Texas Tech regents OK coach and leadership contracts, freeze tuition rates
During a regularly called meeting, the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents heard several items from its five component institution and welcomed two new faces to the system's leadership.
The first of the new faces was Steeley Smith, a graduate student from Texas Tech, who was sworn in as the new student regent. Smith will serve in her new capacity as a liaison between the board and the over 60,000 students in the system until May 2024.
New Texas Tech student regent Steeley Smith talks passions, priorities as leader
The other new face was the newly appointed president of Midwestern State University, Stacia "Stacy" Haynie. She serves as the 13th president at her alma mater.
Texas Tech System regents name Haynie as sole finalist for president of Midwestern State
Board approves chancellor's, presidents' and head coach contracts
The board also heard and approved several contracts during the executive session.
The board authorized the chairman of the board to execute a revised employment agreement with Chancellor Tedd Mitchell, citing what they called his exceptional performance.
The board also authorized the chancellor to modify and extend TTU President Lawrence Schovanec's and TTUHSC El Paso President Richard Lange's contracts since doing so was "in the best interest of the institutions and due to the exemplary performance and confidence the board of regents has in their leadership."
Specifics of all three contracts were not made publicly available at the time.
For context, Mitchell has served about five years as chancellor of the system and in fiscal year 2021 had a base salary of $866,977 with a total compensation of $1,108,449, according to state documents.
There is no reported national average of the amount of time a chancellor will stay with a higher education system; however, the average of the system's four previous chancellors is 5.25 years.
For presidents, according to the Chronicle for Higher Education, the national average for presidents is 5.9 years.
Schovanec has served as president for seven years and had a base salary of $650,000 with total compensation being $783,676, according to 2022 state documents.
Serving as founding president of TTUHSC El Paso, Lange has served for nine years and, according to state documents, received a base salary of $563,023 with total compensation of $1,045,574 in 2022.
The regents also approved TTU Track & Field Head Coach Wes Kittley's $3.8 million seven-year contract.
More: Texas Tech track and field coach Wes Kittley gets 7-year, $3.8 million contract
Budgets increasing with undergraduate tuition freezes
This year every component institution and the system administration will see an increase in their FY 2024 operational budget but the state also asked all general academic higher education institutions to freeze their tuition rates over the next two years.
The tuition freeze comes from the 88th Texas Legislature General Appropriation Bill Special Prevision III Sec. 58., which states TTU, MSU and Angelo State University must freeze "resident undergraduate academic costs, including tuition, mandatory academic fees, all academic-related general fees, and college course fees at currently approved levels."
The bill does not ask medical schools such as TTUHSC Lubbock and El Paso to do the same.
The reason for this is due to the state experiencing a large surplus this year and some of this funding going to universities in an effort to make higher education more affordable.
With the system seeing less funding from tuition but an increase in funding from the state, here is a list of the operating budgets and the increase over last year's budgets:
TTUS Administration — $33.4 million operating budget, an 8.21% increase
Texas Tech — $1.25 billion operating budget, a 6.7% increase
TTUHSC Lubbock — $942 million operating budget, a 9.26% increase
Angelo State — $145 million operating budget, a 6.2% increase
TTUHSC El Paso — $444 million operating budget, a 31.74% increase
Midwestern State — $128 million operating budget, a 3.95% increase
Soaring to new heights at Angelo State University
After receiving $2 million in funding to jump-start ASU's Commerical Aviation undergraduate degree program, the board gave its initial nod to the university to build the facilities the program needs.
A new facility will be located just north of the San Angelo Regional Airport and will feature an education center and a future hangar.
The academic building will be 14,504 gross square feet and will feature three classrooms, a simulation room, conference rooms, offices and a lobby. A possible expansion addition is also worked into the plans to include an additional classroom and simulation lab.
The construction is expected to cost around $6.2 million, with a completion date to be announced.
The board of regents originally authorized the creation of a Bachelor of Commercial Aviation in 2020, and now the program features Flights Operations and Aviation Administration tracks.
Meeting back in Lubbock, the board will convene for its last scheduled meeting of the calendar year on Nov. 16 and 17.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech regents OK coach and leadership contracts, freeze tuition
