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Committee hears bill to add a tenured faculty regent to University of Alaska Board of Regents
Summary
Senate Bill 118 would add a two-year, voting, tenured faculty member to the University of Alaska Board of Regents. Sponsor and faculty leaders said the seat would strengthen shared governance and provide academic perspective; the university provided a fiscal note estimating a modest annual travel cost increase.
Senate Bill 118, which would add a tenured faculty member as a voting regent on the University of Alaska Board of Regents for a two-year term, received its first hearing before the Alaska State Senate Education Committee Wednesday.
Staff for the bill’s sponsor explained that the measure would expand the 11-member regents board to 12, create a faculty regent seat appointed by the governor from nominees provided by faculty senates at the three main University of Alaska campuses (UAA, UAF, UAS), and require the faculty regent be a tenured, full-time UA employee serving a two-year term with full regent powers.
Supporters from the UA faculty said a voting faculty regent would provide timely, expert input on curriculum, accreditation and educational policy and would improve continuity and shared governance within the system. Professor Andrea Dewis (University of Alaska Southeast) told the committee she had previously served on the Faculty Alliance and observed that a faculty regent would bring "expert knowledge about the core services provided by the university and its potential impacts to stakeholders like faculty, students, and staff." Jennifer Carroll, Faculty Alliance chair, told the committee that rotating alliance leadership and the alliance’s advisory role leave gaps a faculty regent could fill by participating in deliberations throughout the board’s decision cycle.
University witnesses provided a fiscal estimate for the bill. Katie McCall, government relations manager for the University of Alaska, summarized the fiscal note as an estimated $4,000 annual increase in travel costs to the university (unrestricted general funds) to cover travel for an additional regent; the calculation assumes four regular board meetings per year and an average of roughly $1,000 in travel per regent per meeting based on historical travel patterns. Committee members said they would follow up on the travel-cost assumptions and asked whether the two-year term is adequate for tenured faculty who may have teaching and research responsibilities.
Committee members asked about selection and conflicts of interest; staff explained the faculty senates at the three main campuses would each submit two nominees and the governor would select one appointee subject to legislative confirmation. Witnesses said the faculty regent would be bound to the same recusal and conflict-of-interest standards that apply to other regents. Several members suggested the term length and the possibility of later expanding representation (for example, a staff regent) could be discussed as the bill moves forward.
No formal committee vote occurred; the committee held the bill for future consideration and set an amendment-notification deadline of March 31. Committee staff asked interested parties to work with the sponsor and committee offices on potential amendments ahead of that date.
