The UI Board of Trustees approved extending in-state Global Campus tuition rates to any UI graduates who contribute to the UI Alumni Association.
Board members decided at their Jan. 17 meeting to offer out-of-state alumni a 10 percent discount on Global Campus tuition, the same rate paid by Illinois residents.
To receive the tuition break, graduates must be contributing members of the university’s Alumni Association.
“It’s in the interest of increasing U. of I. alumni who contribute educational dollars,” President B. Joseph White said. “To do it through Global Campus, this is a really attractive proposition.”
Global Campus programs began Jan. 2, offering online degree programs in nursing and e-learning. Three students are enrolled in the nursing program, and nine have begun e-learning courses, said Walter Knorr, vice president and chief financial officer.
The university is considering 49 applications for the Global Campus nursing program, and 27 for e-learning studies, said Knorr, who also is the board’s comptroller.
The trustees also approved 2008-09 tuition rates for five new Global Campus programs. In-state and alumni discounted rates will be $9,720 for the graduate certificate programs in patient safety and medical error disclosure, and patient safety organization, which will begin in May.
Illinois resident and alumni discounted tuition costs for programs scheduled to begin in September are $17,820 for a master’s in recreation, sport and tourism; $31,860 for a bachelor’s in business administration; and $29,160 for a master’s in patient safety leadership.
Nonresidents will pay 10 percent more in tuition.
Knorr said he would present a financial report on the Global Campus at the board’s March meeting.
Other business:
Agreeing that funding for health-care education in Illinois is in a “desperate situation,” trustees voted to seek an additional $150 million in state support, phased in over the next five years.
“It’s our job as the board of trustees to take this on,” said Trustee Kenneth Schmidt, a Des Plaines physician and UIC medical graduate, after an impassioned presentation at the board meeting.
Trustees voted to support the Illinois Bill of Health initiative, a campaign to establish a separate stream of state funding for health-care education and training.
In his first presentation to the board as UIC interim chancellor, Eric Gislason told trustees the cost of educating future physicians, dentists and other health practitioners – already much higher than for undergraduates – continues to increase.
Raising tuition to help cover costs cannot continue, Gislason said. UIC tuition and fees for medicine and dentistry are already about 17 percent higher than at comparable institutions.
Lawyer Lawrence Eppley was re-elected board chairman by a unanimous vote.
Trustees also re-elected comptroller Knorr, secretary Michele Thompson and university counsel Thomas Bearrows.
Trustees Niranjan Shah and Schmidt also were selected to join Eppley on the board’s executive committee.
Lawrence DeBrock was named interim dean of the College of Business at Urbana. He currently is associate dean for academic affairs and acting associate dean of faculty in the College of Business. He’s also a professor of business administration and economics.
DeBrock succeeds former business dean Avijit Ghosh, now the vice president for technology and economic development.
Trustees agreed to sell about 150 acres of land east of Allerton Park to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Robert Allerton donated the Piatt County land, appraised at $750,000, in 1946. Sale proceeds will be funneled into the Allerton Park endowment, and annual earnings will be added to the park’s operating budget.
Trustees voted to increase housing rates on all three campuses for the 2008-09 school year. At Urbana, standard room and board rates will increase by $266 to $4,099 each semester.
The board also approved establishing a master’s in technology management in the College of Business and the Graduate College, and a bachelor’s in African American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Several construction projects that were on the agenda were deferred until and then approved at a Jan. 25 meeting of the Executive Committee. At the Urbana campus, the Executive Committee approved projects that included a $4.04 million expansion of the School of Social Work building; a $1.02 million contract for extending chilled water to serve the Lincoln Hall renovation, the Newman Center and provide future service to the English Building; construction of a $1.9 million Football Performance Center at Memorial Stadium; and a $15 million addition to Huff Hall that will provide 36,000 square feet of new interdisciplinary research areas and associated support spaces.