X. Item for Board Discussion
Dr. Brockman reminded the Board of their retreat discussion about changing the way
Board meetings are held by putting a special item for discussion on the agenda. For this
meeting, he asked President Capilouto to give follow-up remarks on the Board retreat.
Y. President Eli Capilouto’s Follow-up Remarks on the Board Retreat
President Capilouto thanked Chair Brockman and members of the Board for the
opportunity to provide a follow-up on the retreat. At the conclusion ofthe Board retreat, which
had been approximately three weeks ago, he sensed that there was an urgency to move forward
on some bold undertakings.
President Capilouto thanked Dr. Hollie Swanson, chair ofthe University Review
Committee, and her fellow faculty, administrators, and staff for their work on the report which
she presented at the retreat. He provided a PowerPoint presentation and gave the following
remarks about the undertakings.
After two days of examination that included the University Review Committee report, a
facility assessment concluded with a walking tour of some grounds and buildings on campus and
a report on extemal factors. The conclusion was that the trustees want the administration to
move forward with a focus on undergraduate experience, housing, academic facilities, and
research space.
Since the retreat, we have begun work to enhance the academic experience at UK. We
have initiated financial planning. We have developed an RFP for a housing partner. We have
created a campus land capacity model, and we have continued our work on more detailed plans
for facilities. The most important words on the slide are "we have” at the top. I salute all of
those in administration and the Provost Office who worked tirelessly for the past three weeks to
move the University forward.
With academic enhancement, Provost Subbaswamy is working to enhance the honors
opportunities at UK. This past weekend there were prospective Singletary Award recipients on
campus, and they were enthusiastic about more opportunities and honors experiences. We are
going to review and increase our scholarship availability. Our academic advising has been
advanced over the last few years, and we want to continue that. We want to enhance those inter-
actions with faculty and students and provide through capstone opportunities the ability to work
with world-class researchers in the sciences and the arts.
In tenns of preliminary financial planning, we looked over the next decade and factored
in those particular variables that we think are important in macro planning. In tenns ofthe
sources of funds, we make assumptions about the state revenue, the number of students that are
associated with tuition and fees, philanthropy, F&A recovery (the overhead expense recovery
from grants when you talk about conducting research), and private partners relating to our
housing. Ifwe were to borrow, the debt proceeds and intemal reallocations achieved through
efficiencies would fund the facilities.
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