Trustees discuss grant, candidates, task force
by Grover Greer
Photos by Matt Jonas
The Metropolitan
Metro interim President Ray Kieft at Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday,
Sept. 8.
A record-sized grant, four prospects for the vacant college presidency
and a task force created to help freshmen succeed were all discussed at
Metro’s Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, Sept. 8.
Metro interim President Ray Kieft announced the school had been selected
to receive the largest grant in the college’s history from the Federal
Government.
“The grant is for $9.4 million for five years and is to support
the design and implementation of reforms in the preparation of secondary
teachers,” Kieft said in an e-mail release. “Metro will be
directing the grant with the Denver Public Schools as a hand-in-glove
partner.”
Metro won the grant in a competition that involved at least one other
Colorado institution, Kieft said.
Although the grant is to support the reform in the preparation of secondary
teachers, it is not a grant limited to Metro’s teacher education
program or department, he said.
The School of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the departments within it
will be involved with carrying out the specific activities of the reform
effort.
The intention is for this grant award to be only one of several that
Metro receives over the next few years, Kieft said.
“This grant award demonstrates again that Metro can compete ‘in
the big leagues’ in the grants arena and we intend to do so,”
he said.
Chair of the Board of Trustees, Bruce Benson, at the BOT meeting Wednesday,
Sept. 8.
The board went into executive session to hear the Presidential Search
Advisory Committee’s final recommendations for college president
candidates. The names of the prospects will not be released unless they
become official candidates.
“It was simply an informational session,” said Search Advisory
Committee Chair John Buechner on Metro‘s Web site.
Buechner also said he expects the board will hold another executive session
to further discuss the prospects and any other candidates before their
next meeting in October.
The college presidency has been vacant since June 13, 2003, when Sheila
Kaplan resigned after losing the confidence of the board.
Kieft has been serving as interim president since July 2003.
Also discussed at the meeting was the task force created to help freshmen
succeed at Metro.
Kieft assigned the task force with making recommendations to help achieve
a better rate of success for freshmen.
Student Trustee Stephen Hay said the challenge is to provide traditional
freshmen with a quality education and the tools to succeed while facing
the hurdles of an urban commuter campus.
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