Deloitte review team comes to campus week of March 24

A team from Deloitte Consulting is scheduled to be on campus March 24-28* as part of the "listen and learn" first phase of a review of Iowa's three regent universities. The team will visit Iowa City March 31-April 4 and Cedar Falls April 7-11, announced regent Larry McKibben at the state Board of Regents' March 12 meeting at the University of Iowa.

McKibben chairs the board's Efficiency and Transformation Review Committee, which last month selected the Deloitte group to conduct an efficiency review of each of the universities and the three schools as a system. He said the week will include a campus forum, to be led by President Steven Leath, and meetings with "campus stakeholders, to listen and learn."

"We look for our university presidents to be leaders in this process," McKibben said. "They'll set the tone for people getting involved."

Leath's chief of staff Miles Lackey is Iowa State's representative to the review committee.

McKibben said the efficiency review "is not out taking money from the universities; we're repurposing resources for the long-term benefit and survival of these three universities."

Earlier in the meeting, four University of Iowa students interrupted the discussion, chanting, "Ditch Deloitte. Stop the audit." They were escorted out of the room by campus police officers.

More faculty hires

During his campus update to the board, Leath reported progress on his pledge to hire more than 200 faculty in the first years of his presidency. He said more than 140 new faculty have been hired in the two years since he arrived. Iowa State is recruiting now for 114 faculty openings, 29 of which fall under Leath's high-impact hires initiative announced last September. Iowa State is using $1.5 million from state funding growth this year as matching funds to help colleges hire tenured or tenure-track faculty in areas of impact to the university or the state.

Leath also had high praise for Cyclone senior men's basketball player Melvin Ejim, named Big 12 Player of the Year in both coaches and Associated Press sports media votes this week. The four-year history/business major has a GPA above 3.7. Ejim also was named to All-America teams by United States Basketball Writers Association (second team) and NBCSports.com (third team).

"He's the type of student-athlete we try to recruit at Iowa State," Leath said.

Parking permit increases

Annual parking permits would go up $12 (reserved and 24-hour reserved) or $6 (general staff, Ames Lab, residence, departmental, vendor) under a proposal reviewed by the board. A vote is scheduled for the April 24 meeting. Motorcycle permits would go up a proposed $3 and academic year student parking, including residence lots and the football stadium lots, also would go up a proposed $6.

Annual parking permits for the Memorial Union ramp, including employee permits, would go up a proposed $12 and semester permits would go up $6 ($5 for summer). The cost of a "winter" permit (November through February) would not change.

ISU's parking division, based on a recommendation from the Transportation Advisory Council, also asked to increase the illegal parking fine by $10, to $40, beginning July 1. The illegal exit fine at the MU ramp would go up a proposed $15, to $65.

Proposed permit increases on July 1

* Includes residence department, Ames Lab staff permits

Student residence rates

Iowa State proposes to increase all resident hall rooms and Frederiksen Court apartment rates 1.5 percent for the 2014-15 academic year and the Schilletter/University Village apartments 1 percent. Room rates vary according to building, air conditioning availability and number of roommates.

Semester meal plans would go up 1.3 to 1.4 percent, as requested, and block meal plans (25 to 100 meals) would go up 1.5 percent.

The proposed increases would equate to an additional $109 for a student opting for the standard rate, which features a double room without air conditioning ($4,154) and the Gold meal plan of 225 meals and 200 dining dollars each semester ($3,676 for the year). The total for this package would be $7,830.

The board also will vote on residence and dining rates at the April meeting.

Honorary degree, program changes

In other board action, Iowa State received permission to:

• Award a Doctor of Humane Letters to Stephen Rapp in May for his leadership in prosecuting individuals responsible for crimes against innocent people. Rapp, a Cedar Falls native, heads the Office of Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. State Department. President Barack Obama appointed him Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues in 2009. He is a former Iowa legislator (1973-75, 1979-83) and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa (1993-2001). Faculty members in the anthropology department nominated Rapp for the honor.
• Terminate the Master of Agriculture in the professional agriculture program, launched in 1981 as a distance education option, due to a wider range of more focused graduate program options for students and reduced faculty interest in the program. The termination will take effect when the 26 enrolled students complete the program, no longer than five years.
• Change the name of a bachelor's program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, from public service and administration in agriculture, to agriculture and society. The name reflects the program's focus on the social and human sides of agriculture, and is intended to help strengthen students' efforts to market themselves to would-be employers. The name change will occur this August.

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*The review team visit was postponed to the week of April 14.