Budget Council Minutes

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

3:30-5:00 p.m.

President's Conference Room, Montana Hall

In Attendance:

Terry Leist                              Miles Maxcer                            Mark Ranalli                              Michael Brody  

Chris Fastnow                       Michael Trotter                         Chris Kearns                             Jeff Heys

Kim Obbink                           Jason Carter                               Katherine Knight

                                                                                                     Guests:  Megan Lasso, MacKenzie Seeley, Heidi Fredenberg,                                                                                                                             and Lisa Hespen (Minutes)

Absentees:  Robert Mokwa, Michael Trotter, Michael Brody (Faculty Senate)

Vacant Position: Grad Student Representative

 

I.  Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Chair Terry Leist, VP for Administration & Finance, at 3:33 p.m.

II.  Approval of Minutes

The October 22, 2019 minutes were approved.

III.  University Information/Announcements

VP Terry Leist announced Megan Lasso has been named the new Director for the University Budget Office.

IV.  Action Items

a) University Human Resources SIP Vote

Discussion: Members did not need any further clarification or discussion regarding this proposal, and a motion was made to vote to approve continued funding to UHR for their shared service model.

Vote: Said motion passed unanimously.

b) Space Management SIP Vote

Discussion: Members reviewed the presentation and VP Terry Leist noted John How incorrectly stated that none of the $119,000 funding had been spent and this funding was in fact being utilized.  There was some discussion on space distributed to research, and it was advised state dollars cannot be used for research space and MSU's provided research space is actually quite good when compared with other institutions.  Members reported they saw the value in the software system for space management and a motion was made to recommend continued funding to Space Management.

Vote: Said motion passed unanimously.

 

V.  Public Comment/Member Feedback

None

VI.  Assessment Presentations

a) International Student Recruitment (Deborah Haynes, Acting VP of Global Affairs and Dean of International Programs / Kurt Friedemann)

Deborah Haynes and Kurt Friedemann provided a presentation regarding the Strategic Investment Proposal (SIP) funding used to engage the services of EAB Royall.  EAB Royall is an Office of International Programs (OIP) resource utilized to gain access to names and contacts of international students.  The hope was by employing this service, OIP would be able to entice more international students to MSU.  EAB Royall stated they would provide OIP with 7,000 ‘touches’.  This was not the case and only three international enrollments resulted in 2018-2019 and none in 2019-2020.  Council members, along with OIP, agreed EAB should be contacted regarding receiving some form of compensation for the lack of results and this contract should be terminated. 

 

b) Meritorious Grad Student Recruitment (Dean Craig Ogilvie, The Graduate School)

Dean Craig Ogilvie provided information and data on the strategic investment funding received in FY18, FY19, and FY20.  The funding was used to fund Meritorious Grad Student Fellowships as well as various marketing campaigns.  Dean Ogilvie noted an average of 40% of the students offered a fellowship end up coming to MSU.  He further advised there have been several increases in PhD enrollments across most of the departments at MSU.  Dean Ogilvie disclosed that it is very difficult to recruit Grad students due to the multiple layers of processes entailed.  While there has been a 55% increase in the numbers of students starting an application, there has been a 2% decrease in the number of students completing an application.  The Grad School does not currently track data on the ratio of students who attended a recruitment event and went on to be admitted to MSU, but he would estimate it to be 1-2 a year per department.  Typically they will bring 1-2 applicants to campus and out of these, half end up enrolling at MSU.  About a third of those who do not visit enroll at MSU.  Faculty members have expressed their inclination for recruitment days to continue.  When asked by the Council, Dean Ogilvie stated he would recommend the continuation of the base funding. 

Meeting was adjourned at 4:41 p.m.

Next Meeting: January 28, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. in PCR