Compensation study on SEMO Regents agenda

When it meets today, the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents will consider approving recommendations made by J.W. Terrill, a St. Louis firm hired by the university to conduct a salary equity study.

The meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the Board of Regents Room of Academic Hall. The board is expected to go into a closed session first, then reconvene in open session at 12:30 p.m., according to the university. Attendees should enter Academic Hall at the northeast door.

The J.W. Terrill study showed many faculty, staff and other employees at Southeast are, on average, paid less than employees at other selected, comparable universities, according to a story in The Arrow student newspaper, published Oct. 14 in the Southeast

Missourian.

According to The Arrow, J.W. Terrill sampled 18 universities in the region and calculated the median salaries at those universities. The firm recommended that salaries of 251 of Southeast's 978 employees be raised, although Kathy Mangels, vice president of finance and administration at Southeast, said an indeterminate number of employees may receive a raise because not all of the recommendations may be adopted, or they may be modified.

Jay Knudtson, a board of regents member and former Cape Girardeau mayor, said the board has spent "extensive time" reviewing the information in the study. Knudtson said he believes regents will have all the information they need to make what is a "very strategic decision and a sensitive decision as it relates to compensation for all our employees at Southeast Missouri State University."

"We're in competition with other universities," Knudtson said. "We're in competition with other employers in and around our community, so it's important the board is equipped with all the information to make sure we are competitive and that we are able to retain and recruit high-level employees as it relates to all the functions it takes to run the university" from the janitorial staff to administrative personnel and those teaching students.

He said university president Kenneth Dobbins and his staff have "gone to great lengths" to ensure the faculty and employees have been "intimately involved" in the study process, which took "in excess of 12 months."

He said he believes because there has been "such due diligence and planning," the recommended salary increases should be within Southeast's budget.

"I believe there has been significant planning, and we'll be able to support some kind of rate adjustments" that are being recommended, Knudtson said.

The Budget Review Committee set aside some money for employee raises in the spring for the fiscal year 2014 budget that began July 1. The goal is to implement adjustments in January, The Arrow reported.

But Mangels, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, told The Arrow the money the committee set aside may not initially fund all the recommendations. In that case, some raises may be phased in.

In other business, an update on the university's cybersecurity degree program will be presented. Brad Deken, chairman of the industrial and engineering technology department at Southeast, said this is the third year for the program and a total of 90 students are enrolled.

The first students should graduate in May, Deken said. Some students in the program were undeclared majors and advised what classes to take to get into the program.

Others transferred in from related programs, such as networking and telecommunications, computer science and engineering technology, Deken said.

The cybersecurity program was developed because of increasing demand, employers telling Southeast the program was needed, and student interest in such a program, Deken said.

Deken said it takes a "huge amount" of resources to start a cybersecurity program.

"Thankfully, we had the support of the administration" to get the program done right, Deken said.

"Nearly all the companies that we visit -- and we're visiting pretty large companies -- just about all of them have a strong interest in our students. I'm pretty sure we're not going to have enough students for them, at least in the near future," he said.

Other items on the agenda include appointments or reappointments to the River Campus Board of Managers and Show Me Center board of managers and a progress report on searches for a provost and executive director for University Communications and Marketing.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

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