The Tennessee Board of Regents will meet in its regular quarterly session Sept. 21 and 22, at Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Macon Cove Campus in Memphis. The Board of Regents governs the College System of Tennessee – the state’s 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus collaborative, serving nearly 100,000 students statewide.
Major items on the board’s agenda include proposed fiscal year 2018-19 budget requests for new initiatives and capital projects across the system, including campus construction, renovation and major maintenance projects; an update on the progress of Tennessee Promise students; a preliminary enrollment report for the current fall semester; a report on graduation rates for the 2016-17 academic year; appointment of a new president of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology – Crossville, and consideration of search criteria for a new president of Motlow State Community College.
The board’s committees will meet Thursday, Sept. 21, starting at 1 p.m. CDT and running consecutively all afternoon in the following order: Finance and Business Operations Committee, Personnel and Compensation Committee, Workforce Development Committee, External Affairs Committee, and Academic Policies and Programs and Student Success Committee.
The full Board of Regents convenes at 9:30 a.m., Friday, Sept. 22, following a presentation, “Together Memphis,” at 9 a.m. by Southwest President Tracy D. Hall and TCAT-Memphis President Roland Rayner highlighting partnerships among their two colleges and business, industry, high schools and local government agencies in the area.
Meetings will be held in the Bert Bornblum Library on Southwest’s Macon Cove Campus, 5983 Macon Cove, Memphis, which is accessible by the campus’s main entrance on Sycamore View Road south of the Sycamore View Road exit from Interstate 40.
Much of the board’s detailed work is done in the committees, then presented to the full board for action or review through approval of the minutes of the committee sessions.
For example, the Committee on Finance and Business Operations on Thursday will receive TBR staff recommendations of fiscal year 2018-19 funding requests for new initiatives and capital projects, with details on proposed campus construction projects. The full board will act on the proposed funding requests by considering the committee’s minutes on Friday. All funding requests approved by the board will go to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, where they will be considered for inclusion in THEC’s public higher education budget proposal encompassing all state colleges and universities.
The Tennessee Promise, graduation and fall enrollment reports will be presented in detail Thursday to the Academic Policies and Programs and Student Success Committee, and more briefly to the full board on Friday.
Other items on the full board’s agenda on Friday include Chancellor Flora W. Tydings’ quarterly report, which includes a presentation on planning for the expanded Tennessee Reconnect scholarship program for adult learners without a postsecondary degree or credential that goes into effect in Fall 2018; action on proposed revisions in TBR bylaws related to the Workforce Development and External Affairs committees; notice of other proposed changes in bylaws that will be considered during the board’s December meeting, and approval of 2018 meeting dates.
Also on the agenda are review of college plans for spending student technology access fees; consideration of alternative compensation proposals from five institutions; a report on community college workforce development activities; revenue-neutral fee changes proposed by three community colleges; a review of statewide workforce initiatives, and updates on external affairs initiatives and strategic planning on marketing and branding.
Full, detailed agendas and meeting materials for the board and committee meetings are available to download on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/board/september-quarterly-board-meeting. The meetings will be live-streamed and archived at the same link.
All meetings are open to the public and media as observers, and those planning to attend should contact TBR Communications Director Rick Locker at rick.locker@tbr.edu or 615-366-4417 by noon, Wednesday, Sept. 20, to facilitate security access.