Board of regents briefs


Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, December 1, 2005

Update on UA College of Medicine expansion

The progress of the UA College of Medicine in Phoenix will be among the matters to be discussed at the Arizona Board of Regents meeting today.

The regents' Public Awareness Committee will present an update of the Phoenix campus' progress report at the regents meeting in the Student Union Memorial Center, according to the executive summary of the item in the meeting agenda.

The report will include any expenditures related to the medical school expansion as of Nov. 30, the renovation status of the three historic Phoenix Union High School buildings on the campus, faculty, staff and student recruitment efforts and any changes to the project scope or schedule, according to the summary.

The progress report will be submitted to state Joint Legislative Budget Committee by Dec. 31 after Regent President Christina Palacios and Regent Gary Stuart approve it, according to the summary.

"It will be a quick update of the new actions that have happened," said Jaime Molina, a regent lobbyist.

In addition to the expansion update, the regents will also receive an update about the Public Awareness Committee activities.

The areas of public awareness include legislative and executive branch awareness and advocacy, citizen and community outreach, and media outreach, according to the item summary in the agenda.

"The board as a whole is becoming more and more aware of the importance of outreach to a lot of important stakeholders," said Anne Barton, public affairs officer for the regents.

Barton cited Palacios' work as an example of community outreach, as she has made efforts to improve outreach to community colleges this year, he said.

5-year plan to monitor progress of performance measures

In other business, the Strategic Planning Committee also plans to present a new template for Five-Year Strategic Plan performance measures to the board.

The template adds performance estimates, goals and projections for the historical performance measure results.

"The changes are considered logical," Barton said. "Board members will have a way of monitoring the progress of plans."

Barton said the changes will provide more information on the progress of the plans included in the Five-Year Strategic Plan performance measures for 2008-2012 that will be submitted to the regents in the fall by the state universities.

The performance measures changes were requested by some of the regents in September, according to the summary of the item in the agenda.

- Laura Ory