Lots of treats are planned to be handed out when the A&M System Board of Regents meets on Halloween.
The treats are the salaries of administrative and athletic positions the Regents will be asked to approve.
One example is the system’s new chief lobbyist. Recently retired state senator Tommy Williams of Houston, who chaired the Senate’s finance committee, will earn $300,000 dollars. Williams takes over for Guy Diedrich, who will become the system’s vice chancellor for strategic initiatives. Diedrich gets a $25,000 raise to $325,000.
At the Health Science Center, Brett Giroir is in line to become interim chief executive; and with that comes a salary of $551,000. Taking over supervision of the A&M Center for Innovation and Advanced Development is Gerald Parker, whose salary was set at $280,000.
Click HERE to read the appointments proposed for Regents action.
The Regents have been asked to give three year contract extensions to womens basketball head coach Gary Blair and baseball head coach Rob Childress at their current base salaries. There’s a four year extension for volleyball head coach Laurie Corbelli with a $13,000 boost in her base. And track coach Pat Henry is in line for a $500,000 lump sum payment if he stays through August 31st of 2018.
Click HERE to read the coaches contract changes proposed for Regents action.
There are a couple of significant construction projects on the agenda. One is a $54 million dollar live virus center, part of the 286 million dollar biocorridor grant that will be built west of the pandemic influenza building or south of the health science center.
Click HERE to read background on the live virus center.
There’s the musical chairs that comes with a $7 million dollar renovation of the Cater-Mattil Hall on west campus. Once completed, Nutrition and Food Science will move there from Kleberg, creating space for the Ecosystem Science Department, which will move from Animal Industries, which will house faculty from the expanding College of Engineering.
Click HERE to read background on the Cater-Mattil Hall renovation.
And sometime in the future you might see drones flying over the twin cities. The Regents will consider establishing something called the Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence and Innovation. It’s a joint project of the Engineering Experiment Station and the A&M campus at Corpus Christi. It’s one of six test sites selected by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Click HERE to read background on the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center.
And an update on the search for the next president at the flagship campus is part of Thursday’s agenda.