At its regular meeting on Friday, June 22, on the CU Boulder campus, the University of Colorado Board of Regents voted to approve the operating budget for the CU system and all four campuses, including a $1.8 billion budget for the Boulder campus.
Operating budget
The board voted to approve the fiscal year 2018–19 operating budget for the CU system and all four campuses. The board had previously voted in April to approve tuition and fees as well as a faculty and staff compensation pool for 2018-19. Today’s vote finalizes the $4.5 billion operating budget for the CU system, including the auxiliary and restricted fund budgets for the Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver and Anschutz Medical campuses, as well as for the Board of Regents and system administration. The total budget for the CU Boulder campus is $1.8 billion.
The campus budget also includes the following:
- A nearly $3.2 million compensation initiative that includes graduate student teaching faculty (TA) stipends, instructor faculty salary adjustments and front-line service employee investments. More details can be found in a PDF document on the CU Boulder operating budget.
- An investment in student success, which includes increased support for academic units, the new Impact Scholarship, merit- and need-based aid, and program and course fee elimination.
- The budget also includes increased funding for colleges and schools to support costs associated with recent enrollment growth.
Board leadership elections
At the conclusion of the public meeting on Friday, the board held leadership elections to select the chair and vice chair of the board for the coming year.
Regent Sue Sharkey, a republican from Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, was elected board chair in a 5–4 decision, narrowly defeating Stephen Ludwig, an at-large Democrat. Sharkey was elected in 2010 to serve her first term on the CU Board of Regents and re-elected to a second term in 2016. Her six-year term ends in January 2023.
Regent Jack Kroll, a democrat from Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, was elected board vice chair.
Contract extension-amendment of CU Boulder basketball Head Coach Tad Boyle
The board voted by consent agenda to approve a one-year contract extension for men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle as part of Boyle’s rolling 5-year contract. Boyle’s updated contract will expire on June 30, 2023.
Discussion on student mental health
As part of the board’s new standing agenda item for exploring emerging issues, Matt Vogl, executive director of the National Mental Health Innovation Center at the Anschutz Medical Campus, presented on student mental health and initiatives underway at his organization. Vogl discussed mental health issues facing teens and college students today, as well as how mental health issues emerge on university campuses. A major theme of the discussion was that crisis intervention, while crucial, should not be a primary strategy for mental health, but rather that CU and other institutions should focus their resources on preventative mental health services.
More information
In day one of its meeting, on Thursday, June 22, the Board of Regents heard a paid parental leave update, approved a new online degree and new departments, and more. For more details or to see presentations from the meeting visit the BoardDocs website.
