Moving Forward: Board of Supervisors working to reorganize and restructure

The Southern University System board meeting was held on Friday April 22, at 9 AM in the J. S. Clark Administration building. There were five items on the agenda, beginning with the University’s Academic Affairs Committee that began with a call to order, roll call, adoption of the agenda and public comments from several faculty members with different concerns. There were a number of requested approvals such as a request to fill the endowed professorship position for SULC, SUNO and SUSLA, request for approval of promotion recommendations, spring commencement exercises, approval of modification of criteria for SUS posthumous degree policy, approval of honorary doctorate for SUBR and approval letter of intent to offer certificate of general studies degree for SUSLA.
All requests with the exception of the promotion recommendations for the Southern University Law Center were approved.
The next item on the agenda referred to the Athletics Committee and the informational item of the 2016 SUBR Football schedule. Also the Finance Committee reported the interim financial report as of March 2016.
The Personnel Affairs committee requested approval of personnel action on positions greater than $60,000 and for employment contract for chancellor John Pierre for Southern University Shreveport.
All of which were granted.
Moving along with the meeting the SU men’s basketball team gave a special presentation to the board, thanking them for their support.
The board also discussed and approved to give honorary degrees for our fallen Jaguars, Annette January and Lashuntae Benton.
President-Chancellor Dr. Ray L. Belton shared with the board the strategic plan for years to come.
“The strategic plan at SUBR is a plan for our vision, goals and strategies to be gathered by for over the next five years. It speaks of goals and how we plan on fulfilling that goal and when we anticipate the completion of that activity,” said Belton.
“I think it’s a measure that will use as a guide to help us focus on specific things in order to move the university forward. It’s also an instrument that will allow students, faculty and staff to be able to measure what we need to do.”
When asked about the significance of the honorary degrees for the two fallen female students, Belton replied, “I think it’s so important that we honor Ms. Benton and Ms. January with a degree from Southern University. From my observation they did the right thing. They are daughters of SUBR and it is appropriate. I think we should provide their family evidence that they were apart of Southern University.”
Board member, Ann Smith, spoke on the state of the SUBR System.
“I think that for the most part we are working towards reorganization and restructuring. There is a lot we need to put in place for the benefit of our students,” finished Smith.
The meeting ended accordingly as Dr. Leon R. Tarver II and Belton gave their closing remarks.