The Board of Trustees, featuring two new trustees and a new chair, will hold its first regular meeting of the spring semester on Friday, Feb. 10 at 9 a.m. in room 401 of the Hannah Administration Building. The meeting will be trustee Rema Vassar’s first as chair after being elected to the position on Jan. 11.
The meeting will be livestreamed online. Public participation speakers must pre-register at least 48 hours before the start of the meeting. Public participation will occur at the end of the meeting.
The agenda includes approval of the construction of the new Multicultural Center with a budget of $38,000,000. The building would be located near Shaw Hall and, if approved, construction would begin in April 2023, with “substantial completion” by October 2024.
Following interim president Teresa Woodruff’s President’s Report, the board will be asked to approve the Nov. 15, 2022, through Jan. 11, 2023, Gift, Grant and Contract Report. The report totals $112,771,521 with 315 gifts, grants and contracts, and 32 non-cash gifts.
Next, senior academic specialist Sarah Gretter will give a presentation titled “From Research to Reality: Apple Developer Academy."
Interim provost Thomas Jeitschko will request approval for two personnel actions: a tenure appointment for economics professor Enrique Bejarano and the appointment of Stefan Fletcher to Secretary and Chief of Staff to the Board of Trustees.
In addition to the authorization to proceed with building the Multicultural Center, the budget and finance committee will recommend the purchase of two properties, located at 4600 and 4700 Hagadorn Rd., in order to consolidate MSU Health Care Inc. to one location.
The committee will also recommend authorization for administration to enter agreements for the construction of a turfgrass testing facility. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, will fund and construct the facility, which will be available for MSU’s use at the end of FIFA’s project. The project is focused on developing a turfgrass system that can be used temporarily in indoor and outdoor stadiums.
Authorization to plan a new research building in Detroit in line with MSU’s agreement with Henry Ford Health will also be recommended to the board, along with authorization to plan the renewal of Campbell Hall, which is in need of “major infrastructure repairs.” Finally, the committee will recommend proceeding with the reconstruction of the Farm Lane Bridge with a budget of $44,000,000.
The Committee on Audit, Risk and Compliance will recommend the reappointment of Plante & Moran as the university’s external auditors as well as the approval of contracts with CavGene, Environmental Protective Coatings, Great Lakes Crystal Technologies and Scion Plasma.
The Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee’s final agenda item is a “Quinn Emanuel Update.”
