Murray State University regents on Friday approved the hiring of a new provost, who will also serve as the college’s vice president for academic affairs.
Rose Marie Ward has accepted an offer to be Murray State’s next provost. She currently works as a special consultant to Marshall University’s provost and a psychology professor at the West Virginia school.
Ward’s hiring comes following town hall meetings held last week with each of the four finalists for the provost position. She will start in her new role at Murray State on Feb. 2.
Former provost Tim Todd filed a lawsuit against Murray State last month, alleging that President Ron Patterson breached his contract by firing him from the office without cause. MSU officials in August said Todd would leave his post and return to his role as a tenured faculty member.
Since Patterson began his tenure at Murray State in July, vacancies have opened up in some key leadership positions. Those offices include the provost, vice president for finance and administrative services and assistant vice president of public affairs – who served as the university’s legislative liaison.
National searches were conducted for the provost and vice president for finance offices. Three finalists have been named for the latter position.
Regents also approved two new dean appointments on Friday, both of whom were hired through internal candidate searches after serving as the interim leaders of their respective colleges. Heath Keller was named the new dean of the Arthur J. Bauernfield College of Business, and Nicole Hand was named the dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.
Patterson also brought up a university policy he wants to change involving employees transitioning from grant-funded positions to ones that are supported by university funds.
In late summer, Patterson said nine university employees were impacted by the federal government’s “non-continuation” of Murray State’s Upward Bound Math and Science and TRiO Student Support Services programs moving forward. Both of those programs previously received funding from the federal Department of Education. Patterson said he requested “for us to keep this quiet in terms of how [Murray State] moves forward” to assist these individuals.
The university president said he wanted to help those impacted employees land new jobs – whether they were at Murray State or somewhere else. During that process, Patterson said he learned that, if a Murray State employee is paid through a grant, their years of service end when the grant ends. If the employee gets another Murray State position that is not grant-funded, their years of service restarts. Years of service impacts some benefits for Murray State employees, such as how much vacation leave they can accrue per year. The number of service years can also impact those on the state’s Teacher Retirement System.
“I don’t like that policy. So at some point in time, I plan to bring to [regents] a recommendation for revisions,” Patterson said. “They’ve put in a lot of work towards retirement. So for them to lose those years, not be counted or be paid when they do retire is just not right from my vantage point.”
Regents also received an update from Athletic Director Nico Yantko about what the Racers athletic program is doing to prepare for the future of college athletics, especially as the growing name, image and likeness market continue to grow and impact student-athletes and programs nationwide.
After closing out a three-year strategic plan in October, Yantko said the department will be working over the next two months to finalize a new one to embark on.
“We have an opportunity to really transform the brand of our institution nationally, and we're going to continue to keep people and win championships on a national level,” Yantko said.
He emphasized that athletics, as a form of entertainment, can operate as a driving force for economic development opportunities. Yantko also introduced the idea of Racer Entertainment Village, an idea aimed at expanding revenue-generating events at Murray State’s existing sports facilities.
In other business:
- Patterson said he and university attorney Rob Miller met with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office in October regarding questions the AG’s office had about Murray State’s compliance with House Bill 4. That legislation, which was passed earlier this year, bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Kentucky public colleges and prohibits discrimination based on a person’s political or social viewpoint. Murray State submitted a supplementary report this week to the AG’s office outlining some of the ways it’s complying with the new law.
- Regents approved two changes to the Student Government Association constitution. One clarifies student voting eligibility requirements by barring dual-credit students and staff or faculty enrolled in classes from voting in SGA elections. The other adds minimum SGA service requirements in order to run for executive offices in the organization.
- Regents joined athletics staff in breaking ground on a new clubhouse for the Racers baseball team.
The full meeting can be streamed on YouTube.
