The Texas A&M System Board of Regents met Thursday in College Station.
Business included approving the operating budgets of system universities, agencies, and the headquarters office for the 2015 fiscal year.
At the flagship campus, overall revenue will increase by $38.7 million (3%) compared to the FY 2014 budget, while overall expenditures for are budgeted to increase $51 million (4%).
According to the budget narrative presented to the regents, personnel costs are budgeted to increase by $35.5 million (5%). The largest driver of this increase is the proposed 3% merit program for faculty and staff and increased faculty positions in the colleges of Education, Engineering, Geosciences, and Liberal Arts. Graduate student salaries are budgeted to increase by $2.6 million and wages are budgeted to increase by $4.4 million, with $2.4 million of the wage increase in Athletics. Modest increases are also budgeted for faculty promotions and for on‐going recruitment and retention efforts.
And income from gifts to Texas A&M are budgeted to increase $6.6 million (8%) compared to FY 2014, primarily driven by a $5 million budget increase in gifts to the athletics department.
Click HERE for the budget narrative for Texas A&M’s 2015 fiscal year.
Regents approved a 3% merit pay increase for Texas A&M, a 2% merit pay increase for system agencies, and at the system headquarters a merit increase if funding is available within existing resources.
Click HERE for the salary plan recommendations for the 2015 fiscal year.
Funding for three building projects on west campus were also approved.
Construction of the $19 million dollar, 2,400 bed housing complex would start this August. It will be located at the southeast corner of Raymond Stotzer Parkway and Discovery Drive, backing up to Horticulture Street.
Click HERE for background on west campus housing.
The $12.9 million dollar Human Clinical Research (HCR) building. It’s the second phase of a master-planned site for the Department of Health and Kinesiology. The HCR will become the focus for conducting human clinical trials and research on campus. It will be located across John Kimbrough Boulevard from the Agriculture Headquarters Complex.
Click HERE for background on the Human Clinical Research building.
As previously reported, (click HERE for details) regents moved ahead with the $121 million dollar replacement of the vet college complex.
New academic and research programs approved by the regents included CAPRI, an acronym for Center for Airborne Pathogen Research and Tuberculosis Imaging. The Health Science Center has generated more than $8 million in funding with the possibility of receiving as much as an additional $24 million over a five year period to address respiratory diseases in humans and animals.
Click HERE for background on the CAPRI program.
Personnel actions included a three year contract extension for A&M head soccer coach G. Guerrieri and giving permission to finalize a contract with recently hired A&M football defensive backs coach Terry Joseph.
The regents also presented Guerrieri and the soccer team a resolution for their performance last season.
Click HERE for the resolution honoring the A&M soccer team and head coach G. Guerrieri.
Click below to hear the presentation of the resolution from Interim President Dr. Mark Hussey and the response from G. Guerrieri.
Resolutions were also approved honoring the late Ford Albritton, Jr., the founder of ALENCO Manufacturing in Bryan and Texas A&M class of 1943, and former Texas A&M Vice President of Student Services, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Joe Weber, who recently started as the new Executive Director of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Click below to hear the Albritton resolution read by Regents Chairman Phil Adams and the response from Albritton’s son Bob, Texas A&M Class of 1971.
Click below to hear the Weber resolution read by Texas A&M Interim President Dr. Mark Hussey and the response from Lt. Gen (Ret.) Joe Weber.