Miami Board of Trustees Will Consider Strategic Initiatives Fund

BY DUNCAN STEWART
Miami University journalism student

Miami University’s Board of Trustees will consider creating a new $50 million Strategic Initiatives Fund at its meeting on Friday.

Fund dollars would go toward new academic programs, according to the board’s agenda, released earlier this week.

Miami’s Vice President for Finance and Business Services David Creamer said Tuesday that university administrators have not determined exactly what new programs would get dollars.

“The initiatives are still being discussed by the provost and the deans,” said Creamer. “At this meeting we’re simply identifying the availability of the funds.”

Creamer said the university would use the Strategic Initiatives Fund to ensure Miami is a school that provides new opportunities for students. More information on the initiatives will come out in the spring semester and next fall.

The fund would be established over a three-year period, with the largest portion, $9 million, coming from the College of Arts and Science. Another $8 million would come from the provost's office. Creamer said the funds are available because the university began spending more conservatively after the 2008 recession.

“Because we’ve been able to accumulate these resources, there’s some dollars that can be used to make these improvements,” he said.

In other action, the board will consider submitting a Capital Improvements Plan to the state of Ohio for the years 2019 to 2024. The plan will request more than $100 million for more campus construction: $38 million to continue renovating Pearson Hall, $30 million to renovate Bachelor Hall, and $34 million for improvements at Hiestand Hall. The plan also calls for just more than $2 million for smaller projects on the Hamilton campus and another $1.6 million for Middletown projects.

“There’s a good chance these projects won’t be fully funded, and the university will have to make up the difference,” said Creamer.

The board's agenda also shows:

• The board will consider adding a $100 per semester "career fee" to incoming students’ tuition, beginning next fall. This fee would allow Miami to hire more career counseling staff, develop partnerships with academic departments, and create career grants for students to help with job search expenses.
• Miami trimmed $11.9 million in expenses in fiscal 2017, and "redeployed" $31.5 million from cost-savings efforts to student financial aid and other student benefits, under a state-mandated efficiency program.
• The University Advancement Office raised $98 million of its $100 million goal for the 2017 fiscal year.

Top photo: Miami's Board of Trustees meets in the Marcum Conference Center, beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday. The meeting is open to the public. -- Photo by Duncan Stewart