Faculty promotions list goes to regents for approval

Iowa State leaders will request promotion and tenure for 70 faculty members when the state Board of Regents meets next week in Iowa City. The April 18 agenda is online, and live audio of all public portions of the board meeting will be livestreamed on the board's website.

ISU faculty promotions for 2019-20

The full list of faculty, by college, will be posted to the provost's office website after full board approval.

Also included in the annual report on faculty tenure was a three-year snapshot of the size and makeup of each university's faculty.

ISU faculty

Tuition discussion delayed

While the board expects to approve 2019-20 tuition and mandatory fee rates at its June meeting, it postponed a first reading of tuition proposals, pending clarity from the Legislature about state appropriations for next year. As of this week, appropriation discussions remained in the separate legislative chambers. Senior communications director for the board Josh Lehman said it's possible tuition proposals still could be added to the docket in time for the April 18 meeting. If not, he said the board will hold a special meeting for a first reading of tuition at least 30 days prior to June 4.

In anticipation of the board's broader discussion of university budgets at its June 4-6 meeting, faculty and staff representatives of non-union employee groups will give short presentations next week on salary policies for the year that begins July 1. Representatives from Iowa State's Faculty Senate and Professional and Scientific Council are in this group.

Honorary degree

Iowa State will seek board permission to award an honorary Doctor of Science degree to Robert Easter, professor of animal science emeritus and president emeritus at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to recognize his efforts to advance higher education, particularly agricultural education and research at the national and international levels. Easter was an Illinois faculty member and administrator from 1976 to 2015. His expertise is in pig nutrition, and he worked with ISU leaders to elevate as a national priority publicly funded research in food, agriculture and natural resources.

Faculty in the animal science department nominated Easter for the honorary degree.

Free expression

The board will review a draft policy about protecting freedom of expression on the three regent university campuses. Last month, the Iowa Legislature approved a new section, H, to Iowa Code chapter 261, and Gov. Kim Reynolds subsequently signed the bill. The new language directs the regents and Iowa's community colleges to adopt a policy addressing freedom of expression and assembly. It also prohibits designated "free speech" zones.

Consent agenda

On the consent agenda for final board approval are:

• Parking permit rates for the year that begins July 1. Employee permits would go up 2.6-2.9 percent ($5-$25), departmental and vendor permits would go up 5 percent ($10 and $15, respectively). Permits for the Memorial Union ramp, which is not managed by ISU's parking division, would go up 2.2-2.5 percent ($5-$12). The MU proposes no increases to its hourly rates next year.
• Student housing and dining rates for next year. Residence hall and campus apartment rates would go up about 2 percent (mostly in the $80-$150 range, depending on the building and room capacity). Flex meal packages and academic year meal plans would increase by a similar range, 1.7-1.9 percent. The door rate for guests at campus dining centers would go up 50 cents, to $10.50 for breakfast and $13.50 for lunch or dinner.
• Permission to begin planning $25 million in improvements to Hilton Coliseum. Key pieces of the plan move concessions on the north and south concourses from interior to exterior walls (widening the concourses), construct new concession areas, renovate the north and south entrances, and upgrade two elevators and the building's mechanical systems.
• A schematic design and budget ($3.7 million) to expand the Veterinary Medicine Field Services facility at the College of Veterinary Medicine. The plan would renovate 1,500 square feet of the existing 9,000-square-foot building and add 6,000 square feet. 

Online event management degree program

The board's academic affairs committee will receive Iowa State's request to begin an online M.S. degree in event management in the apparel, events and hospitality management department, to complement the undergraduate degree established in 2011. This would be among just a handful of master's programs in the country. If the full board subsequently approves it, the degree program would launch in August.