Medical school, budget reduction suggestions on agenda for board meeting
Budget reduction suggestions and a formal establishment of the College of Medicine are topics slated for Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the President’s Conference Room at Bovee University Center.
In a previous interview, Interim University President Kathy Wilbur said she expected to have recommendations for how the university should reduce costs by the time trustees convened. She was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
Wilbur received the 3, 6 and 9 percent budget reduction recommendations from the cost centers Monday.
Steve Smith, director of public relations, said if Wilbur talks about budget cuts, it will be in the President’s Report. But Smith is uncertain where Wilbur is in her review of the reduction suggestions.
Central Michigan Life sent a Freedom of Information of Act request to Central Michigan University’s general counsel Feb. 8 for the 3, 6 and 9 percent budget reduction suggestions sent to Wilbur. The request was denied Friday.
Also on the Board’s agenda is a proposal to recognize the College of Medicine and make it official, said Interim Medical School Dean Cam Enarson.
“Right now, it’s considered a school, and that’s confusing people,” he said. “(If approved) it’s not just a thought. It’s a formal entity of the university.”
To hire faculty, there needs to be a college to hire them into, Enarson said. The College of Medicine’s approval would make it comparable to the other academic units on campus, he said.
The college’s groundbreaking also will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Health Professions Building.
Other agenda items
Interim Provost Gary Shapiro is requesting approval for the president or designee to sign a three- to five-year contract with a vendor to provide infrastructure for the SAP enterprise computing environment for no more than $500,000 per year.
The SAP computer system is CMU’s basic software package for the administrative community. It is used for financial record keeping, human resources, student records and other things. SAP also is used in some business classes.
The infrastructure is the component needed to run any system, Shapiro said. By signing a contract with another company, CMU would not have to provide all the infrastructure.
“It would allow us to run SAP more effectively and at less cost,” Shapiro said. “(Getting approval) allows us to investigate and to sign a contract if that is in the best interest of the university.”
Other items
Up to $300,000 is being requested for the purchase of National Science Foundation grant-funded equipment for the Department of Human Environmental Studies, with a thermal manikin costing $244,700 and a sweating guarded hotplate costing $42,500. The total comes to $287,200.
A few department name changes also are on the agenda. The Department of Engineering and Technology could be renamed the School of Engineering and Technology.
The Department of Geology is proposed as the Department of Geology and Meteorology.
Student Liaison Meeting
The Student Liaison Committee meeting takes place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. today in the Bovee University Center Terrace Room C.
The Student Government Association will discuss Student Opinion Survey results being put online, what to do with the increased funding in the Campus Programming Fund and the group’s involvement in the Student Association of Michigan, among other issues.
Jason Nichol, SGA President and Mount Pleasant senior, said the CPF received an additional $26,000 this year, so SGA will discuss different options on how to spend it.
“I was just thrilled to get it, especially in these nasty budget times,” Nichol said.
The meeting also will include a Residential Hall Assembly update including the future of On the Fly Productions programming.
