of Regents that the German program was unique, saying, “”It is the only program in the U.S. partnering with a German university.””

While the German program received little discussion during the meeting, Davis was inundated with questions about the nursing degree program and whether there was a crisis in nursing education.

Davis asked Marjorie Isenberg, dean of the UA College of Nursing, to answer concerns posed by the regents.

Isenberg said while there is a lack of nurses in the field, her concern was with the limited amount of instructors who want to teach nursing.

She said qualified candidates were being lured away from teaching jobs into working in the private sector.

The doctor of nursing practice degree would help the UA teach the next generation of nursing teachers, Isenberg said.

Isenberg told the regents the program could be expanded after the Clinical Resource Lab was completed later this spring.

The regents also approved the formation of the Research Park Development Corporation; a nonprofit corporation “”organized to assist the university in the acquisition, financing, improvement and operation of campus, Research Park and related properties.””

The laws of the corporation were hastily rewritten after several regents said the language concerning who would control the corporation was ambiguous.

The board of regents approved the corporation after language was amended to say that the corporation would be run by the UA, but the regents would still approve final decisions.

The regents also OK’d plans for the $22 million Family and Consumer Sciences building project and revision to 2006 fiscal year Capital Development Plan that adds $21 million to the Amendment Law Commons project.

Michael Hunter, the assistant executive director for government affairs for the board of regents, gave a 15-minute overview of bills currently in the Arizona legislature.

Hunter said Republican leaders have begun closed-door meetings to discuss the budget. Gov. Janet Napolitano announced her budget in January, but the legislature has yet to announce its budget priorities.

Budget priorities are of vital interest to the regents, as they voted the day before to put off setting tuition for Arizona’s undergraduates. There is a hope that legislators will be able to give the three universities more money and the regents will not have to raise undergraduate tuition.

The regents also elected Regent Ernest CalderÇün as board secretary and Regent Jack Jewett as board assistant secretary. CalderÇün replaces Lorraine Frank, who died Dec. 22 at the age of 82.

New voting student regent named

Napolitano appointed Mary Venezia, an NAU student, to a two-year term on the Arizona Board of Regents to eventually replace Ben Graff, a third-year UA law student whose terms ends in June.

The governor said she was impressed with the 19-year-old’s extracurricular and philanthropic involvement.

Venezia, an NAU speech communication major, will join the board this summer and take over the nonvoting student regent duties from ASU’s Edward Hermes. Hermes, the current nonvoting student regent, will be able to vote starting in June.

There were conflicting reports about when Venezia will be eligible to begin voting, but Hermes and Graff confirmed that Venezia will start voting in June 2007 rather than 2008.

The current ABOR system regarding student regents rotates between the three major Arizona universities, and the next student regent chosen will be from the UA.