



Memorandum

 

TO:                 Hendrix Faculty and Staff

FROM:           President Cloyd

SUBJECT:      February Trustee meeting

DATE:            February 20, 2008

 

During its winter meeting, the Hendrix Board of Trustees took important actions that will move the College closer to its goal of being recognized as a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences education. The Trustees:

*      Approved plans for a new Student Life and Technology Center (SLTC) to be constructed on the former site of Grove Gymnasium and authorized signing a contract with Nabholz Construction. We expect to see activity on the site in the next two or three weeks and to complete the building in the fall of 2009. Our goal is to move into the new SLTC during Christmas break and to start serving students at the beginning of the spring 2010 semester. 

*         For more details about the building, Visit the Web site: http://www.hendrix.edu/construction/construction.aspx?id=1934 <http://www.hendrix.edu/construction/construction.aspx?id=1934> . 

*         Plans for a ground-breaking ceremony will be announced soon.

*      Mandated that the Senior Staff of the College address the issues raised in the Art & Science study. The report identifies five areas that hold great potential for student enrollment and retention. The following five areas will be the focus of long-term institutional planning requiring the active involvement of all faculty and staff:

*         Creating Odyssey 2.0

*         Making Hendrix?s strength in the natural sciences visible from a great distance

*         Increasing breadth and depth of the College?s curriculum

*         Improving social life, particularly off campus

*         Considering adjustments to price and aid strategy

*      Approved a 6.5% increase in tuition as well as adjustments in the costs of various housing and meal plans for the 2008-09 academic year. Current students have been notified of the increase.  

*         Tuition will increase to $21,360 for students entering before Fall 2005 and to $25,780 for students entering in Fall 2005 or later.

*         The increase is in line with what other colleges and universities are charging in response to rising operating expenses. Hendrix expects to remain at No. 10 in order of tuition cost, beginning with the most expensive, on the list of 16 member institutions in the Associated College of the South.

*      Approved a combined bachelor of arts and master of public health degree program between Hendrix and the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Expect a public announcement of this exciting new program in the next few weeks. We anticipate that students will be able to enter the program in Fall 2008.

*      Amended the Charter of Hendrix College to change the criteria for selecting 10 representatives of the United Methodist Church as Trustees. Currently, the 10 UMC representatives are required to be ministers in full connection with the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Under the new provisions, five Trustees will be ministerial members of the Arkansas Conference and the other five will be UMC lay or clergy members from Arkansas or other states. The amendment will be presented to the Arkansas Conference in June for ratification. 

*      Approved new criteria for awarding distinguished professorships, including new opportunities for those holding distinguished professorships to receive compensation adjustments and research funding. The new language will appear in the faculty handbook.

*      Approved the criteria for awarding Odyssey Professorships, including language added in response to the Art & Science report to enhance the Odyssey Program through encouraging collaborative work among faculty members holding these endowed professorships.

*      Heard an update from Dr. Chuck Chappell ?64 and Trustee Marty Rhodes ?73, chairs of the committee studying the feasibility of adding NCAA-Division III (non-scholarship) football as an intercollegiate sport at Hendrix. The report outlined the research the committee is currently conducting. The committee anticipates reporting the results of its research to the Trustees by the board?s May 2008 meeting. 

