February 12, 1998  NR 05-1998

Regents of the University of Alaska will meet Wednesday through Friday, February 18-20, 1998, at the Westmark Baranof Hotel in downtown Juneau. In addition to committee meetings and the full board meeting, regents also will meet with the Alaska State Board of Education and with Alaska legislators. Beginning at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, regents will meet as the presidential search committee with Betty Hasler of the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to discuss the university's search for a chief executive to succeed Dr. Jerome Komisar who announced last month his intention to resign effective at the end of June. Primary focus of the meeting will be the development of a vacancy announcement, leadership expectations, and the qualities and qualifications for a new president.

From 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, regents are scheduled to hold individual meetings with legislators, and Ms. Hasler will meet with university governance groups at the Auke Lake campus of the University of Alaska Southeast to discuss her firm's role in the search process. House Speaker Gail Phillips, an alumnus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will host a reception for regents and invited guests in her office at the State Capitol from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Following the reception, from 7 to 9 p.m., the Board of Regents will meet jointly with the State Board of Education in the Goldbelt Building at 801 West 10th Street. The agenda includes a report from John Pugh, dean of faculty at UAS and chair of the Professional Education Coordinating Committee, on the committee's draft report on "Planning for a Renewed Purpose: Programs for the University of Alaska Professional Schools of Education." Regents and members of the Board of Education also will discuss the UAF School of Education accreditation, grades 13 and 14, the Quality Schools Initiative/Foundation formula, and developmental education.

On Thursday, from 7 to 9 a.m., the board will meet with Alaska legislators in the hotel's Treadwell Room. The agenda includes introductory remarks by Fairbanks Regent Mike Kelly, president of the Board of Regents, and Sen. Gary Wilken, R-Fairbanks, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education & Social Services, followed by discussions of the Washington-Wyoming-Alaska-Montana-Idaho (WWAMI) medical program, an update on the work of the University of Alaska organizational and operational review committees, proposed deferred maintenance legislation and a report on the university's presidential search.

Committees of the Board of Regents will begin meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday and are expected to conclude at 6 p.m. All committee meetings will be held in the Westmark Baranof Hotel. The audit committee will meet from 7 to 8 a. m. on Friday prior to the full board meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. in the Treadwell Room with the regents hearing public testimony. The meeting is scheduled to end at 5 p.m.

Highlights of the agenda are listed here by committee of origin:

Joint Meeting of the Academic and Student Affairs & Human Resources Committees

• Presentations will include reports on the UAS health information management program as a model for distance delivery, and on the accreditation of the program.
• Consider approval of the continuation of the associate of applied science degree program in health information management at UAS.
• Consider endorsement of the Professional Education Coordinating Committee report and recommendations.
• Consider approval of student affairs policies regarding general provisions and education records, as well as consider approval of the renumbering of some student affairs policies.
• Review of policy and regulation on student rights and responsibilities, and on the employment of students, and a report on tuition paid by international students.
• UAA Provost Daniel Johnson will report on the considerations underway at UAA regarding the feasibility of developing a logistics training program that would support industrial development of air cargo transfer centers at Alaska's transportation hub cities.
• UAF Provost John Keating will report on accreditation requirements and collaborative planning between the engineering programs at UAA and UAF.

Finance, Facilities and Land Management Committee

• Consider approval of a plan for the management of the university's intellectual property.
• Consider approval of exterior modifications at the Butrovich Building on the UAF campus with a total project cost of $410,000.
• Consider approval of the UAF Lola Tilly Commons phase one renovation project at a cost of $750,000.
• Consider approval of UAF Toolik Lake electrical project which involves installation of generator sets donated by the National Science Foundation, and an upgrade of the electrical distribution system, contingent on receipt of the project cost of about $600,000 from the National Science Foundation through the Polar Ice Coring Office of the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
• Consider authorizing the university administration to enter into a joint agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the purpose of designing a cooperative facility to be located near Juneau. Funding for the design phase of the project is not to exceed $1 million.
• Consider approval of a second timber sale at Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. The proposed sale will contain about four million board feet of timber from 450 acres. It will be a partial cut by helicopter of approximately 50 percent of the timber within each unit and there will be no major road construction. The first timber sale at Coffman Cove excluded the timber containing a significant red cedar component that can only be harvested by helicopter. While prices for other species have softened, red cedar has appreciated since the original timber sale was appraised.

Committee of the Whole

• Set tuition rates for Academic Year (AY) 99. As reported at the September 1997 board meeting, the prior three years' Higher Education Price Index average percentage increase is three percent. The following schedule summarizes the AY99 tuition rates that would take effect under current board policy, and it also sets forth the AY99 tuition rates as recommended by the university administration:

                                        Current        Policy            Recommended
                                          AY98           AY99              AY99
Lower Division:
PWSCC                               $60                  $62                 $62
Kodiak College                      $61                   $63                 $65
All Other                              $71                   $73                 $75
Uper Division                         $79                 $81                     $82
Graduate                              $158                 $162                   $164
Non-Resident Surcharge      $150                 $154                     $154
 
Assuming constant enrollment levels, the proposed increase will boost the university's tuition revenue by about $1.3 million, from an estimated $39.6 million in AY98 to $40.9 million in AY99.

• Consider approval of a request by the University of Alaska Museum to offer for sale at auction two works of Korean art that were donated to the museum in the 1960s, and to create with the proceeds a quasi-endowment that would produce earnings that could be used for other art acquisitions by the museum.
• Consider approval of the spending plan for earnings deposited to the Natural Resources Fund. Approval is sought for awards from the 40 percent allocation of the fund which is directed by policy to purposes related to fisheries, agriculture, forestry, mineral development, and education in areas related to natural resources.
• Receive an update on legislative and public information activities of the university, a report on a recently completed public opinion survey, and a report on labor relations activities.

Audit Committee

• Receive a status report on the FY97 external financial audit, a review of recently completed audits, and a report on the FY98 annual audit plan.

All meetings of the Board of Regents and its committees, except for executive sessions, are open to the public.

During the three days of meetings, messages can be left at the Westmark Baranof Hotel, 907-586-2660, and the fax number is 907-586-8315.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Bob Miller, 907-474-7272