There were none. 

D. Irving welcomed new student Trustee Crystal Aneke.

President Lapidus presented his goal performance for the 2018-2019 academic year. He highlighted a couple of items such as the clean financial audit and a slightly reduced structural deficit. He expressed his appreciation to Vice President J. Bry and the financial team.

He discussed the state audit and its focus on ADA compliance. There was a minor finding regarding the recording of attendance of personnel at training sessions which he indicated had already been addressed. He indicated that all departments involved did an outstanding job during a very thorough process and thanked all involved.

He mentioned that Academic Affairs has been quite busy. New programs have been added, the Library has done a great job of rethinking the book collection and that a significant effort was put into the Ebooks collection.

He informed the board of the awarding of a PIF grant that focuses on Latino male academic success. He indicated that Latino males currently are the lowest academic performers. The university has work intentionally hard to integrate the activities of Student Affairs with Academic Affairs. He also noted the addition of Title IX Director was added to support HR. There was a discussion.

President Lapidus presented his goals for the next academic year. He noted two bigger initiatives for the coming year including the development of a five-year strategic plan and a major redesign of the university website. There was a discussion.

President Lapidus discussed the new dynamic forms project. He said that the university moves a tremendous amount of paper and discussed the challenges associated with the routing of paper forms. The university purchased forms software that will allow for the creation of electronic forms that can accommodate encrypted signatures and monitor routing. He stated the project will allow for the review of the forms themselves and the appropriateness of routing as they are being recreated. Five forms in high use areas were selected as test subjects and then more forms will be rolled out more widely on campus. Information technology is providing the expertise on this initiative.

President Lapidus informed the board of the migration from Outlook to Google mail. The Information Technology Department has been testing behind the scenes to see how accurately information moves from one tool to the other and all is going smoothly thus far. The campus is excited about this because Google has more robust and powerful features.

The president stated that our telephone supplier is no longer going to support the software that makes our phone system work. Over the next year we will install new phones. This is a significant expense but the campus has no choice.

President Lapidus informed the board of the tremendous number of cyber-attacks the university receives every day. The campus provides continual training in this area and is investing in tools to detect and deflect attacks. The campus will slowly be moving to two-factor authentication. There was a discussion.

M. Siderwicz, Executive Director of Marketing and Integrated Communications, presented a PowerPoint that provided samples of the new website design. She stated that the new website will responsive which the current one is not. The new website is designed to be more interactive and we will be informed through the use of user testing exercises. There was a discussion.
 

President Lapidus explained this Technology Fee Trust Fund vote is based on the need for a word change. When this fund was created, it was designed to refresh the labs. Last year when the board approved the new technology fees its intent was slightly boarder, so the title change and usage need to be consistent thus the requested change. There are no changes in the technology fee amount.

The president explained the vote. He explained that the Foundation and the Supporting Organization buy property that are purchased through a loan and now we would like to move that property to the state and repay the loan. Chairman Irving explained the relationship of the Supporting Organization and the university, the state and the funding that flows through all these entities.

The personnel actions were submitted for informational purposes. There was a discussion on nursing faculty salaries and the competitiveness of the hiring process.

Chairman Irving discussed the committee assignments. He asked that any board member that wanted to serve on a particular committee to let him know. 

The Chairman next reported that the Trustee Statewide Conference traditionally held in the spring is now scheduled this fall. He urged board members to attend.  He also noted the Trustee Orientation open to all board members. 

President Lapidus reported that the opening of fall semester went very smoothly. The move-in of students is well organized. The investment in the moving bins with wheels and having the athletes helping to move students in their rooms is a tremendous help. The campus held a successful orientation program for new students. The new faculty participated in an orientation as well.

He next reported a downturn in enrollment. He stated that the campus is down about 230 (approximately 130 new students and about 100 returning students.) He stated that the Commissioner reported that the system is down somewhere between 6-13% depending on the campus. The campus has made adjustments to the budget in anticipation of enrollment reduction. Implications on residence hall occupancy were also discussed. F. O’Donnell suggested a 3-year degree program as an alternative. There was a discussion. Also, alternative program ideas were discussed and reality of launching initiatives given processes and requirements of the state.

 

The president informed the board of the procedure for the next 5-Year Strategic Planning process. The process started with an exercise with the help from EAB who are very well respected. Commissioner Santiago visited the campus and addressed the faculty and staff. He provided the Department of Higher Education's perspective. The Commissioner presented the equity agenda as its focal priority. Student composition is changing and it is important to understand and better meet the needs of the changing population. During his visit, the Commissioner explained the performance gaps between the different student populations. The Strategic Plan this time will remain autonomous, but will have more directive from the Department of Higher Education. There will be more formalized “touchpoints” and the process will be more formalized. Theme committees approved through faculty governance will be created and balanced to include faculty, staff, students and community members.

President Lapidus stated that board members will be asked to participate. There is no formal deadline for the completion of the strategic plan, but he hopes it will be completed in approximately one year.

The president discussed the various events in celebration of the 125th Anniversary of Fitchburg State. The programming will be throughout the year, and it will be a great opportunity to look back and tell important stories about the past and think about building opportunities for the future.

President Lapidus formally thanked Anna Clementi and the Clementi Family Charitable Trust for their generous gift in support of student international travel. The $1 million gift serve will generations of students to come. It will also serve as a valuable recruiting tool that further differentiates the campus. A. Clementi stated the hope is for the students who do not have the option to travel internationally will now have that opportunity.

 

President Lapidus reported that the Police Academy graduation will be held on Sept. 13 at 3:30 p.m. There will be 9 students graduating. The next cohort will be composed of approximately 40 students. The program continues to receive strong support from local municipalities and policing agencies. On Oct. 3 the campus will host Jeff Selingo. He has written about higher education for two decades. He is the author of three books, a contributing writer at the Washington Post and The Atlantic, and a professor of practice and special advisor at Arizona State University. All board members are invited to a meet and greet with Jeff Selingo. The university will be holding three open houses this fall. The Holiday Gathering is scheduled on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 3:30 p.m. in the Falcon Hub.

The annual Conflict of Interest Form was distributed for completion. 

The news articles were presented for information purposes. 

The president informed the board of the new parcel box pickup system. There was a brief discussion.