11-20-09: Vanderbilt: Board of Trust holds annual fall meeting

The president of Vanderbilt Student Government told members of the Board of Trust during their fall meeting on campus about efforts to increase student participation in study abroad programs, decrease the costs of textbooks and expand entrepreneurial opportunities for students within the framework of the university.

“The university has not been able to support entrepreneurial activities because it’s a non-profit, but I’ve been talking with the Young Alumni Trustees and we’ve been looking at models at other universities for doing this,” said President Wyatt Smith.

The Board of Trust met Nov. 18-20 on campus. The agenda included committee meetings about the medical center, investments, 100 Oaks, academic programs and student life and athletics.

At the Athletics Committee meeting, Associate Director of Student Athletics Candice Storey Lee explained the accountability measures designed by the NCAA to reward and penalize Division 1 institutions for academic performance of student athletes.

Under the Academic Performance Rate, scholarship athletes earn points each semester for eligibility and retention. An impressive 14 of 16 Vanderbilt teams earned a perfect 1000 this year under the APR. Another NCAA measure is the Graduation Success Rate. Men’s tennis and golf have a 100 percent GSR as do women’s basketball, tennis and lacrosse. Lee noted that Vanderbilt’s overall GSR, 94 percent, places it as one of the top six schools in the nation in that category.

Brock Williams, assistant vice chancellor and director of sports operations, presented highlights from recent foreign tours by Vanderbilt athletes. He noted that no operating funds are used for these trips, and each one requires at least a year’s advance planning. Team trips overseas are taken only during the summer or school breaks. For example, during Thanksgiving break the baseball team is traveling to Japan while the men’s basketball team plays in the popular Maui Invitational in Hawaii during the same time period.

Board of Trust members got a taste of the faculty experience during a presentation by Alison Pingree, director of the Center for Teaching. She led a learning exercise, similar to ones done with faculty, during which board members answered a series of questions designed to get at the heart of what is engaging and effective teaching. The group also got insight into what today’s students are looking for in an educational experience when they had to guess the responses to survey questions given to Vanderbilt students.

Contact: Princine Lewis, Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS

http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/myvu/news/2009/11/20/board-of-trust-holds-annual-fall-meeting.100632