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welcomed Dr. Tick and asked him to stand and be recognized, following which he received a
round of applause.
Provost Subbaswamy introduced the new Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Robert
Mock. Dr. Mock was the runaway favorite of everyone on the search committee, especially the
students, and he certainly has hit the ground running. He comes to UK from the University of
Arkansas where he has held a number of positions. Dr. Mock will be a critical element of
combining in class and out of class experiences to complement one another and reach retention
and graduation rates successes that will bring UK to the top 20 level. He asked Dr. Mock to
stand and be recognized, following which he received a round of applause.
President Todd said that he wanted to mention a press release that has to do with the
provost war on attrition, which Dr. Mock understands that area very well. When Provost
Subbaswamy started the war, UK had about 75 to 76 percent. UK is now at 82 percent freshmen
to sophomore retention, which is a record for the university, and that has an impact. UK now has
about 29,000 of those students to continue at UK. That builds additional revenue, but it also
builds the size ofthe institution. President Todd congratulated Provost Subbaswamy on that
accomplishment.
N. Appointments/Reappointments of Board of Directors University of Kentucky
Mining Engineering Foundation Inc. (PR 5)
President Todd said that PR 5 recommends appointments and reappointments to the
Board of Directors ofthe Mining Engineering Foundation. He asked for the Board’s approval of
the appointment of David R. Cobb and Bill Bissett and the reappointment of l5 other individuals
listed. He noted that bios on all ofthe individuals were attached. In addition, he recommended
that David Zegeer be appointed as an emeritus member of that board.
Dr. Brockman called for a motion for approval of PR 5. Mr. Shoop moved approval.
Ms. Brothers seconded the motion, and it passed without dissent. (See PR 5 at the end of the
Minutes.)
O. Approval of an Exception to Kentucky Statute ( PR 6)
President Todd said that PR 6 recommends approval to an exception to the Kentucky
Revised Statutes. Dr. John Gurley, a faculty employee in the College of Medicine, is one of
UK’s eminent faculty members. He had a concept that he talked to Dr. Dick Furst, Dr. Leonard
Heller, and others about, and that concept was to fonn a company called Therix Medical
Development, Ltd Company. President Todd explained the process that took place in capturing
the concepts from UK’s practitioners in starting Therix. He noted that UK only had a couple of
patent releases or patent ideas from that group of practitioners a few years ago, and there are 29
ideas in less than a year, two of which are under consideration by corporations. Medical devices
are a lot faster to bring to industry than phannaceuticals because trials are not involved. Dr.
Gurley actually owns some stock in Therix.