There continue to be questions about possible pay increases for the coming year. We are planning for a 3% salary pool, contingent on the Governor's budget recommendations being approved by the Legislature. The budget should be finalized and approved at the end of this month.
No decision has been made on how the salary pool will be divided, i.e. across the board increases, merit pay, etc. We are still in the process of aggregating input from across our campus. As soon as the Governor's budget is finalized and a decision is made regarding how the salary pool will be apportioned, I will provide a summary for the campus. Please feel free to forward any questions or concerns.
As you are likely aware, we held our inaugural Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting last Friday. The next BOT meeting will be in June. Detailed information about our new Trustees is available at: http://www.memphis.edu/bot/board/. Information about the BOT, including bylaws and policies, committees, webcast archives and the meeting calendar will be available shortly at the following link: http://www.memphis.edu/bot/. The most recent meeting was predominantly procedural, with the election of officers, determination of committee structure, and passage of bylaws and board policies. I will be providing a succinct summary after each meeting. Additionally, we will be routinely providing a press release immediately following the meeting, as was done this past week.
In the coming months, a host of issues will be reviewed with the BOT as a prelude to launching a new strategic planning effort in late summer or early fall. It will provide a unique opportunity for members of our community to gain a better understanding of our approach to enrollment management (including tuition and fees), facilitating retention and graduation, the demands of online growth, planning for the future of our Lambuth campus, a teaching excellence initiative, administrative efficiency, institutional effectiveness, and efforts to grow our endowment. Our new Board of Trustees represents a unique opportunity for our campus, an opportunity to invest in greater depth and detail in our future. Let me encourage you to participate, become familiar with the broad array of issues raised and help us take the next step in the growth and trajectory of our great University.
There continue to be questions from students, faculty and staff regarding the latest executive order from President Trump, particularly with federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland issuing restraining orders that temporarily stay the 90-day suspension of entry by citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
We recognize that this latest executive order and related legal process may well raise questions and concerns. I will work with our Center for International Education Services and Office of Legal Counsel to arrange an open question-and-answer session in the next two weeks. Provost Weddle-West and I will be in attendance. I look forward to talking with you directly in the very near future.
The U.S. News & World Report graduate program rankings were released today. Although we can debate the methodology, these rankings are remarkably visible both nationally and internationally. I am pleased to share that the UofM now has seven graduate programs ranked nationally (some programs are ranked every other year) including: Audiology (17), Rehabilitation Counseling (21), Speech-Language Pathology (24), Health Care Management (47), Clinical Psychology (102), Social Work (123) and Law (140). Please join me in congratulating the faculty, staff and students in these programs for their hard work and well deserved recognition.
As you know, we are continuing our efforts to broaden national exposure and recognition for the exceptional educational value offered at the UofM, both undergraduate and graduate. We look forward to not only growing the number of nationally recognized and ranked programs, but also moving up in the rankings year after year.