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In his report to the Board of Curators at its March 24 meeting in Rolla, University of Missouri President Elson S. Floyd gave an overview of recent initiatives at the University.
During a board development session, curators heard a presentation on capital plans and the master plan for University of Missouri Health Care. Jim Ross, chief executive officer of UM Health Care, emphasized that the three-phase master plan is still a work in progress.
Additional board sessions focused on the role of faculty in shared governance and on student organizations.
A final session discussed economic development efforts at UM-Columbia and UM-Rolla. The session focused on “how we can leverage the resources that are entrusted to us and making sure that we are doing all that we possibly can,” Floyd said.
“The University is continuing to focus on ways of being more accountable and efficient in what we do,” Floyd said.
He noted that preliminary planning on each campus regarding administrative streamlining is underway. At its December 2005 meeting, Floyd told the board he wanted to reduce the University’s administrative costs by 10 percent, or a total of about $12.5 million, in order to redirect funds to instruction, research and service.
Floyd also mentioned the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt. The initiative would take assets generated by the sale of a portion of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority’s loans and use the funds to support endowed scholarships and professorships, capital improvements for higher education institutions, and other economic development and higher education initiatives.
“The initiative is very important as we try to build our physical plant capacity within the University. In addition we also must strengthen the intellectual capacity of our institution, as reflected in the endowed scholarships and professorships,” he said. “Scholarships ensure that we are recruiting the best and brightest students, and the professorships ensure that we are adding to the quality of what we do.”
The initiative continues to progress through the legislative process. The University is continuing to work in an active way in that process, Floyd said.
Floyd also praised UM-Rolla Chancellor Jack Carney for his leadership of the campus. “We have seen just a snippet of what happens in that remarkable institution, this technological university,” he said. “ Academic excellence permeates throughout all that UMR does.”