USNH Board of Trustees Newsletter
E-News
From The USNH Board of Trustees
April 12, 2002
KSC Visit…. The University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees made a two day visit to the campus of Keene State College this week (April 11-12). They began their visit with a Thursday morning business meeting at Rhodes Hall. Following the meeting they convened at the Thorne Sagendorph Art Gallery for a day long discussion, “USNH: What is it; what should it be?”
Nominating Committee…. Board Chairman John Lynch has appointed Trustee Walter Peterson to once again serve as the Chairman of the Nominating Committee that will be charged with bringing a slate of officers to the Board at its annual meeting in June. Trustees Merle Schotanus and John Crosier will join Peterson on the committee.
UNH Presidential Search…. Trustee Crosier is also the Chairman of the UNH Presidential Search Committee. In his report to the Board on Thursday, he indicated that his committee met in Durham on Wednesday night, April 10, to view input from the various constituencies that had met with the candidates. He also reported that candidate Jon Whitmore, provost at the University of Iowa, had withdrawn his candidacy from consideration. Crosier said that the committee will now offer the names of two candidates to Chancellor Reno and Chairman Lynch for their consideration. They will then make a decision and begin negotiations with whichever finalist is selected. While the timetable is not fixed, Crosier is hopeful that the process will conclude by the end of next week. At that time a special meeting of the Board of Trustees will be convened to confirm the candidate. Chairman Lynch praised the committee and their support staff for their “countless” hours of work that they have put into the search.
Transferability of Credits… As a result of conversation between Chancellor Reno and John O’Donnell, Commissioner of the Community Technical College System, the Transferability of Credits Committee will resume work on the issue. “The committee will carry on the work begun by Walter Peterson’s committee,” said Chancellor Reno. “This group will have responsibility for monitoring the issue of transferability of credits, as well as its website and publications,” he added.
Capital Projects…The system office is in the process of working on the Capital Appropriations Budget, which is due to the stay at the beginning of May.
Technology… CLL President Thomas Rocco has also agreed to assume the chairmanship of the Technology Committee previously chaired by former President Victor Montana. In following the 2002 goals set down by the board, the committee will oversee the (1) completion of the implementation of USNH’s Long Range Technology Plan; (2) the assessment of distributed learning capacity and identify strategic investment areas; and (3) will explore a distributed learning consortium with the community technical colleges and K-12.
NSA Grant…..Chancellor Reno also reported that the University System has submitted a letter of intent to the National Science Foundation to apply for funds for a math-science partnership grant. With nearly 400 applications, it will be an extremely competitive process. “It will be important that we not only secure these funds from NSA, it is equally important that we are doing so as a system. This is a ‘natural compliment’ to the $100M KEEP-NH appropriation we received last year,” said the chancellor. “Those were ‘bricks & mortar’ dollars and now were are going for ‘program’ dollars in the area of math and science.”
Director of Policy & Development….Chancellor Reno also welcomed the new Director of Policy & Development, Dr. Mendy Spencer. She is currently the Director of Program Review at Northwestern University. She will join the Chancellor’s Senior Staff on June 1.
Business Meeting….. During their business meeting, the Trustees also received nominations for the Granite State Awards conferred by the Board each year. The award recognizes leaders of business, industry, agriculture, trade associations, and labor organizations, teachers in high or preparatory schools, and citizens whose achievements in their own particular spheres have been outstanding for contributions they have made to New Hampshire.
Celebration… In the afternoon the Trustees attended a celebration ceremony for the establishment of the Safety Simulation Center and Construction Safety Center at the college. Keene State College offers New Englands only year-round program awarding a bachelors degree in safety studies.
KSC Employee Meetings….On the morning of Friday, April 12, the Trustees met with various KSC employee groups. According to Board Chairman John Lynch, this is an extremely important aspect of the Boards visit to any of the campuses. The Trustees are very interested in what our employees have to say about their campuses and their jobs and how we might make the University System more efficient, said Lynch. Our past meetings with employee groups have been very informative to the Trustees and these informal meetings have often resulted in positive change throughout the system, Lynch added.
Annual Meeting…. The Board of Trustees Annual Meeting will be held on June 27 on the campus of UNH.
