Feature photo from Sidelines Archives by Brian Branch
Story by Siri Reynolds
The MTSU Board of Trustees held their quarterly meeting Tuesday to discuss state funding changes, adding three new masters’ programs and various other concerns.
The Academic Affairs, Student Life and Athletics Committees brought up the development of programs offering a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences, a master’s degree in Digital Media, and a master’s degree in Legal Studies. All three proposals were approved.
The master’s in Legal Studies is expected to include eight hours of instruction from the Nashville School of Law.
“This is a baby steps program with Nashville School of Law,” said Board chair Steve Smith. “One of our goals is to have a professional school, a law school, and we’ve got everything in place to do it except a law school.”
The Finance and Personnel Committee began by discussing the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s funding recommendations for 2025-2026. The THEC recommended $147.4 million to be given to MTSU, not including faculty and staff salaries.
“That’s a $2.1 million increase,” said vice president of business and finance Alan Thomas. “Not a big number; we’ve seen bigger numbers.”
Several board members expressed frustration with the THEC’s formula for allocation of funds. Trustee Tom Boyd pointed out that the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the University of Memphis receive more state funding per degree awarded than MTSU does.
“It still appears, using those numbers, that it’s not an equitable provision of state funding,” Boyd said.
The Board of Trustees also approved an additional $1.5 million in salary increases for MTSU employees.
“Faculty and staff salaries are one of the priorities that we will be pushing,” said MTSU President Sidney McPhee. “I always raise the issue that the state needs to do a better job in providing funding for employees.”
The THEC project priority list has MTSU’s request for a Civic Leadership and Applied Humanities building as their second-highest priority.
The Board also agreed on the sale of 915 East Bell St., approved tenure for two professors and discussed MTSU’s performance metrics.
Siri Reynolds is a reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
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