New law opportunities program approved at Board of Trustees' meeting

RLOP, a program patterned after the existing Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP), will provide a selected number of students at Chadron State and Wayne State with provisional admittance into the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law. CSC and WSC students would be recruited from rural counties in Nebraska and would be encouraged to practice law in rural Nebraska upon graduation. For purposes of RLOP eligibility and reporting, rural Nebraska is defined as all areas of the state other than Lincoln, Omaha, Ralston, Boys Town, Elkhorn, Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista, Chalco and Offutt Air Force Base.

Also at Friday’s meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a revision to Board Policy 4140 that was proposed to the NSCS Chief Academic Officers by the CSC Faculty Senate. Board Policy 4140 deals with Academic Program and Degree Requirements and the CSC Faculty Senate asked to delete the word unduplicated within the topic of subject majors.

“I am very appreciative of CSC’s Faculty Senate, and especially the leadership of Faculty Senate President Mat Brust and Lorie Hunn, in proposing a change that offers the potential to enhance the integration of courses within subject majors and with the Essential Studies Program,” said Vice President of Academic Affairs, Charles Snare.

The bond sale for LB957, as approved by the Board and the Facilities Corporation during the June Board of Trustees’ meeting, occurred Aug. 17. According to Board materials, the bond sale will yield $21,275,000 of funds for design and construction for the NSCS. The bond sale will provide proceeds for the First Phase of the CSC Stadium Renovation/Replacement in the amount of $6,205,766.

Other agenda items included updates to Board Policies 3401 and 4160, and the impact of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). CSC employees affected by the FLSA change will be notified.

Board Policy 3410 will now allow for the participation of eligible international students in the non-resident scholars program. Board Policy 4160 now has the current list of CSC’s academic programs.

Additionally, other information was presented to the Board of Trustees about the three state college’s student credit hour production for the 2016 spring semester. CSC comprised 32.2 percent of the total for the NSCS. Wayne State’s student credit hour production was 41.5 percent and Peru State’s was 25.7 percent. With 12. 6 percent, CSC has the highest level of student credit hour production at the graduate level of the three state colleges.

The Board was informed of the following grant applications by Chadron State: Cosmogenic Dating of Holocene Glacial Advances in the Wind River Range (NASA Nebraska Space Grant, $6,000), Mathematics and Science Partnerships (Nebraska Department of Education, $20,240 sub-award), and Predicting Rock Failure Mode in Drilled Samples (NASA Nebraska Space Grant, $4,000).

The Board was also informed of the following grant awards by Chadron State: INBRE: Nebraska Research Network in Functional Genomics (National Institutes of Health, $35,135 sub-award through University of Nebraska Medical Center), Lights! Energy! Noise! Physical Science on Earth and in Space (NASA Nebraska Space Grant, $7,800), Nebraska Behavioral Health Jobs (University of Nebraska Medical Center, $15,000), and Surveys for the Regal Fritillary in Nebraska (Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, $20,100).

The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Nov. 10-11 in Lincoln.