The Penn State Board of Trustees will meet today to vote on how much funding the university will request from the state Legislature for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
Board members will convene at 8:30 a.m. at the Nittany Lion Inn, 200 W. Park Ave., to discuss several issues affecting the university. The meeting is open to the public.
"There are several items of equal importance on the agenda," Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said. "All of them will need action."
The university's appropriation request will not be available "until after the Board of Trustees have voted on it," said Penn State spokesman Geoff Rushton.
Last week, the Pennsylvania College of Technology, a subsidiary
corporation of the university, requested nearly $1 million more for the
2008-2009 fiscal year for growing technology needs, insurance and utility costs. It would be a 6.94 percent increase and, if received, total about $13.9 million for Penn College.
At the September 2006 meeting, the board asked for $450 million from the state for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, up from $354.4 million the year prior; the university received about $348.7 million, up from about $327 million the year prior, a 6 percent increase.
After the official trustees-approved request is reviewed by the state Legislature, Penn State President Graham Spanier will attend a meeting in Harrisburg with the state appropriations committees to support the request.
Today's meeting will kick off with a video of President Spanier's State of the University Address. Before last year, Spanier delivered his address live in Eisenhower Auditorium. Beginning last September, the speech is now pre-taped and made available for public viewing on the Penn State Live Web site, live.psu.edu.
Powers said the video was popular last year and that it shows how Penn State has fared in the last year.
"It's a quick overview in a format that people have embraced," she said.
Powers also said there would be a report on the Smeal College of Business given by the college's new dean, Jim Thomas, adding that the college has grown and changed over the last year.
Wyatt DuBois, spokesman for Smeal College of Business, said several developments have been enacted under the new dean, most notably a new honor code.
"The new honor code that was implemented this semester in the undergraduate programs creates a community feeling of honor and integrity to combat the reputation that business is unethical, particularly from the recent accounting scandals," DuBois said.
DuBois said the dean will also be discussing a new curriculum approach instituted in fall 2008 for the MBA program and a new design for the undergraduate education, along with several other initiatives that have been stressed to push the school forward.
"I think Smeal is poised to be a top-five public program in a very short period of time," dean Thomas said. "It's already top ten and all it needs is a little push and some rethinking, and we're top five."
Powers also said a special report on academic integrity would be given.
"The report on academic integrity emphasizes the efforts Penn State is taking to address this issue," she said. "It is a focal point in the last year for higher education."
University Park Undergraduate Association President Hillary Lewis will attend the meeting, as will Tom Shakely, Safeguard Old State director for advocacy initiatives.
Other items on the agenda include the finalization of the 2007-2008 operational budget and reports from the Committees on Campus Environment, Educational Policy, Finance and Physical Plant.
