Filed Under: President's Post, President's Newsletters, Featured Articles

I wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with several updates regarding MTSU’s work in preparing for the implementation of the recently authorized FOCUS Act by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed by Gov. Bill Haslam. As you know, in December 2015, Gov. Haslam announced the next step in his “Drive to 55” education initiative intended to raise the number of Tennesseans possessing secondary degrees to 55% in order to meet future workforce demands. The six state universities that have historically operated under the auspices of the Tennessee Board of Regents—a group that includes MTSU—were removed from direct control of the TBR. New governing boards specific to each university will now be created or appointed and will have local control over institutional operations such as tuition rates.

On June 29, I attended an informative meeting of the FOCUS Act Transition Task Force, chaired by the governor, where he presented the timeline for implementation of the new governance structure. Here is a summary:



Late September 2016: The governor plans to announce his appointments to the six boards of trustees for the former TBR universities (MTSU, Austin Peay, East Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee State, and Tennessee Tech);

Fall 2016: Faculty Senates at MTSU and the five other former TBR universities will be asked to develop processes for selection of faculty members for the boards;

October 2016: MTSU and the five other former TBR institutions transmit Substantive Change Review proposals to our accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The body requires such notification when there is a significant modification or expansion in the nature and scope of an accredited institution;

February–March 2017: The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) presents and reviews appropriation, capital, and tuition recommendations to legislative committees. Also, during this time period, THEC will work with the UT and TBR boards, as well as the six boards that are forming, to understand campus revenue needs and prepare binding tuition recommendations;

Late March 2017: The state will offer professional development sessions for the members of the six new boards of trustees;

April 2017: The six new boards of trustees will meet for the first time.

With regards to our internal preparation for the new governance changes, our campus FOCUS Act Implementation Transition Team, divisional working groups, and subcommittees have been busy reviewing MTSU policies and TBR policies and guidelines to determine which ones will be applicable subsequent to the transition to a local board of trustees. As revisions are proposed by the MTSU Transition Team, they will be posted on a new FOCUS Policy web page. As with our current policy review process, policies reviewed by the FOCUS Act Transition Team will be emailed to the campus for review. This began July 15. The normal 30-day comment period will be expanded in order to provide faculty with adequate time for review upon their return to the campus. Thus, any policies put out for review prior to August 26 will have a comment deadline of September 25. Thereafter, it will revert to the standard 30-day period.

Finally, in early June, several MTSU administrators joined me in a meeting with Dr. Russ Deaton, THEC’s acting executive director. I was pleased to review THEC’s priorities during this transition and its commitment to a smooth changeover.

I believe this new proposal advanced by the governor and the corresponding new level of independence for the former TBR universities is truly bold and potentially transformational for MTSU. I look forward to learning and exploring the opportunities it could provide towards our mission of ensuring student success and providing more graduates for the state’s workforce.