by Becky St. Clair

The first item addressed in the President’s report was the issue of diversity. The current trend is a reduction in the number of white students at Andrews University, while the number of Asian and Hispanic international students is rising.

The President also reported that in the Midwest half of all private colleges and universities and one third of public colleges and universities did not reach their enrollment and budget expectations this year. Trends are the same across the country but less pronounced. This could possibly be related to the fact that the number of high school and academy graduates in the country is dropping, particularly in the Midwest and East.

Randy Graves, vice president for enrollment management, spoke to the board about initiatives to give the recruitment team an edge in attracting students. One is to reward students for finishing their degree in four years, and another is to give transfer students a similar financial aid option to what freshmen are offered. An important initiative that was completed in November was installing an accurate, up-to-date cost calculator on the Andrews website. The University’s commitment is to get more information out earlier so parents and students can determine their bottom line sooner.

A report from the audit committee included no corrections or complaints from the auditors.

Although tuition during summer sessions in 2013 put budget a couple hundred thousand dollars ahead, fall enrollment patterns put it behind. Andreasen pointed out that the bigger challenge to operations this year is that health benefits are above budget by several hundred thousand dollars. The enrollment budget for 2015 will be built on 98 percent of the current year. Tuition and fees will increase by three percent, the smallest increase proposed in the last five years, and Church support will increase by two percent at the General Conference level and one percent at the North American Division level. To achieve the board requirement of increasing operating expenses budget by 3.3 percent, Andrews will reduce expenses by $900,000 across campus next year.

The Governance Committee updated their bylaws to reflect changes in procedures.

The Academic Committee shared information on two new degrees: a Doctor of Missiology in the seminary focused on missions abroad and a Bachelor of Science in music through the College of Arts & Sciences.

Finally, Larry Schalk, vice president for financial administration, shared preliminary designs for the health and wellness center, developed by committees with help from the architecture program at Andrews. Though its proposed interior and exterior designs are preliminary, its location has been determined to be northwest of the Howard Performing Arts Center and south of PMC.

The second part of the wellness initiative is more mission driven and less to do with the facility, involving things like food service, the exterior campus environment and hiring a wellness advocate.

Current funding for the wellness center totals just over $11 million, and conversations are in progress regarding another $3 million. Additional commitments totaling in the hundreds of thousands were made during the board meeting.

The board also voted the following faculty and staff appointments:

Staff Appointments
Lori Abbot, course manager, School of Distance Education; Lilian Akawobsa, employment/benefits manager, Office of Human Resources; Eric Paddock, interim Gymnics coach, School of Health Professions; Becky St. Clair, media communications manager, Integrated Marketing & Communication

Faculty Appointments
College of Arts & Sciences
Twyla Smith, assistant professor, Department of Social Work
School of Health Professions
Beverly Sedlacek, assistant professor, Department of Nursing
Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
Petr Cincala, director, Institute of Church Ministry and assistant professor, Department of World Mission; Oliver Glanz, assistant professor, Department of Old Testament

Change in Position
Karen Benjamin, accreditation coordinator, Department of Graduate Psychology & Counseling; Ashleigh Burtnett, enrollment counselor, Undergraduate Enrollment; Steven Huset, ALC content manager, School of Distance Education; Jason Kidder, retail manager, Office of Dining Services; Benjamin Panigot, assistant director, Office of Campus Safety; Joseph Shoemate, production manager, Office of Dining Services; Ivan Sierra-Rivera, patrol lieutenant, Office of Campus Safety; Michelle Wallis, compliance lieutenant, Office of Campus Safety; Stephen Yeagley, assistant vice president, Student Life

Promotion in Rank
College of Arts & Sciences
Alina Baltazar, assistant professor, Department of Social Work; Marcella Myers, chair, Department of History & Political Science
Department of Agriculture
Thomas Chittick, professor emeritus
Department of Aviation
Duane Habenicht, chair
Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
John Baldwin, professor emeritus; Fernando Canale, professor emeritus; Tom Evans, assistant professor, Christian Ministry; Paul Z Gregor, chair, Old Testament; James North, professor emeritus