The Board of Governors met last week.

Pay increase

The board approved the pay increase recommended by the Executive Budget Committee. Accordingly, full-time faculty and staff hired on or before Sept. 30, 2018, will receive an ongoing across-the-board compensation increase of one percent plus $600.

The proposed increase will be added to base pay starting on Jan. 1, 2019, for 12-month employees and on Feb. 1, 2019, for 9- and 10-month employees. Additional details can be found in my Oct. 9 note.

Medical plan approved

The board also approved changes to the medical plan. Earlier this month, we held a town hall meeting to discuss the medical plan, and we solicited feedback through survey responses. We received more than 700 responses to the survey.

The survey results indicate that respondents’ primary concern is having good coverage for preventive services. The second most cited concern is the cost of insurance premiums. Deductibles, co-pays and other issues rated below these top two concerns.

These responses indicate a preference for moving to a new plan that would provide 100 percent coverage for preventive services and a lower premium option. Accordingly, that is what I recommended to the board and the board approved.

Because of the feedback we received regarding premium increases, the final version of the new plan contains one change from the version I presented at the town hall meeting — it reduces the premium by $5 for the “employee only” option under both the base plan and the buy-up plan.

Open enrollment begins on Nov. 1. You can find more details about the new medical plan in your open enrollment materials.

Board approves budget, purchases, recognitions

The board also took action on other important matters.

The board approved changes to the university’s FY19 budget to account for increased anticipated revenue from the state, decreased anticipated revenue through tuition and fees due to a decline in credit hour enrollment, and the compensation increase described above.

The board also resolved to exercise the university’s option to purchase Brick City. This is a cost-neutral decision because the bond payments on the purchase will replace rent payments we had been paying to the owner under a lease arrangement.

The board approved the naming of the McQueary College of Health and Human Services in recognition of the extraordinary interest and involvement of the McQueary family in Missouri State University. This naming follows a recent major gift from the McQueary family that will be used for the expansion of the McQueary Family Health Sciences Hall, scholarships for students in the McQueary College of Health and Human Services, and faculty support.

The board approved Matt Blunt as the recipient of this year’s Bronze Bear Award. During his time as governor of the state of Missouri, Blunt championed efforts to change the university’s name to Missouri State University and advocated for Missouri State in other critical ways.

The board approved Sen. Jay Wasson as the recipient of this year’s Government Excellence Award. Throughout his career in public service, Sen. Wasson has worked to advance the interests of Missouri State University. Sen. Wasson sponsored legislation removing statutory language that severely restricted Missouri State’s ability to offer professional and doctoral programs.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!