Florida Board of Governors

09/15/2011

ACTIONS TAKEN: Meeting of the Florida Board of Governors, Miami, Sept. 15

MIAMI—In regular business, the Florida Board of Governors took the following actions today. Unless otherwise indicated, votes indicated were taken by the full Board based on earlier work of the standing committees that forward their respective business items.

From the Facilities Committee (Chair Dick Beard)

Reviewed and approved the FY 2012-13 State University System Fixed Capital Outlay Legislative Budget Request as outlined on the web site, and included two new eligible Courtelis matching items for New College not currently on the web site materials.

The committee on Sept. 14 heard two detailed presentations regarding Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) funding, both historical and forecast info. See web site for presentation slides.

From the Budget and Finance Committee (Chair Tico Perez)

Voted to approve on final action three amended Board of Governors regulations. These regulations were noticed at the June Board meeting to comply with changes in statute or other compliance matters. There were no public comments received during the public notice period.

• Regulation 7.001 – Tuition and Associated Fees – aligns with Senate Bill 2150 and legislative action on the base tuition from the 2011 Session.
• Regulation 7.003 – Fees, Fines and Penalties – aligns with actions of the March Board meeting and changes made in the 2011 Session.
• Regulation 9.017 – Faculty Practice Plans – adds the FAU College of Medicine to the plans.

Approved the FY 2011-12 State University System Operating Budgets. Pursuant to the Board’s regulations and duties, it is required to review and approve the universities’ operating budgets. Approved as posted on the web site.

Approved the Legislative Budget Request for FY 2012-13 and to be addressed in the 2012 Session. Within this area, the Board of Governors has a proposed appropriation request for the System that involves linkage to the current and next Strategic Plan of the Board of Governors for the State University System. The proposed System-wide appropriation targets policies that would aggressively advance certain priorities of the System that already have performance metrics in the Board’s Annual Report, or will be new metrics that may be developed in the next Strategic Plan and/or Annual Report. If provided by the Legislature, the Board would then go back to the University Work Plans for reference and see what items relate to this System-wide funding in order to match up and fund needs, in a coordinated approach. Some examples of the new funding request are increasing graduation rates for four-year degrees; increasing STEM degree funding; and funding the Major Gifts matching program in statute. The requested one-time appropriation for Major Gifts also includes the Eminent Scholar Program for this funding request. The Major Gifts matching program was last funded in full in 2006 and has not been funded in any amount since 2008. It has a total backlog across the System of $283 million. The list, by university, is in the back-up materials. (Note: This is not the Courtelis matching gift program, which is in a different section of statute, and is for construction projects only.)

*The current strategic plan goes into 2013; the next one will take the System through 2025. The Strategic Planning Committee is schedule to conclude its work in this area by the end of the year. For more, see that section of this “Actions Taken,” as well as the Aug. 26 “Actions Taken” for the Strategic Planning Committee meeting, posted in the Press Room section of www.flbog.edu. Also see the “State of the System” address listed in the same spot, in January, as delivered by Board Chair Ava L. Parker. Chair Perez noted that this LBR lines up very well with Strategic Plan updates that the Board is working on this year, to build a sustainable knowledge-base Florida economy.

The committee also received an update on the universities’ ongoing work to achieve efficiencies, best practices and “shared service” initiatives System-wide. The update on the various initiatives is in the agenda back-up materials.

Chair Perez noted that the committee’s work plan, also in the agenda back-up, for the next year-plus. It includes the review of any new university market tuition rate proposals for graduate-level programs. Those are due into the Board office Sept. 28 for consideration at the November Board meeting.

From the Legislative Committee (Chair Dean Colson)

Approved the five issues as proposed for the legislative policy agenda in the 2012 Session. The committee met via conference call on Monday, and the list of issues and meeting materials are here: http://www.flbog.edu/pressroom/meeting_items.php?id=154&agenda=546

Strategic Planning Committee (from Chair Frank Martin)

The Board’s current strategic plan ends in 2013. The committee updated the full Board on its diligent work this year to create a plan through 2025. Please see the special previous meeting recap of the Strategic Planning Committee at www.flbog.edu/pressroom. At that Aug. 26 committee meeting, the discussion and votes have moved forward an updated vision statement and subsequent goals for the System around three frameworks: PREEMINENCE, COMPETITIVENESS and STRATEGIC PRIORITIES. When these conceptual frames were placed alongside the globally renown “tripartite” academic values – teaching, research and service to mission – the committee identified nine categories that will be directional goals for the System. Additional materials, primarily a high-level early draft of the new Strategic Plan, will be available at the November meeting – this will start to conclude the committee’s work this year with a final product, in addition to any new potential metrics to monitor progress on the new or updated goals and outcomes.

Dental Education Proposals: FAMU, UCF and UF all presented proposals Wednesday evening. The committee notified the Board that it will hold another committee meeting in the future to hear more advanced proposals that would include more detailed financial information, in particular. Eds: Reminder – the full Florida Dept. of Health report released earlier this year and other materials from the data-related presentations are at the June Board meeting materials on the web site. The Senate’s interim report released last week on this issue can be found here. Further, several Board members also indicating a willingness or strong desire to see formal proposals that conjoined universities’ respective concepts and leveraged resources.

USF Polytechnic Campus: Sitting as the Strategic Planning Committee, there was a presentation from the Regional Chancellor of the USF Polytechnic Campus, Dr. Marshall Goodman, and from several business and community leaders regarding their vision for becoming an independent state university. Several legislators provided remarks – Sen. JD Alexander, Rep. Seth McKeel and Rep. Kelli Stargel. Also, Rep. McKeel read a letter into the record on behalf of Rep. Denise Grimsley. The committee voted on a motion by Gov. Dean Colson to move into a due diligence evaluation period that includes financial information in more detail, along with details on precisely how a transition might take place, to be presented at the November meeting. He also asked that the USF Board of Trustees also indicate formally its position on the issue.

Finally, as part of the Strategic Plan update, several Board regulations – the legal framework for the Board’s operations – require updating or amendments to reflect today’s System operations. In an ongoing review process by the Strategic Planning Committee entitled, “Organizing the System for Success,” two regulations were voted to be noticed and one was approved for final action:

• Final Action, Amended Board Regulation 8.002, Continuing Education – provides expectations for universities as they administer and report continuing education activity across the System.
• Public Notice of Intent to Promulgate Board Regulation 8.004, Academic Program Coordination – promotes collaboration and coordination of program delivery across the System.
• Public Notice of Intent to Amend Board Regulation 8.009, Educational Sites – clarifies approval processes for campuses and other sites by delineating the responsibilities of the Board of Governors and university Boards of Trustees.

From the Academic and Student Affairs Committee (Chair Ann Duncan)

“Adult Learner Completers” Project: The committee received a presentation on a possible pilot program in the State University System for adult learner completers, a phrase utilized to describe those who have completed about 60-90 college credit hours, or more, but did not finish their four-year degrees, which typically require 120 credit hours. The reasons are many, including but not limited to financial, work-related, or health-related challenges, or other family obligations. USF and UWF presented foundational concepts. Board staff reported that initial research indicates there are about 1.9 million Floridians today who began but did not finish a four-year degree. At least and possibly more than 14,000 Floridians – since just 2004 – secured about 60-90 college credits at a public institution toward a four-year degree; to date, this has been the sub-group category that the committee has been interested to target for outreach in what could be the first phase of a pilot program, according to Chair Duncan. Another 9,000 are in the same boat but have since moved out of Florida. The Chair has previously stated that this segment of Florida’s workforce “have to be fully recognized if the State University System is to achieve its future goals for baccalaureate degree production and is to move aggressively toward a knowledge-based economy.” The committee voted to ask staff to now delve into the data more extensively and return at the November Board meeting with a plan forward for aggressively reaching these Floridians that would augment what is in place today.

Approved the consent agenda addressing both technical and degree review issues, in order to comply with new federal regulations, or align Board regulations to provisions of HB 7151 passed in the 2011 Session, along with other matters.

State University System’s Consortium for Student Health Insurance launched: The committee heard a report from the Council for Student Affairs on several issues, including the State University System’s new Consortium for Student Health Insurance. The participating institutions – the University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, University of North Florida, University of West Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University – are working to determine details of their student plans. Learn more on the consortium's web site: https://www.gallagherkoster.com/floridausystem/

Florida Student Association: The committee received a report from Gov. Michael Long, the Board member representing the Florida Student Association. He referred to several issues of the non-profit organization that are or will be posted at www.myfsa.org.

Military and veterans issues: Chair Duncan applauded the work of the universities and Board staff in continuing an ongoing push to assist military veterans and their dependents returning to or enrolled in our state universities. The System’s total unduplicated headcount for 2010-11 is 9,400 student veterans. That breaks down to veterans at 7,047; active duty at 630; and eligible dependents at 1,723. Of this total enrollment, 34 percent are enrolled in science and engineering programs, further pointing to the need and evidence of the State University System’s emerging and growing service to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) degrees.

From the Trustee Nominating Committee (Chair Mori Hosseini)

Approved appointments to two universities’ Boards of Trustees – one at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, and one to Florida International University in Miami. These appointments conclude the Board’s appointments in this cycle. The next cycle of Board of Governors appointments to trustee boards will be in 2014. The appointments are subject to Florida Senate confirmation.

UNF: Fred Franklin, Jr., a Jacksonville attorney who serves as managing director of Rogers Towers, P.A., and is a member of the firm’s litigation department. From 1995-97, Franklin served as general counsel for the City of Jacksonville and its independent agencies, including the Duval County School Board and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville University and his law degree from the University of Florida.

FIU: Gerald Grant, Jr., of Palmetto Bay, is the vice president and branch director of corporate and individual financial planning for AXA Advisors. A native of Jamaica, Grant is a past president of the FIU Alumni Association. He has previously served on the foundation boards of directors at FIU and Florida A&M University. He serves on the advisory board for FIU’s Honors College. He is a member of the 100 Black Men of South Florida and holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from FIU.

Chancellor’s Report (Frank T. Brogan)

• Medical Residency slots: Congress allotted to Florida an additional 325 medical residency slots from a national redistribution of underutilized residency slots. This is a major step forward for Florida, in that we will lose fewer graduating medical school students who must leave the state for a federally funded residency slot; often times, that means we do not have them return to practice, and that clearly affects the State’s considerable investment. The Board of Governors worked extensively with medical school deans, university Boards of Trustees and many others for nearly a year making our case to Congress.
• Higher Education Coordinating Council: The first draft of recommendations – which are due by Dec. 31 to the Legislature, Board of Governors and the State Board of Education – has been completed. More info is posted at www.floridahighereducation.org. The next meeting of the HECC is in October, see the web site.
• Florida Trend: Board members have at their seats a copy of the business magazine issue from this summer. The cover story is about higher education, and there are a dozen or so separate articles that truly capture some of the achievements of Florida’s colleges and universities, and lay out some of the great questions ahead of us. It is very timely reading.
• Board of Governors staff: We have started a national search for our next Chief Academic Officer with the departure of Dorothy Minear, Ph.D., and a proclamation was presented to her at the Board of Governors meeting for her 20 years of service.

General Presentations: The Board heard presentations from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, two organizations that have a statutory relationship with the State University System and work in collaboration with a number of our institutions. Dr. Ken Ford is the founder and CEO of the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition; researchers there and in the collaboration pioneer technologies aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. Dr. William Dalton has served as President and CEO of Moffitt since 2002.

“National Trends in Higher Education”: Chancellor Brogan made remarks on this issue. (Eds: Reminder – a full media archive for video and audio is posted to our web site soon after each Board meetings.) Some but not all items presented included the importance of STEM degrees across the nation, and that all states are attempting to increase their STEM outputs aggressively. The quality of degree programs in light of state budget reductions is a critical balance that needs to occur as well. Further, the business community continues to declare how important it is to have graduates not just in certain degree areas but with a good deal of critical thinking skills as well. The Chancellor indicated that while our focus right now is appropriately on increasing STEM degree production, that we continue to recall the importance of all other academic degree programs, and that they have critical thinking skills as well in their curricula. Right now, the State University System of Florida is third-highest in the nation for STEM bachelor’s degree outputs (see chart below), although all states are aggressively pursuing STEM-focused growth programs of varying types, so “competition” will remain intense.

National Comparison of STEM Bachelor's Degrees by University Governing Systems (Top 15 by Number of Bachelor's Degrees Awarded)

Source: IPEDS.

After extensive dialogue among Board members, Chair Parker asked the Chancellor to develop a list of ideas and policies that exist in other states along with the potential pro’s and con’s if the items aren’t already in place in the State University System of Florida. This will be presented to the Board at its November meeting. It was noted that many of the items or goals may exist already in the Strategic Plan update discussions.

Meeting adjourned.

Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Board of Governors will be held in Boca Raton, Nov. 9-10.

About the State University System of Florida
The State University System of Florida is governed by a 17-member Board of Governors, a constitutional body and led by appointed public servants. The System is comprised of 11 institutions with a total enrollment of more than 320,000 students, making it the fourth-largest public university system in the nation in terms of enrollment (some states have more than one university system). The Florida Constitution (Article IX, Section 7) was amended by the state's voters in 2002 to establish a statewide system of governance for all Florida public universities. As a result, the Florida Board of Governors was created in 2003 to oversee the State University System of Florida. Responsibilities include defining the distinctive mission of each institution and ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the System. The Board’s 17 members include 14 appointed by the Governor, with three serving by virtue of their designations (a faculty member, a Florida Student Association student representative, and the Florida Commissioner of Education). The Board of Governors appoints a Chancellor who serves as the chief executive and administrative officer of the State University System. For more, including the Board’s Annual Report that reflects accountability measurements and benchmarks occurring at each institution, see www.flbog.edu.