Dear Colleagues:

It gives me great pleasure to invite you to participate in three upcoming events!

• Faculty and Staff Holiday Open House – Wednesday, December 14
  I invite you to “kick up your heels” and celebrate the holidays at the annual Faculty and Staff Holiday Open House scheduled for December 14 from 2:30-5:00 p.m.  This year’s open house will be held in the lovely and historic Kirk Memorial, and I hope to see all of you there! An official invitation will be shared with campus later today.
• Fall Commencement – Saturday, December 17
  Our 2016 Fall Commencement Ceremony is scheduled for December 17 at 11:00 a.m. in Pershing Arena.  Brandon Sorbom, a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the lead author of the ARC Reactor design study, a student-led conceptual design for a small, modular fusion pilot plant, will be our Commencement speaker.  As you will remember, Brandon was the Commencement Speaker at our 2016 Spring Ceremony where his remarks were unfortunately cut short due to a heavy rain storm.
• Casual Dress and Departmental Food Exchange Days
  Monday thru Wednesday, December 19-21, are designated as Casual Dress Days, and our Department Food Exchange Day will be held on Wednesday, December 21.  Those offices not celebrating the department food exchange day are more than welcome to join the President’s Office celebration!

While writing, I also wanted to provide a report on the Truman State University Board of Governors meeting held on campus on Saturday under the leadership of Board Chair Sarah Burkemper.  The Board elected officers and assigned committee membership for the 2017 calendar year.  New officers who will take office for a term of one year commencing at the first regular meeting of the calendar year are Chair, Mike LaBeth; Vice Chair, Cheryl Cozette; and Secretary, Laura Crandall.

Co-Chairs of the Committee to Develop a University Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence and the Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan Implementation Committee were present to report on the work of both committees.  Within the Board’s committee meetings, the members received updates on the work of the Next Steps Teams, the Truman Portfolio and Multi-State Collaborative, the Student Conduct Code revision process, and on-campus construction projects in addition to reviewing various financial reports.

In regard to action items, the Board approved housing and food plan charges effective with the 2017 Fall Semester.  The housing and food plan charges will remain very competitive with area institutions, and the overall increase is 1% with the typical room rate and food plan combined.  The Board approved the Stadium Track and Field Project, a project which will replace the existing football field turf (installed in 2008), rebuild the existing artificial surface track (originally constructed in 1996), and replace the Stokes Stadium Press Box (built in 1962).  The project is funded by the student athletic fee, the Plant Fund, and donations from Truman alumni and friends.  The Board discussed the scope and tentative budget for the University Residence Project, and the members officially put into their Code of Policies the University Strategic Plan which was approved at their October meeting.  Finally, the Board approved faculty sabbaticals for the 2017-18 Academic Year, and a listing of the faculty members approved for sabbaticals for the coming year are as follows:

2017-2018 Academic Year
Timothy Farley, Professor of French
Huping Ling, Professor of History
Samuel Ling, Professor of Physics

2017 Fall Semester
George Shinn, Professor of Biology

2018 Spring Semester
Andrew Klyukovski, Professor of Communication
David Murphy, Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Matthew Tornatore, Professor of Foreign Languages

A copy of the open session agenda can be found on the Board of Governors website located at http://www.truman.edu/about/our-people/board-of-governors/board-of-governors-agendas/.  The next regular meeting of the Board of Governors is scheduled for Saturday, February 4, 2016.

Wishing you a fantastic end to your semester,

Sue