USU has hopes for more legislative support this year
After several years of a disappointingly small budget for the university from the state legislators, there is hope that with Gov. Olene Walker’s support, conditions may improve.
The new state legislative session starting Jan. 19 will “make or break us,” President Kermit L. Hall told the Faculty Senate at its meeting Monday. He encouraged them to cooperate with the governor’s goals, as she “has a real concern for higher education.”
“She has challenged us to come back to her by Sept. 1 with an agenda how the University of Utah and Utah State could combine some of their research power,” Hall said.
The two universities are hoping to get more funds from the legislature by teaming up.
“There is a lot of opportunity here for us. The governor is deeply interested in economic development; we’re deeply interested in science and the related research,” Hall said. “I think [the U and USU] are not exacting as full a measure of performance as we can as research institutions because we don’t line up, especially with major research proposals getting into the $40 million and beyond range.”
A meeting between the two universities is scheduled for February to discuss the alliance.
Provost Stan Albrecht reported on the progress of a tuition task force which was appointed to look at tuition and student fees over the next three to five years.
Albrecht said a national concern is the existence of an environment where well-qualified students are not allowed to come to a university for financial reasons, and for that reason USU’s task force will also be looking at financial aid issues. Low-income families are paying a large percent of their income toward their child’s tuition, Albrecht said, and the percentage is increasing each year.
“So we need to look not just at the tuition side of this operation but at how we create opportunities for all of our students who have prepared for a college education to receive a college education,” Albrecht said.
In other business:
° Hall announced the start of inaugural lectures this year in which faculty members recently promoted to full professorship will speak on their research and the story of their success.
° The time and place of Hall’s annual State of the University address was set for Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 4 p.m. in the Eccles Conference Center. All students and faculty members are invited to attend. Hall said a major announcement would be made at the address, but did not elaborate.
-heidithue@cc.usu.edu