Board of Regents to meet Sept. 23-24. Agenda includes campus parking and traffic fines, dual-enrollment tuition, budget and capital outlay requests, criteria for next president of TCAT Nashville.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will meet for its regular fall quarterly session Sept. 23-24, 2021. Agenda items include consideration of campus parking and traffic fines, dual-enrollment tuition rates, budget and capital outlay requests for fiscal year 2022-23, and criteria for the next president of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Nashville.

The Board’s committees will meet Thursday, Sept. 23, starting at 8 a.m. CT with the Academic Policies and Programs and Student Success Committee and continuing consecutively through the Finance and Business Operations Committee, Workforce Development Committee, Personnel and Compensation Committee, and the External Affairs Committee.

The full Board of Regents will convene at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 24. The Board and committee meetings will be held virtually via teleconferencing and live-streamed and archived on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/board/september-2021-quarterly-meeting. Anyone needing accommodations may contact Board Secretary Sonja Mason at sonja.mason@tbr.edu or 615-366-3927 by 4 p.m. Sept. 22.

Complete agendas, an executive summary and Board materials are posted at the link above. The Board governs the state’s public community colleges and colleges of applied technology comprising the College System of Tennessee.

In accordance with TBR policy and a pending rule, the Committee on Finance and Business Operations and the Board will review and consider proposed parking and traffic fines from the community colleges from $10 to $50 for various moving and non-moving offenses.

Following state legislative action that changed state grants for up to four dual enrollment courses per student from a fixed rate to equal the cost of in-state tuition and mandatory fees, the committee and the Board will also consider eliminating a dual enrollment course fee effective with the Spring 2022 semester. If approved, regular tuition and fees would be charged for dual enrollment courses (to be covered by the state grants).

The Finance and Business Operations Committee and the Board will also consider state funding requests for priorities not covered by the higher education funding formula, which if approved will be submitted to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission for possible inclusion in the overall higher education budget request. The requests are for an ongoing safety and security initiative at the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs), student success support at the TCATs, and an initiative to enhance student success and workforce development across the system, including a Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning and student success technologies.

The committee and the Board will also consider the system’s capital outlay (construction and major renovation) proposals for the fiscal year 2022-23 budget cycle.

The Board will consider search criteria for the next president of TCAT Nashville, following the death earlier this month of President Mark Lenz, who served as the college’s chief executive officer since 2009.

Other items on the Board and committee agendas include proposed new career and technical education programs at the TCATs; reports on the system’s Open Education Resources initiative to reduce the costs of textbooks and other materials for students, student success metrics for the 2020-21 academic year, and Fall 2021 enrollment; a resolution authorizing Name, Image and Likeness compensation procedures for student athletes; executive incentive pay; legislative priorities for 2022; a resolution of appreciation for Dr. Jerry Faulkner, who retired Aug. 31 as president of Volunteer State Community College, and election of a new board secretary to succeed Sonja F. Mason, who is retiring later this fall after nearly 21 years of service. (Complete, detailed agendas and materials are posted online at the link above.)

The College System of Tennessee is the state’s largest public higher education system, with 13 community colleges, 24 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus serving approximately 140,000 students. The system is governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents.

Meeting/Event Information
September 2021 - Quarterly Meeting