The Board of Trustees held their first meeting of 2025 on Feb. 21, 2025. The Board approved the room and board rates for the 2025-2026 academic year, discussed the effects of the University’s new R1 rating, and listened to updates from a few organizations.
The proposed room and board rates include both new rates for the soon-to-be-built East Hall and changes to the current rates for the other dorm halls. These rates include an approximately five percent increase to the current dorm hall rates and rates for East Hall that will vary from $10,000 – $12,000 depending on the room type. The Board listened to a presentation from Andrew Barnard, Vice President of Research, on MTU’s R1 research institute rating and how it will improve the resources and connections for Michigan Tech’s researchers. Regarding MTU becoming the fourth R1 institute in Michigan, Barnard said, “Michigan Tech expands the reach of R1’s across the entire state, not just the southeastern corner.”
The organizations that presented to the Board of Trustees included the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Department and the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). Greg Odegard, the Endowed Chair in Computational Mechanics of MAE, presented his department’s research project in partnership with NASA. Isobel Bowker, Treasurer of USG, presented updates of the USG to the Board. These updates included the budget hearings that all Registered Student Organizations (RSO) will have to schedule and the proposal to add more USG positions. When asked to follow up on the new positions, Bowker said, “USG can be up to 31 members and we’ve struck that, so we can create more college reps.” She further elaborated how there are strict numbers to the amount of representatives per department and the difficulties of amending the USG constitution to change it.
The next meeting will be on Apr. 25, 2025 in the Memorial Union Building at 9 a.m.
