Board of Regents fall quarterly meeting Sept. 27-28 at Dyersburg State. Agenda includes reports on enrollment, graduation rates, Drive to 55 degree targets

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold its fall quarterly meeting Sept. 27-28 at Dyersburg State Community College. The agenda includes updates and reports on fall semester enrollments, community college graduation rates, Drive to 55 degree and certificate targets, legislative priorities, system budget requests and a new digital engagement initiative that will offer students digital textbooks at lower costs.

The Board’s committees will meet Thursday, Sept. 27, starting at 11 a.m., and the full Board meeting convenes at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Sept.28, following a 9 a.m. presentation by Dyersburg State President Karen Bowyer and Youlanda Jones, President of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology campuses at Covington, Ripley and Newbern. Dyersburg State, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is located at 1510 Lake Road, Dyersburg, TN 38024. Complete committee and Board agendas and materials are online at: https://www.tbr.edu/board/september-quarterly-board-meeting-0. The Board and committee meetings (except for the Economic and Community Development Committee) will be livestreamed, and later archived, on the same website.

Schedule of meetings:

Thursday, Sept. 27:

11 a.m. to noon, in the DSCC Security Bank Community Learning Center’s Terrace Room:

• Economic & Community Development Committee

1 p.m. and continuing consecutively through the afternoon, in the Campus Activities Building’s First Citizens National Bank Auditorium:

• Academic Policies, Programs and Student Success Committee.
• Finance and Business Operations Committee.
• Personnel and Compensation Committee.
• External Affairs Committee.
• REVISED: Special called, non-public, executive session of the Audit Committee, in the DSCC Security Bank Community Learning Center's Terrace Room.

Friday, Sept. 28, in the Campus Activities Building’s First Citizens National Bank Auditorium:

• 9 a.m: Welcome and Presentation
• 9:30 a.m: Tennessee Board of Regents quarterly meeting

The reports on fall semester enrollments, community college graduation rates and Tennessee Promise students will be presented at the Academic Policies, Programs and Student Success Committee meeting on Thursday. The committee will also consider academic program additions, modifications and terminations, including a proposed new Associate of Applied Science degree program in Funeral Service Education at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis. If approved, it will be the first program of its kind offered at a public college in Tennessee. There are also proposals for eight new programs at six different colleges of applied technology.

At the full Board meeting on Sept. 28, Regents will receive an update on degree and credential targets for the College System under the state’s Drive to 55 initiative, the goal of which is for at least 55 percent of working-age Tennesseans to earn a college degree or certificate by 2025.

The Board will hear a presentation on the College System’s study abroad program for community college students, offered through the Tennessee Consortium on International Studies. Study abroad is one of the system’s High Impact Practices for student success. The Board will also consider a request from Walters State Community College to rename the college’s Greeneville/Greene County Campus to the Walters State Niswonger Campus in honor of philanthropist Scott Niswonger.

The Finance and Business Operations Committee’s agenda includes a review of the system’s budget requests for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2019. If approved, the requests will be submitted to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, which will review budget requests by all the state’s colleges and universities before making a recommendation to the governor later this fall. The committee will also hear a status report of a new Digital Engagement Initiative, which will make lower-cost digital textbooks more easily available to students during registration if they choose

The External Affairs Committee’s agenda includes a discussion of legislative priorities for the General Assembly’s 2019 session and an update on the system’s awards symposium tentatively planned for March 2019.

The Personnel and Compensation Committee’s agenda includes consideration of institutional compensation plans.

The Economic and Community Development Committee will review the College System’s role in the state’s economic development efforts.

The Board and committee meetings, except for the Audit Committee's executive session, are open to the public. Contact Board Secretary Sonja Mason at sonja.mason@tbr.edu or 615-366-3927 by noon Sept. 26 for access accommodations.