Southern Utah University s1

Minutes Board of Trustees August 24, 2017

Regular Business Meeting

The Regular Business meeting began at 2:02 p.m. at the SUU Alumni House.

Trustee Members Present: Chair Eric Leavitt, Trustees Shannon Dulaney, Hayden Carroll, Matt Cannon, Jodi Wilson, Michael Wankier, Rich Christiansen and Scott Johnson.

Trustees Excused: Vice Chair Sherrie Hansen, Marshall Erb

Others Present: President Scott Wyatt; Provost Brad Cook; Vice Presidents Marvin Dodge, Stuart Jones; Provost Brad Cook; Mindy Benson; Jennifer Oberhelman, Secretary; Debbie Corum, Interim Director of Athletics; Mitch Bealer, Assistant Vice President for Planning & Budget; Steve Carpenter, Internal Audit Interim Director; Mike Beach Asst. VP for Finance; Dave Berri, Faculty Senate President-Elect; Stuart Bunker, Staff Assoc. President; Mike Mower, Exec. Dir. of Aviation; Sean Heiner, Aviation; David Dykes, Aviation; Ann Marie Allen, General Council; Mary Jo Anderson – Budget; Jared Britt, Aviation; Neal Donohue, Aviation; Jacob Ward, Web Services; Patrick Clarke, Dean, SIEL; Casey McClellan, USG.

Welcome by Chair Leavitt Chair Eric Leavitt called the meeting to order at 2:02 p.m. and welcomed all attendees. Acknowledgement attachments preset on the table that will be addressed during the meeting.

For the record, Vice Chair Sherrie Hansen and Marshall Erb have been excused from this meeting.

Chair Leavitt and President Wyatt asked for input regarding a date for a Board of Trustees retreat; this retreat would also include the President’s Cabinet. It will foster better communication between the Board and administration. Various dates have been provided. Discussion will take place as to the best date/s.

Swearing in of New Trustees Jennifer Oberhelman issued the oath of office to newly appointed trustees Michael Wankier, Rich Christiansen, and Jodi Wilson.

Chair Leavitt also acknowledged the service of Matt Cannon. Trustee Cannon has served on the Board of Trustees from 2013 – 2017 and his contributions have been greatly appreciated. Trustee Cannon has completed his term, but agreed to remain on the Board until his replacement is appointed by the Governor. A clock was presented to Trustee Cannon in thanks for his service.

Board Elections and Committee Assignments Chair Leavitt suggested the committee assignments be tabled for discussion at the Board retreat. This will allow a deeper discussion regarding process and efficiency. Time will allow this item to be tabled. Information is still lacking in how to review proposals and it looks like it will be up the various institutions to create their own processes for programing, etc. Minutes Board of Trustees August 24, 2017

Motion made to table discussion regarding committee assignment until the October 10 retreat by Hayden Carroll; seconded by Mike Wankier. Vote – unanimous.

Chair Leavitt expressed his willingness to serve another term as the Board Chair. This is a two year term. Chair Leavitt entertained a motion for the Chair of the Board; motion made by Hayden Carroll; seconded Michael Wankier. As there was no discussion the vote was unanimous. Rich Christiansen nominated Eric Leavitt to serve an additional term as Chair. Scott Johnson made the motion to close nominations; Shannon Dulay seconded the motion. Vote: Unanimous. Call for the vote – Eric Leavitt as Chair; vote unanimous.

Chair Leavitt shared that Sherrie Hansen would be willing to serve as Vice Chair for an additional term. Motion to open nominations for Vice Chair made by Shannon Dulaney; seconded by Hayden Carroll. As there was no discussion the vote was unanimous. Scott Johnson nominated Sherrie Hansen to serve an additional term as Vice Chair. Jodi Wilson made the motion to close nominations; Michael Wankier seconded the motion. Vote: Unanimous. Call for the vote – Sherrie Hansen as Vice Chair; vote unanimous.

Elections for 2017/18 have been completed.

Minutes of April 27, 2017 The minutes of March 24, 2017 are approved as presented.

Motion to approve the April 27, 2017 minutes as presented was made by Scott Johnson; seconded by Rich Christiansen. Vote – unanimous.

2018 Board of Trustees Meeting Schedule The dates presented for the 2018 Board of Trustees meeting were reviewed. The list was amended by adding August 23 to the list; this will replace “date to be determined.” The December date will be determined as soon as possible.

Motion made to approved the amendment by Michael Wankier; seconded by Scott Johnson. Vote – unanimous.

Policy #5.55 – Web Services VP Marv Dodge presented the revisions to Policy 5.55. This provides updates that will allow for updates of webpages, office and references. It also clarifies the purpose to ensure web presence has accurate and consistent content. It clarified the scope of the policy providing Web Services authority to manage all public facing SUU webpages. It delegates the selection of Web Liaisons from VP’s to department directors or chairs who are more familiar with staff best suited for this role and outlines the duties of Web Liaisons to ensure quality web content.

Motion made to approve proposed revisions by Matt Cannon; seconded by Scott Johnson. Vote – unanimous. Minutes Board of Trustees August 24, 2017

Introductions Chair Leavitt introduced Debbie Corum as Interim Athletic Director and new Cabinet member Steve Meredith as Asst. to the President for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness. Welcome!

Program Information President Wyatt shared that the proposed Engineering BS and the Aviation BS have completed the review process at the Commissioner’s Office and vetted through all USHE in Utah. We are awaiting the documentation. This should be ready to come to the Board in October. This will then need to be presented to the accreditors. This is a minor change, but Northwest could take 4-6 months to update the accreditation.

Trustees Retreat After much discussion, the dates agreed upon are October 10 and 11. The retreat will take place at Bryce Canyon. Cabinet members are invited also. Attendees will meet at noon on October 10 and the retreat will end the afternoon of the 11th. Additional details to follow, but much time will be dedicated to program development. It was suggested by President Wyatt that this becomes an annual event.

Beer Garden at Football Games Chair Leavitt asked President Wyatt to discuss having a beer garden at football games. This topic has been under discussion for some time, and was brought forward by Jason Butikofer. President Wyatt requested that this item be postponed to a later date as there is not time to make preparations for the 2017 Homecoming tailgating. This would not need approval of the Board of Trustees as a policy is in place regarding this matter but conversation would be welcome.

Report of the Faculty Senate Faculty Senate President-Elect Dave Berri reported the following: the Faculty Senate has not met formally this year, but a meeting is calendared. Compensation issues are still a topic of discussion and it has been decided to bring in an outside-consultant to assist in developing benchmarks. VP Dodge reported that there have been three proposals received and the committee will review them in the near future. Faculty Senate is also looking at the tenure process.

Report of Staff Association Staff Association President Stuart Bunker reported compensation is also an issue with the Staff Assoc. and will be participating in the salary study with the consultant. The Staff Assoc. will be continuing to award a Staff of the Month Award (a reserved parking spot will be award for the month).

Report of Student Body President Hayden Carroll reported the following: they have reorganized the structure and now have 20 senators that allows for a larger student voice; 3 committees each headed up by a vice president. The former VP of Activities now is a separate entity, it is now Student Programing headed by Sarah Jones. To replace the VP of Activies, SUUSA now has a VP of Finance to oversee all financial matters. More use of “table time” to make sure students know who SUUSA is. SUUSA wants students to know that they are there for them. Minutes Board of Trustees August 24, 2017

Report of the Alumni Scott Johnson reported three members have rotated off the National Alumni Board and have been replace by six new members. They will have their first meeting during Homecoming. They have worked with Eric Kirby on an alumni letter writing campaign and every freshman will receive a letter from an alumni sharing their experiences and offering encouragement.

Report of Alumni & Community Relations VP Mindy Benson reported Lagoon Days attendance was up by 57%. The Alumni magazine will be going out soon to over 60,000 homes. There are two concerts scheduled in the near future – October 3 Ben Rector for Homecoming and Gladys Knight for the President’s Holiday Gala on December 7. Piano Guys will be back in February and a large country concern will be in the spring. There have been 200 students apply for Rural Health Scholars and 85 present Rural Scholars have applied for medical and dental school. Casey McClellan will be leaving Utah Summer Games after 10 years – thank you to Casey for his hard work.

Report of Provost & Academic Affairs Provost Cook shared 25 new faculty have been hired and training is ongoing. He then introduced Mike Mower, Exec. Director of Aviation to share the Aviation Sciences 5-Year Plan. Mr. Mower shared that the demand for pilots and mechanics is extremely large and the need is unable to be met. 2017 will be focusing on service center applications and industry partnerships. 2018 will focus on expanding the degree program to incorporate online and BS. 2019 will focus on the ATM (maintenance) and 145 launches. 2020 focuses on the launch of a drone program and additional degree offerings. Lastly, 2021 will focus on development of the school of Aviation Sciences and the aviation campus. While in Oshkosh, WI, SUU staff and faculty had discussions with companies like Bowing and they all shared their concerns about the lack of pilots, maintenance crews and flight crews. These types of conversations opens paths to careen and salary pathways available to our students.

Chair Leavitt asked what the status is on a possible fuel farm that can be used by private customers. Mr. Mower shared that State Risk Management had some major concerns. An RFP is being prepared for release regarding wholesale and retail.

Provost Cook shared that two new programs, BS in Engineering and BS in Aviation, are in the pipeline. The R401 has been submitted and it sent out for peer evaluations and review to the other institutions in Utah. A report will be put together in the Commissioner’s office and submitted to the Chair of the Board of Trustees. The question was asked about who defines timelines; Provost Cook is unsure and more clarification is needed.

Report of Advancement & Enrollment Management VP Stuart Jones reported that the overall increase of fall enrollments is 7.5%; freshmen enrollment has increased by 16%. Not is enrollment up, but revenues are strong.

A consult has been retained to assist in forming a plan to reach 15,000 students. VP Jones also shared that a dilemma, Utah families are debt adverse, students need to work but there is a shortage of jobs in the local area. Many students end up leaving because of the need for money. There was a discussion about how to attract more companies to Cedar City. Rich Christiansen suggested that a Minutes Board of Trustees August 24, 2017 meeting be held between the City, Chamber and SUU regarding this challenge. We need to have education with appropriate experience to go into the workforce.

Report of Athletics Interim AD Debbie Corum invited the Trustees and Cabinet to travel with the football team to the Weber State game on October 14; more details to follow. Since making the transition to this position, she has worked with the staff to develop goals in regards to academics, athletics (winning!), developing students holistically, finance and facility improvements. They will be using the $1M award from the State to help reach these goals. They are currently developing a 10-year master for facilities.

Because of budgeting, smaller planes will be used for football travel so not as many boosters will be able to pay to travel with the team. Football has fewer guaranteed games this year and more chartered flights, so there is less budget available for larger planes. The Gymnastics team is the number 1 team in the NCAA in regards to GPA; they carry a combined 3..89 GPA and all are on the All American Academic Team. Three members of the men’s track team have also received academic honors. Men’s Basketball has worked to score 1,000 on the APR; this is the highest score possible.

Lastly, SUU Athletics has partnered with Cedar City Parks and Recreation Department and purchased the kids jerseys and will be volunteering hours as guest coaches. A bid will go out soon regarding the Sports Performance Facility/Nutrition Station; this project is slated to be completed January 2018.

Report of Finance & Administration VP Marv Dodge handed out a report from Finance and Administration and Budget Book. In consideration of time, he suggested they look at both and feel free to contact him with any questions. He did report that once again, there would be no increases in health premiums and that there was a premium holiday for two months for all employees. There is discussion that new employees coming on board be given a $500 deposit into their HSA. There have been no raises in premiums in three years.

Report of the President President Wyatt was invited to be the key note speaker at the American Legion annual meeting in Reno in June. The Veterans Administration is very pleased with the programs and services we offer to our Vets. SUU is considered a “Vet friendly” campus. SUU encourages Vets to take more than electives that don’t apply to completion of their degrees. SUU has been acknowledged for this nationally.

As of this moment, we have 8,973 students and the number is rising as this meeting continues. The system for registering freshmen has drastically changed; their academic advisor enrolls them in all their classes. This is unique. They won’t be able to enroll in their own classes until they reach 30 credits. This takes an enormous amount of work, but will contribute to higher completion rates.

Dixie State has disclosed their enrollment numbers that show over the past five years their in-state enrollment has dropped over 1,000 students. They are growing on out-of-state tuition. They are Minutes Board of Trustees August 24, 2017 having trouble recruiting in-state students, even with the possibility of scholarships. SUU, on the other hand, has seen healthy growth of in-state students the past three years. It is very difficult to recruit in rural areas, but our reputation is great. We have worked hard to build a solid reputation.

Kudos to Brandon Wright and Ellen Treanor for getting the word out about SUU. SUU has seen steady growth, while our neighboring institution has seen a decline of 1,000 students during the same time frame.

Wonderful things are going on at SUU!

President Wyatt will begin pod cases on higher education issues; the first one will be recorded this Friday.

Consent Items

Motion made by Jodi Wilson to approve the consent calendar items:  Investment Reports: March, April May and June  Quarterly Endowment Reports: March and June  Personnel and Retirements Second on the motion made by Michael Wankier. Vote - unanimous.

Motion to Adjourn A motion for adjournment to executive session was made by Jodi Wilson; second on the motion was made by Shannon Dulaney. Vote - unanimous.

The meeting was adjourned to executive session at 4:58 p.m.