TBR to Meet in Regular Quarterly Session Sept. 15-16 in Chattanooga

The Tennessee Board of Regents will meet in its regular quarterly session on Sept. 15 and 16 at Chattanooga State Community College in Chattanooga.

Major items on the Board’s agenda include the proposed TBR system and capital budget requests for fiscal year 2017-18, which include major construction and renovation projects on TBR campuses; the preliminary enrollment report for the current fall semester; presentation of a new AT&T scholarship program, and a report on campus safety and security recommendations by a TBR task force.

Committee meetings will begin Thursday, Sept. 15, at 1 p.m. EDT and run consecutively all afternoon. The full Board of Regents convenes at 9:30 a.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 16. Meetings will be held in the auditorium of the Bond Humanities Building on the campus of Chattanooga State, 4501 Amnicola Highway. Committees will meet in this order: Workforce Development, Academic Policies and Programs, Personnel and Compensation, and Finance and Business Operations.

Much of the Board’s detailed work is done in the committees, then presented to the full Board for action or review through approval of the minutes of the committee sessions.

For example, the Committee on Finance and Business Operations will receive the TBR staff’s recommendation of the fiscal year 2017-18 capital budget, with details on proposed campus construction projects, on Thursday afternoon. The full Board will act on the proposed capital budget by considering the committee’s minutes the next day.

Similarly, the preliminary fall enrollment update will be presented on Thursday to the Academic Policies and Programs Committee.

Other items on the full Board’s agenda Friday include an update on the TBR system’s progress toward its student completion goals, part of the state’s Drive to 55 initiative, and approval of 2017 meeting dates.

Highlights of Thursday’s committee meetings include:

* Committee on Workforce Development: a report on job placement rates of recent community college graduates.

* Committee on Academic Policies and Programs: a proposed new bachelor's degree program in religious studies at Middle Tennessee State University, a  report on 2015-16 graduation counts, the preliminary fall enrollment update.

* Committee on Personnel and Compensation: recommendation for a minor revision to TBR policy on firearms and other weapons.

* Committee on Finance and Business Operations: presentation of capital budget recommendations and TBR budget requests to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

Full, detailed agendas for the Board and committee meetings and meeting materials are available to download on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/board/september-2016-quarterly-board-meeting. The meetings will be live-streamed and archived there as well.

All meetings are open to the public and media as observers. Those planning to attend should contact TBR interim communications director Rick Locker at rick.locker@tbr.edu or 615-366-4417 by noon, Wednesday Sept. 14 to facilitate security access. Anyone with a disability who needs services to facilitate attendance should contact Locker by noon Wednesday to request the services.