Monday, March 18, 2024

Board of Trustees approves 5-year contract for McPhee, expands Regional Scholars Program

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Photo courtesy of MTSU News

MTSU’s Board of Trustees approved a new employment contract for President Sidney McPhee and greatly expanded the university’s Regional Scholars Program in its quarterly meeting Tuesday in the Miller Education Center on Bell Street.

The contract, which the trustees discussed in a special called meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 27, calls McPhee to serve as president until December 2023. McPhee is the longest sitting president at any public university in Tennessee as he joined MTSU in 2001.

Another provision of the contract is a $250,000 bonus that McPhee will receive upon the completion of the five-year contract.

The aforementioned expansion of the Regional Scholars Program, which works to reduce tuition for out-of-state residents by almost 50 percent, will now allow anyone who lives within a state that touches Tennessee’s border to receive the reduced tuition. Previously, the program was restricted to those living in a 250-mile radius of Murfreesboro. This expansion will take effect in the 2019 fall semester for new and returning students.

Those who are newly edible for the program include residents from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia who have an ACT score of 25 or higher.

“This expansion provides even more opportunities for talented nearby students to attend our great university,” McPhee said during the quarterly meeting.

Additionally, the trustees approved a proposal to ask the Tennessee Higher Education Commission permission to create a Bachelor of Science program for tourism and hospitality management and approved a letter of endorsement for a Bachelor of Science in data science. The THEC will also need to provide final approval for the program.

The board also boosted a concentration in geoscience, which is a part of the Master of Science in Professional Sciences program, to its own Master of Science degree with a major in geosciences. This degree will be available starting fall 2019.

To contact News Editor Angele Latham, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
For more news, follow us at www.mtsusidelines.com, on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on Twitter at @Sidelines_News.

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