- President John Haeger discussed the upcoming Ke$ha concert and the opening act, Dirt Nasty. The president explained that he was disappointed in ASNAU’s choice of performers and he would send a letter to campus explaining the university’s position on a potentially offensive entertainer. The president also said he wanted to calculate the cost of any additional security and charge it to ASNAU.
- The president also discussed the recent market adjustments received by more than half the university faculty and staff. Haeger left the door open for future merit increases if NAU’s budget will allow for it. Regents’ professor Ray Michalowski pointed out that the adjustments have caused compression issues for long-time NAU employees. The university will be examining those.
- Pat Haeuser, vice president for Budget, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness, reported that the university will request $33 million for enrollment growth and a modest $3 million for system architecture for its FY12 budget. None of the state’s universities has received enrollment growth funding for three years. The president pointed out that different university funding formulas are being discussed. If adopted, the new funding formulas would be based on student success and outcomes instead of enrollment growth.
- The university’s master plan has been accepted by the Arizona Board of Regents. Jane Kuhn, associate vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, said the board was “really jazzed” by the plan and called it a road map for future development. Kuhn also laid out some potential upcoming construction, including a 120,000-square-foot Health Sciences building, funded by SPEED monies; two public-private partnerships to build residence halls; a public-private parking garage behind the current location of the Fronske Health Center; and a rebuilt field house, which would become a multipurpose arena, funded half by the university and half by private donations.
- Fred Estrella, chief information technology officer, discussed new software available to the university to help with grants and contracts. The software is from Cayuse Inc.
- At the recent meeting of the Arizona Board of Regents, the three university presidents and the ABOR president introduced what President Haeger describes as a “new covenant with the people of Arizona.” The covenant comes in form of the Arizona Higher Education Enterprise, a plan for realignment and restructuring of the state’s higher education system.
- Haeger reminded cabinet members of the visit by Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Jones will discuss “Rethinking the University: Fulfilling the Mission in a Changing Environment” beginning at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in the High Country Conference Center.
