Last week the Board of Governors Executive Committee met.
I updated the board on the status of the General Assembly’s budget work. The House Budget Committee has approved its version of the budget.
As you know, Gov. Greitens recommended a $68 million cut to core operating appropriations for universities and community colleges. This cut would reduce Missouri State’s core operating appropriation by $6.4 million.
The House Budget Committee has restored $38 million of that cut. This would restore $3.6 million to Missouri State’s core operating appropriation.
The House will take up the budget on the floor this week. We continue to work with leadership in the House and Senate to have the cuts recommended by the governor completely restored in the state’s budget.
New CNAS fee
We also discussed a proposal for a new fee in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS). The proposal would simplify the CNAS fee structure by replacing course level fees with a uniform fee for all courses. The new fee structure would charge $15 per credit hour for all 100 level CNAS courses (except MTH101, 103 and 107) and $30 per credit hour for all 200 through 500 level CNAS courses.
The revenue generated from the fee will first be used to cover the costs underlying the current course level fees in CNAS courses. The remaining revenue will be split evenly between the college and the university’s central operations. The portion going to the college will be used to hire additional faculty and teaching assistants, to finance a CNAS student success center, and to fund additional space and renovations of existing space. The portion going to the university will be used to fund general university operations.
Board feedback was positive, and we plan to include this new fee in the tuition and fee resolution that the board will evaluate in April.
The board also approved the academic calendar for 2019-20, approved terms for auxiliary enterprise system bonds that will be used to finance renovations to Woods House and other auxiliary projects, and awarded a contract for renovations to the Plaster Center to accommodate the collaborative mechanical engineering program.
Ford named new Bears coach
Following the Executive Committee meeting, the entire board held a special meeting to approve the contract for our new basketball coach.
Dana Ford will be the Bears new head basketball coach. Ford, 33, has served the last four years as head coach at Tennessee State University (TSU), previously serving as an assistant coach at Wichita State and Illinois State. He is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most promising young head coaches and was awarded the Ben Jobe Award in 2016 as the nation’s top Division I minority coach.
Ford orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in NCAA history when he accepted the TSU job in 2014-15 as the nation’s youngest Division I head coach at the time. TSU went from a 5-26 record his first season to a 20-11 record a year later. He earned Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors and NABC District 19 Coach of the Year honors that same season.
Ford has a combined 52-39 record over the last three years. Under his leadership, TSU doubled its home attendance average and twice earned votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll during the 2016-17 season.
Ford’s hire follows an extensive national search, involving meetings with numerous head and assistant coaches throughout the United States. The Board of Governors unanimously approved a five-year contract with Ford, with starting compensation of $375,000.
I am very excited about this hire and the future of Bears basketball.
Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!
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