By Nate Billings

Executive Editor

Luck started off the March 17 Board of Governors meeting.

Elizabeth Deffenbaugh, Board president, greeted the Governors with a St. Patrick’s Day blessing, hoping everyone would have a lucky and happy day.

Due to several ceremonies during the afternoon, the meeting was kept short, ending after 15 minutes and going into an executive session.

Dr. Terri Agee, vice president for business affairs, discussed the new administration software.

“We’ve been calling it just by it’s BANNER name,” Agee said. “The new name was submitted by Tara Lopez and is LIONET.”

She said the name change will help students, faculty and staff members to remember the project.

“When they talk about LIONET, you know that is the administrative software project,” Agee said.

LIONET stands for linked information on network enterprise technology.

Agee also announced the hiring of the new assistant vice president for information services, Bob Walker.

“He’s had experience with this software,” Agee said. “And, we are real exited to have him on board.”

Dr. Nii Adote Abrahams, faculty liaison to the Board, said the campus was quieting down for spring break and hoped everyone would enjoy the next several weeks of classes.

University President Julio León informed the Board about the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) situation. MOHELA had decided to sell of some assets to raise funds for more money, which could be distributed among the educational institutions across the state.

Missouri Southern would receive $19 million for a new health sciences building. However, because of some legislation in the house, the funds may be in jeopardy.

León said the legislation was on spring break and could not decide the affair for a week.

Dr. Richard McCallum, vice president for academic affairs, discussed four developing relationships with other campuses.

“With our relationship with UMKC (University of Missouri-Kansas City), the paperwork has arrived in Jefferson City,” he said.

The joint program with UMKC is in dental hygiene and nursing.

Another joint degree is a master’s in criminal justice with Central Missouri State University.

“It’s still on its way,” McCallum said.

The third program is a joint masters in teacher education with Missouri State University. This program is already in effect.

“It’s going very well,” he said. “There were 14 that started with and 12 are still with us. And, so far, 16 have been admitted for the fall.”

The last relationship is with Northwest Missouri State University and involves joint masters degrees in CIS and teacher education. The CIS degree is still in the works, but the teacher education degree is already underway.

“Several students are working on theses,” McCallum said.

Eric Norris, Student Senate president, was not available for the meeting.