UPDATE: Board of Visitors convenes for first meeting of the semester
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Story updated 09/29/2010 - 20:40:
The George Mason University Board of Visitors approved several measures and welcomed five new members to its ranks at its meeting Wednesday.
“Things went very smoothly,” said Peter Pober, the chair of Mason’s Faculty Senate. “The meeting was very productive.”
The Board approved the formation of the Office of Global Strategy, which will act as a liaison between Mason and various international institutions, Pober said.
In addition, the board approved changing the Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering to the Volgenau School of Engineering.
The Board also approved a new Masters of Engineering program known as GeoConStruct. Pober said the name is a portmanteau of geotechnical, construction and structural engineering.
The Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and the Department of Molecular and Microbiology will be consolidated into one department after getting Board approval at the meeting. The departments will now be known as the School of Systems Biology within the College of Science, said J. Thomas Hennessey, chief of staff in the Office of the President.
“More than anything, it provides a unified department on those key areas that were in the past separated,” Hennessey said. “It’s absolutely a positive change.”
The Board approved a number of 9C and 9D bond sales to fund several projects across the university system. These projects include new student housing, renovations of existing housing, HVAC work at the Fairfax Aquatic Center, life and safety improvements for Field House and the phase II addition of the Krasnow Institute.
Hennessey said while the bond sales have been approved, contractors must still be selected.
The bonds are sold by the state at the request of Mason representatives to fund new projects. They are sold to many different groups, including investment groups, insurance companies and investment corporations.
The Board approved plans for the Prince William campus which include a mixed-use facility adjacent to the Hylton Performing Arts Center and an expansion of lab space which Hennessey said was “desperately needed.”
Five new members were appointed to the Board bring total membership to 16. Each member has a four-year term, resulting in four vacancies each year. The fifth vacancy was the result of a resignation.
The new members are C. Daniel Clemente, chairman and CEO of Clemente Development Company; R. Carter Pate, managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers; Mark F. McGettrick, executive vice president and CFO of Dominion Resources Inc. and a 1980 graduate of Mason; Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer, president of Media Speak Strategies and a 1987 graduate of Mason; David-Imad Ramadan, president of RAMA International and a 1993 and 1995 Mason graduate.
Original story posted
The university Board of Visitors, a 16 member assembly appointed by the governor of Virginia, is convened today for a general meeting at 1 p.m. in Mason Hall on the Fairfax campus.
The meeting agenda included the renaming of the Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering, the creation of a new Master’s program of Engineering in Geotechnical, Construction, and Engineering (GeoConStruct). Finance and Land Use projects, as well as new proposals made by the Real Estate Subcommittee, are also items on the list.
The full meeting agenda can be viewed here.
The BOV operates under the leadership of the rector, vice rector and secretary. The assembly is responsible for policymaking and university oversight and is joined by three nonvoting members: the Faculty Senate Chair and two student representatives appointed each spring by the BOV to serve a one-year term.
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