Trustees consider environmental engineering degree, pediatrics discipline

The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees will consider approval of a new bachelor's degree in environmental engineering and a pediatrics discipline within the College of Medicine when it meets Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

The Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering degree program would join three current undergraduate engineering programs — computer, electrical and mechanical. The high-demand program is designed to meet the need for highly qualified environmental engineering professionals in Michigan and beyond.

The pediatrics discipline, the fourth academic discipline within the CMU College of Medicine, will work in conjunction with a proposed five-year academic affiliation between CMU and University Pediatricians, also on the agenda for consideration of the CMU Board of Trustees. The affiliation would expand the existing educational relationship between the two entities by providing clinical education faculty appointments to clinical physicians engaged in educational or research-related activities supportive of the CMU College of Medicine's mission.

In other matters, trustees will consider approval of the acquisition of public broadcasting radio station WFCX-FM. The station, located in Traverse City, Michigan, is being sold by Northern Michigan Radio Inc.

Mary Martinez, CMU's interim executive director of the Office of Civil Rights and Institutional Equity, also will present to the board during its formal session on the results of a campus climate survey conducted last spring.

Also on the agenda for the last meeting of 2019:

• Authorization of 2020-21 deferred maintenance projects.
• Election of the Board of Trustees' 2020 officers.
• Approval of 1,750 December graduates.

In addition, the following committee meetings will be open to the university community and the general public on Wednesday. Agenda highlights include:

• Policy and Bylaws Committee — 12:45 to 12:55 p.m. — Trustees will discuss amendments to their bylaws.
• Enterprise Risk — Provost Mary C. Schutten and Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services Barrie Wilkes will present on the university's updated risk matrix. Trustees also will hear from Martinez on Title IX and sexual misconduct risk and Chief of Police Larry Klaus on campus safety and security.
• Academic and Student Affairs — 2 to 3 p.m. — Provost Schutten will update the board on the President's and Provost's Fund for Innovation. The board also will hear about the Center for Charter Schools from the center's executive director, Corey Northrop, and College of Education and Human Services Dean Betty Kirby. Tony Voisin, interim vice president for enrollment and student services, and Lee Furbeck, executive director of admissions, will present on the enrollment dashboard. 
• Finance and Facilities — 3:05 to 4:05 p.m. — Updates on capital projects and a FEMA grant for south campus mitigation projects will be presented by Jonathan Webb, associate vice president for facilities management.
• Trustees-Faculty Liaison — 4:10 to 5 p.m. — A presentation will be given by Heather Trommer Beardslee, a faculty member in the Department of Theatre and Dance. The committee also will discuss how faculty can play a role in two strategic envisioning pathways related to interdisciplinary programs and pathways for transfer students.
• Trustees-Student Liaison — 5:10 to 6 p.m. — Student Government Association President Jake Hendricks; Madison Mariles from Program Board; and Mary St. John, director of the Residence Housing Association, will update trustees on their fall semester efforts. Three students also will present on the CMU Student Food Pantry.

All meetings are in the President's Conference Room of the Bovee University Center; public seating is in the adjoining Lake Superior Room.

Agendas and schedules for the December meetings are available on the Board of Trustees website.