USF Lakeland Campus Board
January 31, 2006 – USF Lakeland – LLC 2125/26
Meeting Minutes

Board Attendance: John Ramil, Board Chair, Paul Colee, Carole Philipson and Kelly Underhill, members; USF Lakeland Vice President/CEO and Board Corporate Secretary, Preston Mercer. John Frost, Board member, and USF President Judy Genshaft, were absent.

Call to Order: Chairman John Ramil called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. and thanked the administration, faculty and staff for continuing to move USF Lakeland forward, commenting on the Campus Master Plan, the first Bowl Game, USF’s 50th anniversary kickoff celebration and the Joint Use Facility with PCC.

President’s Comments: Chairman Ramil indicated that President Genshaft would not be able to join the Board meeting today and sends her regrets. She wanted to thank everyone for participation in the 50th Anniversary kickoff celebration and asked that the USF System economic impact report brochure be distributed to the Board members. Governor Bush used the new USF Research facility to announce his aggressive commitment to increased economic development in the State of Florida in his proposed budget by identifying $650M to reinvest in the economic development in the state with a large part of that funding for business and academic partnerships to develop new avenues of commerce, new jobs, and new businesses. His budget will be presented to the State Legislature soon.

CEO’s Comments: Dr. Mercer reviewed the $3.2M Legislative appropriation for planning of the new USF Lakeland campus. New draft strategic plan for the campus has been developed and is ready for Lakeland Campus Board approval. Decentralization of the campus budget is on schedule so that each campus unit has budget authority to plan for the requirements of their units.

Approval of Minutes: Chairman Ramil called for approval of the minutes. Paul Colee indicated that in the last line of the first paragraph on page 3 in reference to the approval of the final campus master plan, the year was incorrectly indicated as 2005 rather than 2006. Motion was made by Carole Philipson to approve the corrected minutes. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Strategic Plan for USF Lakeland: Dr. Ponticell identified the unanimous internal approval process that the Plan has undergone and the process it would undergo once the Plan has been approved by the USF Lakeland Campus Board. She discussed the rationale for the development of the plan based on broad goals, specific objectives, accountability measures and report structure to move the campus forward over the next five years.

Deployment of the Plan will be publicly accessed and tracking of the accountability measures will be done on line so that progress can be monitored and reviewed as the assessments are completed. The goals will be assigned to the appropriate campus unit leadership, who will be responsible for developing operational action plans based on needs assessments, surveys, documented analyses, target benchmarks and timeline indicated in the Plan. The Strategic Plan Steering Committee will remain as an oversight body to monitor and review performance and will develop an annual report for the Board. This dynamic Plan will provide opportunities for refining, redirecting portions of the plan, or new opportunities as the campus grows and evolves or where it is determined that anticipated outcomes are not attained. Carole Philipson asked about the time frame for the development of the data, and it was indicated that the Plan would be initiated in Fall 2006 with a campus wide meeting to build capacity to create the templates, identify resources, collect data and set sites on next targets, which will be monitored every year as adjustments are needed. SACS accreditation will also be an integral part of the planning during the Fall of 2006.

Kelly Underhill was concerned that annual monitoring would not be enough and was assured that each year targeted benchmarks would be reviewed quarterly or more often if necessary. The steering committee will meet monthly and receive reports. Dr. Ponticell indicated that there may be internal (action plans and benchmark data) and external (broad reporting on line) documentation. The internal information will be available to the Board, the Campus constituents, and the President. Paul Colee asked about accountability and it was explained that collaboration with the USF system strategic plan and peers at the other regional campuses have defined who will be accountable for each aspect of the Plan. John Ramil asked about peer campuses and Dr. Ponticell indicated that research was done to identify which institutions have the same structure as the USF System. Several models surfaced, i.e. Universities of Houston, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. Identification of assignment of the Plan goals and priorities with accompanying budget resources has been identified as well. Board involvement was indicated using an annual progress update, which Kelly Underhill and Carole Philipson agreed with. Dr. Mercer indicated that being tied to the USF System and its Strategic Plan is advantageous to the USF Lakeland campus as well. Chairman Ramil commented that the USF Lakeland Plan continue to be a dynamic document to accommodate change over time and that the ownership of the plan resides with all members of the USF community, not just a few.

Motion to approve the USF Lakeland Draft Strategic Plan and move it to the next level of review and approval before it is placed on the UBOT agenda by Paul Colee was seconded by Carole Philipson. Vote was unanimous.

USF Lakeland Campus Master Plan Update: Dr. Greg Paveza, Master Plan Steering Committee Chair, addressed the Board. The renegotiation of the land donation agreement has been completed and was signed on January 23, 2006 after a series of meetings with all parties involved, which included a meeting in October with Senator J.D. Alexander. Chairman Ramil congratulated Dr. Paveza for accomplishing this very important task. Public comment period closed on December 21, 2005 with comments coming from all necessary areas. The February 6, 2006 meeting with Reynolds, Smith and Hill will address development of final master plan draft. This may take 60 to 90 days, after which it will be presented again to the President, various other venues and our Board for comment and approval before it is placed on the UBOT agenda for final action. Road right of way and land donation issues will be addressed during this period. City of Lakeland Planning Department discussions on the Campus Development Agreement (CDA) will begin next week, so that shortly after the Master Plan is approved by the UBOT, the CDA will be in place. PECO schedule for the campus will be taken into consideration in requesting legislative funding. Senator Alexander is highly supportive and understood the need for continued funding. By the end of August, closing on the property may be initiated to transfer title from the Williams Acquisition Holding Company to USF. Carole Philipson was concerned about USF having to take the lead on obtaining the land for the interchange, roadways, and right of ways but Dr. Paveza assured her that this stipulation will not affect taking possession of the donated land on which first classes at the new site are targeted for Fall of 2009. Once discussions with our planners and consultants have been completed, Dr. Paveza envisions constructive discussions with the City of Lakeland. Chairman Ramil suggested a joint workshop with the ACE Workgroup sometime in late April or May to discuss and adopt the Draft Master Plan, much the same as was done when the land was initially approved.

Financial Report and Discussion: Dr. Alice Murray presented the newly designed financial reporting document which was developed by the USF Lakeland Financial Workgroup of which Board member Paul Colee is a member, that is more meaningful and clearly sets out the financials for the campus,. The presented report covers six months ending December 31, 2005. One goal is to have a half day financial workshop in the next couple of months to introduce participants to the financial construct of USF and how USF Lakeland utilizes tracking and reporting tools to make the best use of the funding that has been allocated to our campus. The goal of integration of funding with the strategic plan will also be accomplished. The newly designed financial statement of expenses helps track the decentralized dedicated expenditures by area as well. Kelly Underhill mentioned that the changes to the reporting document were much appreciated.

Joint Use Facility update and Hard Hat Tour: Dr. Mackey presented a few power point slides of the Joint Use Facility to help orient the Board members to the construction site in preparation for their tour which will take place immediately after the Board meeting. Chairman Ramil asked if there were any surprises as the construction moved forward and Dr. Mackey replied that there were some anticipated and some unanticipated issues including cost escalation and delays in supply of concrete and steel brought on by the hurricane causing increased demand for these raw materials. The outfitting of the building in terms of fixtures, furniture and equipment is still problematic. Dr. Mercer has promised to help with this shortfall through the use of some of the operating budget this year to outfit these first costs. Purchases will be done through a bid process in an effort reduce the cost of the furniture. Paul Colee was concerned that the building would not be 100% “turn key” and Dr. Mackey indicated that the Legislature recognizes that higher education projects across Florida have experienced serious cost escalations and have asked for information from USF, which has been provided to the Department of Education and the Board of Governors staff. This may generate additional funding to cover some of the deficit for the Joint Use Facility. Last resort would be to review the renovation plan for LLC to reduce the scope of that project in order to more fully fund the needs of the Joint Use Facility.

Other Business: There being no more business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m.

The Hard Hat tour mentioned during the Campus Board Meeting was conducted by Dr. Mackey and terminated the same afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

Minutes recorded and transcribed by Lorie Miros