Okay, it's 345 Good afternoon this meet, the meeting of the Wayne State University Board of Board of Governors. Excuse me. Is called to order. We are joined today by many members of our university community, including seven individuals who have signed up to provide public comments. We ask that everyone in attendance please be respectful of this meeting, silence all electronic devices and adhere to university policies, guidelines and instructions. If the meeting is disrupted to the point where the board's business cannot be completed and the meeting has to be recessed or adjourned. Public comment will not be held. I now ask the secretary to please call the roll. Thank
you. Governor Dickinson here, governor Governor here, Governor Kelly here,
Governor Kumar here, Governor land
here, Governor Redding here, Governor St cloudman,
wonderful. Thank you. Now we have the we begin this afternoon's meeting with a very special presentation. The Wayne State University Board of Governors established the Eugene dreicher Award for Distinguished Service in 2022 to honor individuals who have dedicated commitment to Wayne State University and our community and have made an enduring impact. Eugene was a proud and passionate alum as an advocate for Wayne State University and the city of Detroit, serving on the University's Board of Governors and as chair of the Wayne State University Foundation Board, amongst many other roles across our city. The award honors tireless supporters like Eugene who performed extraordinary service on behalf of both the university and the community. We are honored today that his wife, Elaine Riker, is here with us this afternoon. We
are so grateful to Elaine and the drinker family for all that they have done and continue to do to uplift the way state and all whom we serve, we honor their legacy today as we present the Eugene dreiber Award for distinguished service to James and Patricia Anderson. The Andersons have joined us today for today's presentation, and will we will be inviting them to accept the award following the conclusion of Governor snaccatos remarks Governor snaccato,
thank you, President Heston, on behalf of Wayne State University and the Board of Governors, I'm proud to present Jean dreyford award for distinct service to James and Patricia Anderson for their extraordinary commitment to Wayne State University and the local community. The Andersons deep rooted connection to Wayne State began in 1970 when Jim earned his graduate degree from the College of Engineering and became an adjunct instructor. The environmental models and data mapping techniques Jim developed at the college formed the foundation of urban science. The firm he founded in 1977 have built into a leader in automotive consultancy and technology, with headquarters in Detroit and 20 offices around the world. Jim has said his time as a Wayne State student and faculty member helped him realize the power of quality STEM education to transform lives, economies and communities, a trusted and ever present influence on campus. Jim has served as a chair and member of the College of Engineering board visitors and on the Wayne State University Foundation, as an executive committee member and board chair on the pivotal moments. Campaign leadership Steering Committee. He supported a landmark philanthropic effort that raised more than $775 million before the university. For decades, Jim has continued to dedicate his time and energy to Wayne State, while growing urban science as its president and CEO, a commitment that would not be possible without his wife Patty, she is an equal partner in their endeavors, facilitating Jim's success and volunteerism while leading important volunteer work herself. In 2014 the Andersons established the James and Patricia Anderson engineering vendors ventures Institute, which fosters innovation and entrepreneurship among engineering students and faculty while providing opportunities to build valuable expertise in applied research, technology commercialization and business creation. In April 2025 the admin has made a $50 million gift to Wayne State to accelerate research, entrepreneurship and student success in the College of Engineering in recognition of their historic investment, the largest single gift in the university's 157 year history. The college has been renamed the James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering. Jim and Patty are also passionate about helping veterans and active service members supporting organizations including the Wounded Warrior Project and. Batson returned home. Their effort and generosity helped establish Wayne State's Colonel Gregory Gadsden Office of Military and Veterans academic excellence beyond campus. They support and volunteer for the helm ash Detroit and the Charlevoix circle for the arts. Jim serves on the host committee for Crain's Detroit homecoming and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Detroit Economic Club. Jim and Patty have also committed their time, energy and financial support to Teach For America Junior Achievement in Detroit high schools and blessing in a backpack in Detroit elementary schools as tireless advocates and champions for Wayne State University, our community as a power of higher education, the Andersons embody the selfless spirit and values that the dreyf award represents. Their contributions lead to generational impact, transforming lives for students and families and empowering innovation that changes the world from the heart of Detroit. For this reason, Wayne State University is honored to present James and Patricia Anderson with the Eugene Reich Award for distinguished service. Please come up
and join us to accept The award. You
come up and Join
us. Okay, good afternoon, everybody.
Quite an honor, frankly, beyond my imagination. And my wife will certify that I have quite an imagination. When I started my business, one of the first things I had to do in 19 late 1976 for a 1977 startup, was final lawyer, and I asked a friend of mine who I should talk to about getting a lawyer, and he said, I know exactly the guy to get. He works for small businesses, and he's really sharp, and I guess he was a U of M grad, but we won't hold that against him, but his name happened to be Michael Stabler. Now some of you may know and others may not know that his son, Neil Staebler, Ted stapler, followed his path, and here's at Wayne State doing a great job for helping the university be what it is today,
beyond all the good work he's done, I can tell you, I've known Ned for so long when I first met him, I was taller. He is He was, in any event, his father was my first lawyer. I've known him since the day we entertained Michael. That's my lawyer. Back then,
children in the basement of our home in Grosse Pointe and Ned, as I recall, it ran into the steel post. Is holding up the main floor of the house.
Father's a lawyer. Better make sure he's okay, and he turned out okay. I also have to tell you that if I hadn't gone to Wayne State, it was a deliberate choice of mine in many ways, like many others that go to Wayne State, I didn't have the money that was necessary to not find a job and go to college, and so I chose Wayne State because it was close to where I could find a job, and it turned out that that job, miraculously, actually turned into my business. And timing was everything, as the old saying goes. But if I hadn't gone to Wayne State, there's no chance I would have had the opportunity to start my business, not because the other schools can't teach similar kinds of stuff, but because I was close to my client. And when you're in school and you're sweating every meal that you have to pay for money really matters, and so being able to work and go to school and build a business was really how the secret sauce came together that enabled me to build urban science what it is today, and today, We are the world's leader and all data analytics that relate to managing the sale of new automobiles all around the world for basically all of the car companies, Using what way back when, was known as solving weighted pbdn problems using a computer. Today that's called AI, and so I can say with certainty that my company, urban science got started in AI. Before the term AI ever made the instrument, and today we are still doing the same stuff, advanced versions of AI. None of that would have happened, but there's even frosting on the cake. The frosting is because I was involved with computer mapping, and because of that, I got contacts at Cadillac motor car. And because of that, I got introduced to the guy that trained GM people on how to sell cars. And because of that, I was introduced to the guy, and because of that, he said, I've got a friend visit next door to me who have single and maybe you might want to meet him. So I said, Well, okay, I'm single, so let's, let's give it a try. And that's where I met my wife.
The choices are very simple. If I hadn't gone to Wayne State, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet my wife, and I wouldn't have the opportunity to have my family today, and so those are all good reasons to go to Wayne State, at least in my experience now, all that said that those same opportunities exist today, even more so why? And this is how I look at gifting money to Wayne. State, I don't really think I'm just giving money to Wayne State. I feel I'm giving money to my community, which includes Wayne State, as we all work together to make Detroit and the metro area a better place to live. Cologne,
so as the math keeps working, getting better and stronger, and the data gets better and better and better, we're going to be able to do a lot more things better than we have in the past. And where does all that end up? Right here in Metro Detroit, the simple fact of the matter is about 85% of the students who come to Wayne State come from this metro Detroit area, and after graduation, about 85% of the students that graduate stay in the metro Detroit area. That's a far cry from any of the more traditional. A four year universities, blue and yellow comes to mind. Green and White comes to mind, far different than that situation where the students, I can't tell you one that I know that came from my neighborhood, but I can tell you a lot of Wayne State folks that came from my neighborhood, and so I view us all as investing in our community when we invest in Wayne State, and that's really why we do this. And in the words of guy Lincoln, the best way to predict the future is to create it. And what we're doing here at Wayne State, and you're welcome to join the team. What we're doing here at Wayne State is designed to make this place we live in a better place, and to provide opportunity for the next generation and the generation and the generation after that, because there is no time limit on inventing a better future. That's my advice. Thank you very much. Applause.
I fail to remember one point for those who say I could, if I would, if, soon as I hear the if this isn't going to happen. This isn't going to happen, but when what comes back is, I can do that. I will do that. Then get out of the way. Just go do it, and that's what we call the can do attitude. It's a direct conflict with many people have what I call the can't do attitude. But here at Wayne State, we can do it. We can do it because we got a great education. But more than that, you got the attitude, the attitude and the incentive to do it, because we want to make a better life for ourselves, a better life for our community, a better life for our children, and a better life for generations. And that's what I expect to see. The end game being for this money that we're donating by inventing a better future, using technology, turning it into a business, getting it sold, making
a lot of money. It took, took $1,000 to get my business started, and I never put another nickel into it, but for retained earnings. So when people say I could do it,
if so, let's all get on the wagon. Okay, I can do that. We'll send it.
So congratulations once again to Jim and Patty for all that you've done for this university, and I'm grateful too for Elaine for being here, for representing the impact of this award on our community. So now moving to the next portion of our meeting, we turn to the approval of the consent agenda. I ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. First we have approval of the official proceedings of April 25 2025 from the regular board meeting, from Academic and Student Affairs, we have the discontinuance of The Bachelor of Science in radiologic technology, discontinuance of the Graduate Certificate in alternative energy technology, the discontinuance of the Graduate Certificate One in Polymer Engineering and the WSU code of conduct, section 2.3 amendment for the budget finance committee. We have the bank line of credit renewal. We have the College of Education, building, HVAC, work capital project. May I please have a motion?
Is there support, or are
there any comments or questions All in favor, aye opposed. Abstentions. The motion carries. Now we'll move on to personnel recommendations. There are two personnel actions before the board. The first is approval of the personnel recommendations submitted by Provost clabo. I ask for a motion that the. Board of Governors approved the personnel recommendations for tenure promotion to full professor and administrative appointments other than those separately submitted. May I have a motion? Is
there support? Are
there any comments or questions? All in favor? Aye, opposed abstentions. The motion carries next, I am delighted to present my recommendation to appoint Rohini Anantha Krishnan as the inaugural vice president for digital strategy and operational excellence, effective August 4 of 2025 this recommendation comes following a national search that identified a strong pool of exceptional individuals. Rohini brings more than 23 years of leadership experience in information technology, advanced reporting, data analytics and enterprise wide process improvements at the University of Denver. She served in several roles with progressively increasing responsibility, most recently as the Interim Chief Information Officer and the Vice Chancellor of Information Technology. Throughout her career, she has consistently championed innovation, improving services and strengthening participatory governance of digital technologies and information I am delighted that she will be joining our senior leadership team, and know that she will make a tremendous impact at Wayne State for the years to come, I ask for a motion that the Board of Governors approve the appointment of Rohini as vice president for digital strategy and operational excellence effective August 4, 2025 May I please have a motion, Motion support or comments or questions, all in favor, opposed. Abstentions The motion carries. Our next item is the establishment of endowments based on the recommendations from the Division of Development and Alumni Affairs. I ask for a motion that the Board of Governors establish endowment funds as listed in your materials, totaling $4,613,798.65
for the purposes presented, okay, please have a motion? Is there support? Support,
comments or questions? All in favor, opposed, abstentions. The motion carries. Next in your materials is the schedule of board meetings for the 2025 2026 year, which is presented for your approval a motion please
support, comments or questions
All in favor, opposed or abstentions. The motion carries, we now look to reports from our three standing committees that met this morning, beginning, beginning with the Academic and Student Affairs Committee, Governor spa Cotto, the Academic
and Student Affairs Committee met this morning with a number of action items and informational reports on the agenda. The committee approved discontinuance of certificate programs in alternative energy technology and Polymer Engineering, and discontinued the BS program in radiologic and technology. The committee also approved the recommendation to amend a section of the student code of conduct which addresses the emergence of artificial intelligence as a tool used by students. The Committee also received the annual course materials fees report, which provides a summary of those fees approved for fall 2025 and the annual update on the status of 2025 renovation reviews underway across the campus. Lastly, Provost clabo and Associate Provost Christine Jackson discussed the college to career initiative as part of Wayne State University's Student Success 2.0 strategy. The College to Career initiative is transforming how students engage with career development, starting in their first year, through proactive integration career services into first year, seminars, orientation, digital platforms and employer engagement. The initiative ensures all students have access to clear pathways, tools and support that prepare them for meaningful careers after graduation. That concludes my report. Thank you, Governor. Sing out. Our next is Business and Finance Committee. Governor Barnhill, thank
you. The Budget and Finance Committee met this morning and covered a large number of important issues for the university, as it does each June. Our agenda included consideration of the recommendations for the setting of tuition and fees for all but the EMB program, and of the proposed general fund and auxiliary fund budgets which will be presented this afternoon to the full board each year, the board spends a significant amount of time and review and preparation leading up to this meeting. As such, this morning's discussion one of the culmination of ongoing work by both the administrator. Tuition and the board over the last several months. In addition to approval of the recommendations on tuition and fees and budgets, the committee also approved a capital project for the College of Education and renewal of the university's line of credit, and we received our usual standard reports on major capital projects and purchasing exceptions for contracts awarded without competitive bids. There were no requests for transfers from the contingency fund. At this time, I would like to bring forward the committee's recommendations on the fiscal year 2025 2026 tuition and fee rates and the university's general fund and auxiliary fund budgets for fiscal year 2026 following the committee's thoughtful discussion this morning, those recommendations were approved and are now brought to the full board for its consideration to begin this process. President esby, I would like to make a motion that the Board of Governors approved the fiscal year 2026 tuition rates and mandatory fees as presented, and ask that you provide the details of this recommendation once the motion has been second.
Thank you, Governor Barnhill for the motion. Is there a second? In summary, the recommendation is the tuition and fee for Wayne State University increased by 4.5% for all undergraduate, graduate and professional students, except for the School of Medicine students, MD students, tuition and fees for the School of Medicine MD program were approved by the Board of Governors in April for mandatory fees. Wayne State University requires all students to pay a registration fee on semester basis and a student services fee on a per credit hour basis. It is proposed that the registration free fee increased by 4.5% for all undergraduate, graduate and professional students, excluding the School of Medicine MB program students who are charged a separate fee, the student services fee, is proposed to increase by 4.5% for all undergraduate, graduate and professional students. It is also recommended that the Board of Governors authorize the president or her designee to adjust the rates for special programs or where otherwise appropriate. Finally, as recommended, board of members authorize the president or her designee to modify the rates according accordingly. If the final state of Michigan tuition restraint is lower than 4.5% tables reflecting the tuition and fee rates implemented by this recommendation will be included in the proceedings for the meeting. Are there any comments or questions? All in favor?
Opposed? Abstentions, the motion carries.
The motion carries. Next. We move on to the general fund and auxiliary budgets. I ask for a motion that the Board of Governors approve fiscal year 2026 general fund and auxiliary fund budgets. As presented with this approval, the Board of Governors authorizes the president to implement the budget management procedures and budget related policies with such modifications as may be deemed necessary during the fiscal year. May I have a motion support
other comments or questions,
all in favor, opposed.
Abstentions. The motion carries, thank you, governors. We very much appreciate the report. Next, we move on to Health Affairs Research and Economic Development Governor
Bucha the Health Affairs Research and Economic Development Committee meeting focused on two areas. The first was an opportunity for the committee to review and comment on a conflict of interest contract with a company owned by a faculty member in the School of Medicine, Dr Jack Sobel. Dr Sobel joined Wayne State in 1985 as the chief of infectious disease, and his tenure at the university has been one of intellectual discovery and Distinguished Leadership. Among many other roles, he served as dean of the School of Medicine from 2015 to 2020 continuing to see patients and continuing his research focus throughout that period and in the ensuing years, we are fortunate to have Dr SOP join the meeting this morning where he provided the committee with the background on his company, oritran and the collaborative work that has resulted in technology that will be licensed through this contract. The committee recommended that the Board of Governors approved this contract, which will come forward in just a moment. Next the committee had the opportunity to hear from Dr BJ Costello, our new Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, who provided an inspiring overview of his first few months on the job. He shared his vision for elevating Wayne State's. Impact through bold initiatives in artificial intelligence and inter professional education, both of which are now launching collaborative working groups this summer. We also heard from Dr Haley Thompson, the national leader in community engaged cancer research, whose work has trained hundreds of community members and strengthened access to care through innovative partnerships. Finally, we heard from one of our outstanding PhD students, Natalie Snyder, hoy, who is advancing research in colorectal cancer and advocating for science funding. The committee felt energized by the momentum in Health Affairs and the promise of what's ahead with that President, eneski, I would like to place the committee's recommendation on the table now by moving that the President or designee contract with board Tran incorporated to enter into an exclusive license for the commercialization of intellectual property related to treatment of vaginosis andor vaginitis.
Thank you. Governor busido, is there a second
great will the secretary please call the roll? Governor
Atkinson,
yes. Governor Barnhill Yes. Governor busuil,
yes. Governor Kelly, yes. Governor Yes. Governor land Yes. Governor Redding, yes, and Governor Singh Kappa, yes.
Wonderful. Thank you, Julie. Then we'll move on to the university report. Under tab eight, you will find a written report that covers wide ranging updates from Wayne State schools, colleges and divisions since our last meeting in April. The report reflects the exceptional effort of so many in our university community who have made a difference every day for our students, our families, our communities. So I would encourage everyone to please read it, because there's all sorts of awesome accomplishments, but I will take a few minutes to briefly highlight just a sampling of awesome stuff that happens on our campus every day. So we met remember at the end of April. So what happened between now and April is graduation, yay. And I don't know why this isn't going where it needs
to Okay. There we go, graduation. Back to my enthusiasm. So we had nearly 3000 degrees awarded. I remind everybody, nearly half of our students are first generation in their family to go and in this case, graduate from college. And with eight out of every 10 of our students staying in this community to live and work, what an impact we make every semester, day in and day out. What a great way to start the summer. Next we have Jonathan, who was Wayne State University's first Udall Scholarship a scholar. He's an environmental science major. This is one of the prestigious awards that truly marks the outstanding education and faculty mentorship that happens here at Wayne State. In this case, Jonathan was mentored by Interim Dean Dr Elena past and the Honors College and the work he's done really befits, I think, our college to career initiative and experience. He joins colleagues who, last year we won our first Marshall scholarship and our first Truman Scholar in 2024 so congratulations again to Jonathan. Four undergraduate students received the US Department of State's Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship, Maryam al Zahari, Dana bauzi, Christina, elkeboot and Brandon, your all received funding and support to study abroad, to deepen their impact and deepen their learning. And it's wonderful to see these kind of awards that is so befitting of our students, our Scott our student athletes, are winning in the on the court, third year in a row where women's tennis won the NCAA regional to advance to the Sweet 16. They were ranked 27th and they pulled off an upset against Dallas Baptist and unfortunately lost in the Elite Eight. And then now you see on the right, Coach horn, a 24 year head coach at Wayne State men's golf, was named GLIAC Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career and led the team to outstanding success. It's not only on the field or in the court that our student athletes succeed. Here you see our students, our student athletes, working really hard and achieving an outstanding cumulative GPA across our teams. I'm incredibly proud of what these students do off in the in the classroom, because they spend an awful lot of time on competing on our behalf, and their success is truly remarkable. The arts. Our Detroit artist market selected 10 students for their 2025 scholarship award and exhibition. Here you see a sampling of some of the outstanding work. Three of these. Artists exhibited their work in the historical museum, and three finalists received the esteemed John karacha scholarship by connecting students with professional exhibition opportunities and community recognition. This initiative reflects our commitment to accelerating student mobility through real world engagement. But it's not just our students who are doing outstanding things. It's our faculty here. There are many faculty who receive national honorifics that are both extremely prestigious, that bring the kind of recognition to their work, whether it's James Bohr who received the Outstanding Investigator Award our own Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, Jack Sobel, we heard from this morning, Simon's fellows, Dr Isaacson and Dr lash received his disciplinary award. Our faculty are succeeding and being recognized for their outstanding impact, that includes winning and competing in nationally competitive grants, which is getting exceedingly difficult in the national climate. Whether you have the NASA award on our far left or some of our NIH awards on the far right, our faculty are succeeding and bringing that impact back here to our students to really be driving innovation and discovery. And it's not just about making an impact nationally. We also turn this work as an urban serving research institution towards benefiting our communities. Dr Wong is working in mobile chargers. We have worked with infants and babies and health disparities and looking at new ways for treatments and outcome. And kudos to all of these faculty who have been recognized with these awards. I'm so excited by the live, innovate play partnership picking up on the community theme that's back through a partnership with me DC and their make Michigan home. Kudos to tech town for working with our faculty and staff to bring this kind of award where our innovators can actually live together and work and get the kind of entrepreneurial support to turn their ideas into success. Our Medical School alumni reunion happened about, I think, about a month ago, where we brought back alumni across generations from 1962 to 2020 where they were able to gain some CME experience, took campus and city tours, went to a Tigers game and had a truly outstanding weekend. And it doesn't stop with things that go on on our border. I'm pleased that we, the whole entire leadership team, actually has been spending an awful lot of time advocating for Wayne State, whether it's with our federal government in DC, in Lansing, with our state, you see some pictures here, or whether it's in Mackinac policy conference. And I thank all the executive and academic leadership who participate in these activities. It's really important to get the stories out about the impactful work that Wayne State does every day, so that people are aware of our success. All right, so that was a quick dashboard tour, as I said, I would encourage everyone to please read that, read the report. Okay? Item nine on our agenda is the special topic presentation. Today's topic is the initial status update, because this work has just gotten started on our strategic plan refresh that we started in May, and is chaired by Provost colebo. Thank you, Provost, and I also recognize the service and leadership of our board chair, Shirley stankado, on behalf of the entire board. Okay, so we're going to go kind of do this and tag team, because I think everyone's going to talk a little bit. So we would go to the first slide.
Well, we may have to. I'm back to our strategic
plan refresh. Let's give a
little bit why we fix the technology Everyone can talk
amongst themselves. Oh, that's close back to
the remind everyone, set a little bit of context here that we use you remember each of the board meetings, we've used one of this special session to dive into a series of metrics, our institutional KPIs that are organized according to our strategic plan. Focus areas. These KPIs are all based on our progress over time, but they're also based on comparison. To our 10 peer set reflecting other public urban serving institutions, research institutions across the country. It's a way to both benchmark our relative progress, but also to understand the national context in which Wayne State sits. So we can both think about areas of opportunity to further improve and increase, but also to share some of the best practices that are happening here with our colleagues. And so each of these what we're going to do is we're going to go through some of the things that we presented before. So here's the example of the metrics that we've produced in the past that have guided the way we've described our progress on the strategic plan, as you see both comparing a past to the past, as well as forecasting against our peers. And then some of the highlights that we shared over this last year at these sessions. Maybe Laura, you want to take teaching and learning, and we'll kind of tag team on these Sure.
So I think the first time we presented our KPIs to the board, we focused on teaching, learning and student success as the strategic focus area in our plan, and in that earlier presentation to the board, we presented metrics demonstrating how we provide opportunity and access to a world class education in order to support student achievement, expand prosperity for both our students and Our Community. You'll recall that we presented data on our enrollment and graduation rates. We introduced you a little bit to the makeup of our campus and our student body. We presented other data related to student success, and we also spoke, as you'll see on that small chart on the right hand side, about our successful strategies used in our first iteration of student success, the strategies that brought us to a 60% graduation rate where we are now comparable to our national peers. Next steps. Now we promised you we are taking a precision, targeted approach as we launch Student Success 2.0 every warrior rises, including our drive to 75 for a six year, 75% graduation rate on the left, you'll remember that we also animated our discussion of this work through introducing into one of our students in April, Ahmed el Sayed and his wife el Sayed described how Wayne State changed his life and changed his future. Ahmad graduated in May with a master's degree from the JC nutrition Anderson College of Engineering and the central collegiate fencing conference also awarded him their assistant coach of the year award. We're pleased to report that Ahmed has now taken the next step in his journey, accepting his first full time coaching position. This is an example of the work that is done by our faculty, our staff and our leadership team in supporting student success through excellence.
Next we'll hear from esmenari on research and discovery.
Yes, as you all recall, we present a lot of data as it relates to how we've been progressing from an R and D standpoint. One of the things that we're really proud of in this past year is seeing a significant increase in federal research expenditures, in addition to our total research expenditures totaling to almost a 10% increase, which we hope would actually change the trend of us losing ground in our national rankings and actually picking up ground on this next go around. In order to do that, it really takes big team efforts. And so one of the things we decided to highlight was a big center grant, the Center of Excellence in this space of Environmental Sciences, and we're able to highlight and the reason why that's important is that when you have these national center grants, they're generative of opportunities, whether it's additional training mechanisms that get attached to it, you qualify for mechanisms that others can apply for. You can put pilot grants together in order to get new teams working in this space. And so this is a good example of a grant that generated additional R ones and R 21 and other mechanisms that came out of that. And so really just capitalizing on the importance of bringing people from across the campus to go after a very big idea. And so with
that community engagement, Ed,
thanks, yeah. You saw in April, we presented on the RCT and talked about how that the Division of Economic entrepreneurship and economic development and Dorie and academic affairs are all partnering together. You saw a couple of faculty members that are commercializing technologies like cogent at Wayne State, I'm sorry the tech out of tech town. Wayne State's been out, but is now located over at Tech town. And you also heard about the early success of our new wsu COVID office, which stands for opportunity, partnership, engagement and networking, which really is meant to be a front door into the university to help folks from outside of the university connect and find. In what could be a challenging environment. And one of the things we didn't quite anticipate, but it's been a real pleasant surprise that a lot of the inquiries are coming from inside the house, people inside the university, looking for things inside the university or to connect outside of university as well. So and then also, I think I'm going to turn this over to the President? Yes,
indeed. And so in order to support go ahead to the next slide, there are some support the effort around a strategic plan refresh. What we've done is we've taken those KPI indicators that we had in the scorecard and we've turned them into a dashboard that is easily accessible and will support some of the efforts by those who are undertaking the refresh. So if we could just pull up the web page, this will be fully accessible to the community through Wayne State login and just show the first graph. Maybe. Is there a series of 20 different metrics, the ones that you've seen on the scorecards that we've presented that will now be publicly available. Well, if this gets too hard, we can just, oh, there we go. Wonderful. So there's a great example. So on the left hand side, if you can just stay on this one, that's fine. The graphs all look the same relative to the series of indicators. You see when states progress over time and our own individual change. And then you see where we are at the last year, in comparison with our peers, both the main and where Wayne State falls. So for all 24 of the metrics, we have these available. And so this will be a great living site that not only helps us, but I think when you were describing the strategic plan refresh, there was a sense of increase, what, improve what, and these kind of metrics will help support not only the strategic plan, but realizing the goals in the strategic plan. So I'm really grateful to our IrDA team, our communications folks, who stood this up in really our CNIT, which actually provided us the new mechanism to do this behind the firewall so it's nice and safe and secure. So thank you all for getting this together, because I think it'll be a very important resource, both for the committee that's working, but also for our community in terms of accountability and transparency. So let's pivot a little bit to talk about where we are in the strategic plan process. So if you'd go back to the slides, thank you.
One more down.
So just a little bit of context setting. I'll just remind everybody, you've seen this slide before. You've seen the slide up on the web page that documents the strategic plan refresh. But just a reminder to everybody our moment in time, Strategic Plan was intended to be a living document, and should be adapted and updated as needed, and obviously, now's the perfect time to articulate who we are in preparation for the public phase of our comprehensive campaign, because this is the natural time to inspire our community to engage our donors to give and our friends to support us. Fundamentally, we've heard over and over again from the community that the phones are sound you know, somebody's rehabbed a bunch of houses. I think that's a great way to talk about it, that we're moving in the right direction. Continuity is warranted, but there's some things we might want to tweak, update, refresh, and then again, this is a refresh, not a redo. So now I'm going to turn it over to Provost playbo To talk a little bit about the process and where they are today and what's planned for the future.
So first, I'd show introduce to you the members of the strategic plan refresh Committee, which is a committee that is inclusive of faculty, staff, student and university leadership representatives, we are all engaged in regular meetings. We've been meeting for three weeks, and we've met three times. The committee is also soliciting feedback via a form that's available on our recently updated Strategic Plan website. We have five remaining meetings this summer. And I want to be able to show you the committee is hard at work. We have, we have received our charge from board chair, Governor Stan Cotto and President espy. We have held, as I said, three meetings. We have five additional meetings scheduled through the summer. The work you'll see the committee engaged in the photos on this slide is going through each of the 94 objectives contained in the existing strategic plan and beginning to sort for ourselves some of the objectives that we believe have already been accomplished in the years since the plan was adopted, those that we see as being duplicate across strategic and focus areas. As I said, we're beginning to get some feedback from the campus community on their perceptions of the plan as it exists and. Now this is the process and timeline for our ongoing work. We fully intend that the committee will have some version of a graph to share with the campus community by the end of this summer, and that that that work will shape a next draft of the plan will socialize the draft a lot through a variety of different kinds of engagements occurring throughout the fall semester, and then it will be reviewed through our existing shared governance process. Obviously, the board will be receiving regular updates on our process. The plan will go to the University Leadership Council, as well as our Academic
and Student
Senate for review, the President and I will do a very short period of review, and we hope all going well to be able to present a final draft of the plan to the board will be the ultimate approvers. Of our next version of a refreshed strategic plan. Governor, Santa, I don't know if you have comments
on process thus far. The thing that I'd like to say is that I'm really impressed with how interactive the individuals are and are able to express our feelings we don't all agree, and that's a good thing. And so I'm just excited about that process, but the process being what it is I'm excited about,
and we will plan to bring back to the board at both the September, October and December meetings, updates, much like this, of where we are and what's going on so that campus discussion and plan refinement, as well as shared governance, includes ongoing discussions and presentations to the board,
questions, comments for the board
discussion, the final item on the agenda is public comment. I turn to board chair, Stan cotta first for opening remarks on behalf of the Board of Governors. Thank you. President este
the board welcomes the opportunity to hear from students, faculty, staff and all in our broader community during public comment. The board also encourages you to submit written or video comments through our website. This session is for individuals to share their perspectives with the board, not for interactive dialog. No matter how you share your thoughts and ideas with us, please know we are listening, reading and taking your perspectives into consideration as the board's work continues. President esby, could
you continue? Yes. Thank you. Chairman Cano, today's public comment session includes seven speakers who registered to speak before Tuesday's deadline. Each speaker has three minutes to speak when the time elapses on the clock, the remarks are concluded. Secretary Miller, will you please call each speaker to provide comment? Thank you.
Thank you. President. Espy, before I call the first name, I'd like to remind all speakers and attendees that current copies of any materials to be shared with the board must be given to Deborah Harris, our Assistant Secretary, Lucida, table to the right of the podium.
Deborah, raise her hand.
These materials will be shared with the board after this meeting. Could we bring up the clock please? First speaker is Teresa Williams, please come to the podium. Debbie, good
afternoon,
everyone. My name is Teresa Williams alumni, Wayne State,
graduate of University of Detroit, mercy, certified teacher with the state of Michigan. I worked for DPS since the 90s, and recently designed in 2023 licensed Realtor as well here in the state of Michigan. But I haven't been able to crack the code to Wayne State's law school. I've applied three times, and requested feedback and also some direction as to what was the process of how students are chosen. I am a Detroit high school graduate, which would make me eligible for the Damon J Keith scholarship, and so I'm requesting that the board could get transparency on what is the process, or what almost like a rubric so, so to speak. And maybe I know, I don't know how many people that apply every year, but something is that provides a guideline to students like myself who to at least make the inquiry, because I've never received anything as to why I didn't get it, even if I requested it, and it's very difficult to navigate the department and talk to I don't know who's in charge, who's making the decisions. What is the. Criteria, how many students are Have you admitted? So that needs to be more a transparent process, is what I'm requesting, because I will continue to apply, but I will would like some more clarification on the criteria and who is being admitted. How many students are admitted each year? And that's pretty much what I'm requesting the board to be able to provide to applicants like myself, and, you know, just transparency so that we we is a fair and equitable, equitable process. Thank you. Our next, our next speaker is James Joseph. I
Joseph. James
Joseph, good afternoon, respected Board of Governors. My name is James Joseph. I am an EVP with HTC Global Services, and IT services company. And I'm also a volunteer a trainer with the heartfulness Institute. I'm here with a proposal to introduce a course for students and faculty, required integrating heartfulness, which is meditation, meditation and contemplative practices into higher education, cultivating emotional intelligence, focus, resilience and purpose in students. We all know that we are going through a mental crisis in the campuses. One in three college students report anxiety, depression, loneliness or burnout, based on several studies and rising academic pressure, screen fatigue and social fragmentation increase the emotional burden, and there's a gap in curriculum, most universities focus on knowledge acquisition, but few systematically reach teach self regulation, emotional balance or inner clarity, thoughtfulness addresses this gap through experiential learning, not just theory. So what is heartfulness? Heartfulness is a heart based approach to meditation and contemplation and self development, rooted in ancient yogic science and adapted to modern life. It is non religious, secular and inclusive. Is backed by neuroscience, positive psychology and behavioral research and the benefits of meditation today, most of you are aware that it increases improved focus and cognitive clarity, better academic performance, reduced stress and anxiety, enhanced emotional intelligence and resilience and greater sense of purpose and connectedness. Since the time is short, what I'd like to propose is that we would as heartfulness Institute. We will sponsor this program free of cost of the university I have been intimately involved with this 25 years back, I remember driving to Wayne State to conduct program, meditation programs for students in the in the library. We are very committed to it. We'd be happy to do a pilot program, start with probably a six to eight week program, and measure outcomes using student feedback, mood and resilience surveys and academic correlation data. And my appeal to the board is in a time where students are overwhelmed by Next is Mr. James Middleton. I
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is James Middleton, and I'm currently the president of the PNA union local 1979 currently, we've been in contract negotiations for the last 11 months. It has cost our union over $1 million during this process. Currently, year to date, the university has not paid anything in retro pay to the contracts that have already been ratified. If they stay consistent with that, with our union, then that's going to cost us another $1.3 million so when you add both of those figures together, that's over $2 million that we're going to be out of. Our union currently houses some of the most critical departments of the university. For example, the IT department, financial aid, all the administrative assistants, one stop, grant writers, Bursar department, help. US network engineers. And the thing about this is that in the 12th hour of our contract negotiations, the bargaining team decided to willfully not honor a critical tentative agreement that has handicapped our negotiations and have led to mediation and from an ethical standpoint, it's a slap in our face, and, I mean, it's an act of betrayal. I get it. I understand from a business acumen that, you know, it's not about being ethical, it's about being legal, and it's just unfortunate that the university has taken the stance to say, Hey, listen, we'd rather be more legal than ethical. And it's just kind of disheartening. I have over 500 members that are asking me every day, Hey, James, why? Why are they doing this? And again, you know, from the ethical standpoint, we're just asking that they be fair. I mean, we are literally out of $2 million and which means the university has realized the savings of $2 million we've done everything that they've asked, and it's only as of last week that they begin to well, it's their first time offering us a legitimate offer that is compliant to the tentative agreement that they has chosen to repeatedly decline, and we're just asking that they Just be fair. That's what we're asking. The board. We've done everything they've asked us to do. We understand the Union, we not the Union, but the university, from a financial standpoint, is in a stressed place, because a lot of things which we get. But we're just asking, we're going to be asking that they just do the right thing. Thank you.
Hello, my name is Jen Brandt, and this would be so much easier just to use chatgpt to write this statement, to just ask AI, what should I say in front of the morning state board down Paris, and I feel very small and extremely nervous, even though I have a lot to say, it would be easier to tell a computer that I only have three minutes to make an impact on people who have never heard of me but who have a lot to say in a very large part of my life. But a computer couldn't tell you how much I worry at night as prices rise and resources become limited, only I could tell you that my perfect family, cadmium jelly beans, just had surgery last week, and that bill was not cheap, or caught the AC in my car stopped working on Tuesday, and we're barely into summer, and how I stayed at that 2am last night to finish my homework so I can be the first person in my family to earn a degree, just as a computer wasn't there when I get filled gift bags over the weekend for incoming students, the committees I volunteered for the free feminine supplies I put into restrooms when the machines are broken or our students cannot afford them, or the Diwali decorations I've made to celebrate a beautiful holiday with my Indian students, I have poured my heart into Wayne State because I believe in Wayne State. I believe in our wonderful students, our incredible faculty, and my fellow peers. Each day we strive for excellence, knowledge and community. Yes, I believe in Wayne State, and now I am waiting for Wayne State to believe in me, to believe in my fellow union, members of the 1979 PNA union, who also have their own stories that a computer could never tell, nor could I. Our wages and contract have been in limbo for the last year, while the world and its growing crops continue on and do not remain static. Today, I stand for those who couldn't be here, and for those who feel very small and very nervous, but also have a lot to say, because we are the people who make Wayne State a place to believe in. So thank you for allowing me to introduce myself to you. My name is Jen Brandt. I'm a proud member of the TNA 1979 unit, and while I feel very small and nervous, I am a member of Wayne State and who is directly affected by your actions. As Mr. Anderson said today, we invest into Wayne State, and what we invest is invaluable to our community and to the future of the university. Please invest in us. The PNA union. Thank you for your time and consideration. Applause. Matt,
hello. My name is Matt vizioli, recording secretary UAW local 1979 our membership stands in solidarity with the Coalition of unions. We are concerned that the university is willing to waste hundreds of 1000s of dollars on shield security services, while our campus is already well served by the Wayne State Police Department, wcpd, has helped foster a vibrant campus community that we see today, and it's due to their hard work that we have one of the safest campuses in Michigan. Continuing to burn money on shield security is a slap in the face to wcpd as well as the greater campus community, but it's emblematic of a larger trend that I've noticed while working for Wayne State over the last six years. At Wayne State, we seem to love to spend money on security services, our office moves and other things that we don't really need. But when it comes time to invest in the people, communities and infrastructure that actually make our community great, we fail to act. This all ties into our memberships, primary concern, which is concluding our contract negotiations. Local 1979 has been negotiating our contract for almost a whole year now, and our concern is that HR and labor relations are delaying settling our contract, sometimes taking weeks to respond to our counter offers every day the contract sits on the bargaining table, we save the university money. So far, the university has realized payroll cost savings of over a million dollars, but without the valuable services our membership provides, the university would not function throughout all the recent turmoil in the economy and the cost of living increases, our membership has continued to work hard keeping this university running. We work for wages that are significantly less than what we would get or see in the private sector or in other universities, and we do this because our membership shares in the common goal of maintaining Wayne State's prosperous and vibrant community. I urge you to recognize the value in investing in that community as it will have a direct and positive impact on our university's prosperity board. We appreciate the strong leadership you've provided navigating us through the challenges of the last few years and through your leadership and guidance, we hope to work with your administrators to reach an amicable agreement that gives our hard working members what they deserve. Please invest in our community. It will not be a waste. I appreciate your time and your attention to All the issues facing our university. Thank you. Applause.
Members of the Board of Governors. My name is Maureen camp. I'm a member of the coalition of unions here at Wayne State, and I'm here with colleagues from other Wayne State labor unions. We're here today to address the university's contact with outside security vendor, city shield. They parked vehicles on campus sidewalks, keep their vehicles running and occupied space in October of 2024 the winning academic union followed the foil request for the city shield contract. According to the services agreement, the goal of the contract is to provide a visible deterrent for property crimes. Should they see an incident in progress, they will contact client, city, shield management or public safety. For this, the university is paying roughly $2,000 a day. It's easy to see that this contract is a waste of the university's funds. The presence of city shield on campus does not prevent, did not prevent, graffiti at McGregor Memorial conference center, far from deterring events, we believe that these security guards create a hostile environment for Wayne State students, employees and campus guests. As you may know, the University of Michigan also made a contract with city shield. The group provided unarmed Campus Security vehicles, as they've done here at Wayne State. The contract with University of Michigan included undercover investigators. The Guardian published an investigation into sea shield and U of M on June 6, 2025 they learned that these plain clothes security guards surveilled students at U of M included, trailing them on and off campus, reporting them and eavesdropping on their conversation. Questions further, they cursed at students, threatened them, and in one case, drove a car at a student he had to jump out of the way. In the same article, Lindsey rank of the Foundation for Individual Rights and expression, added that this certainly is not the best thing for a culture of free speech on campus, because it does cause a chilling effect. Three days after the Guardian article, the University of Michigan ended its contract with city shield. We find it disturbing that Wayne State University has followed U of M's footsteps as they created a hostile environment for their students, but ask that they consider following U of M's actions to end their contract with city shield. Thank you for your time and for giving this concern your consideration. Welcome.
Nancy Welter, hello, members of the Board of Governors. My name is Nancy Welter, and I'm part time faculty in the Department of English, as well as the executive director of the union of part time faculty. As Ms Kemp noted, the contract the city shield is a waste of money. We've done the work to better understand the cost of these services, how they overlap with existing WSU services, and how the money spent on Citi shield could be used in a more effective way, as we noted earlier, from MS Kemp, cityshield bills the university roughly $2,000 a day. If that amount remains unchanged, that means they will build $796,000 since June of last year. We will file another FOIA to confirm that city shield security guards remain in their stationary vehicles, which are running and polluting the campus environment all day. It is common sense that a stationary vehicle cannot effectively monitor all areas of the campus, leaving large portions of the campus unprotected by these guards that said no area of the campus is truly unprotected because there are cameras all over the university. The cameras are of such high quality that they can easily identify individuals. The administration is further planning to spend 4.9 million to add 1500 cameras and upgrade them with improved technology. We believe these cameras and the campus police are a more effective way to monitor the campus than the city shield security guards. The money to pay city shield comes from two budget lines, half from the university central funds and half from unspent money from the public safety budget the Wayne State Police officers are currently so badly understaffed that they are working mandatory 12 to 16 hour shifts. Wayne State police monitor the main campus and the neighborhoods around campus as things stand. Now, the campus police spend so much time in neighborhoods that they are rarely on campus, this large coverage area makes more strain on the officers. Finally, the last reason for the Wayne State police's high turnover rate is common sense. DPD and the surrounding suburbs are luring away our police with higher salaries, the contract between the police union and the administration currently pays a minimum salary of $62,826
with the money spent on city shield, the university could hire approximately 10 more police officers, reducing the strain and spending money more effectively. Thank you for your time. Concludes our
public comments. There being no further business, I ask for a motion to adjourn.
