With an agenda that includes reviewing next year's budget and approving plans for a new health and wellness center, the Board of Trustees will meet May 8-10 for their third and final gathering this year.
The 45 trustees will arrive next Thursday, then begin committee meetings on Friday. According to Secretary of the College Richard Mersereau, the Trustees will hold a brief session on Friday, where they are set to approve tenure for Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology Phillip Camill. The Trustees will then meet on Saturday to review next year's budget and vote to approve plans for a new fitness center.
At the Trustees' February meeting, the board examined the budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, including tuition and fees for the next academic year. The Trustees will formally vote on the budget at next week's meeting.
"It's a final vote," Mersereau said. "The time when it received the greatest amount of scrutiny by the whole board was in February. Since then, the budget has been fine-tuned."
According to Treasurer and Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Katy Longley, the Trustees will be presented with a proposed operating budget of $140,295,000. The trustees are also expected to approve an increase in tuition as well as room and board fees, though Longley said that the exact numbers cannot be publicized until after the board meeting.
Tim Mansfield, the lead architect of the new health and wellness center, will also share the final design of the center with the Trustees at the meeting. The project includes a new fitness center, a climbing wall, athletic department offices, and a health and wellness area on the third floor, Longley said.
Longley also said she expects construction of the facility to begin on June 3, and estimates that the building will be completed by the beginning of the 2009-2010 academic year.
The Trustees will also attend a dedication of the newest dock at the Coastal Studies Center on Friday evening.
Mersereau said he expects the Trustees to unanimously approve all votes up for consideration.
"I expect all of these votes to be unanimous, for good reason," he said. "I can't remember the last time that there was a vote that wasn't unanimous, including ones that were quite emotional... [like] when we voted to disband fraternities 11 years ago."