The Board of Regents’ committees convened Wednesday and approved all action items on the agendas.

The committees also further discussed information items, such as the $2.3 million budget reduction WKU now faces and the passage of Senate Bill 130, allowing the creation of the physical therapy doctoral program.

The Board of Regents has its second meeting of the year on April 29.

Mandatory student fee for DUC renovation approved

Effective fall 2011, full-time students will pay an extra $70 fee per semester to fund renovations made to Downing University Center until the full amount of the debt has been paid.

With the renovation project cost estimated at $49,129,000, the university plans to sell bonds in conjunction with enacting the fee to retire the project’s debt in 20 years.

University still on track to reach capital campaign goal

Since the regents last met in January, almost another $1 million has been raised in WKU’s current capital campaign, “A New Century of Spirit.”

The $200 million campaign, which is set to end in 2012, is about $25 million in donations away from being finished.

Once this campaign is completed, the university will soon implement another, President Gary Ransdell said in January.

“We’ll complete this campaign by June 30, 2012 and knock the socks off this goal,” Ransdell said. “In a matter of three or four years, we’ll catch our breath and begin planning for the next one, which will be significantly larger. That’s just the world in which we live, and Kathryn (Costello, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations) will set the stage for us very well.”

New degrees, certificates approved by regents

At the Academic Affairs committee meeting, five new degree programs and undergraduate certificates were approved.

The programs approved on Wednesday included a master of arts in teaching, master of arts in social responsibility and sustainable communities, and a bachelor of science in mathematical Economics.

English professor Jane Olmsted said the master of arts in social responsibility and sustainable communities will be unlike any other degree now offered at WKU.

WKU now only offers a sustainability minor within the geography department, which is more science-oriented, she said.

In this degree program, Olmsted said students will examine more practical means of applying sustainability to communities around the world.

The certificates approved include an undergraduate certificate in computer literacy and an undergraduate certificate in information systems.

All of the programs will be implemented in fall 2011 if approved by the full board later this month.

Enrollment

On Wednesday, Registrar Frieda Eggleton released WKU’s final enrollment numbers for spring 2011.

With 19,490 students currently enrolled, the university gained 34 students compared to spring 2010.