SEMO BUDGET APPROVED

MALDEN -- Southeast Missouri State University employees will receive 4 to 5 percent pay raises for the 1994 fiscal year as part of a $52.41 million operating budget approved Tuesday by the Board of Regents.

Later, in closed session, the regents rewarded university President Kala Stroup with an $8,800 pay hike, raising her salary to $118,000 for the coming fiscal year.

The meeting was held at the Harry L. Crisp Bootheel Education Center in Malden. The center is operated by a consortium headed by Southeast Missouri State.

Donald Harrison, board president, said Stroup's new salary is competitive with the salaries of presidents at comparable universities.

"We are really pleased with her work and what she has done," Harrison said following the meeting.

Stroup expressed satisfaction with the salary increase. "This is a very good university with a very good Board of Regents."

Last year the board rewarded Stroup with a five-year contract that runs through June 30, 1997. The five-year agreement allows the regents to annually adjust her salary.

The operating budget, approved by the regents for the fiscal year that begins July 1, is about $2 million more than the current budget.

Most of the increase is reflected in pay raises for university faculty and staff, officials said. In all, the university plans to spend more than $38 million in salaries and benefits for its approximately 950 employees.

"It's a lean budget," said Harrison, one of three regents from Cape Girardeau. "It's not a generous budget by any means."

He described the budget as "business as usual." But he said it does include "nice increases" for university personnel.

"It's a very bare-bones budget," said Regent Mark Pelts of Kennett. "Of course, our biggest investment every year is in people."

The regents approved the operating budget by a unanimous vote. "When you don't have much money there's not a lot to argue about," said Pelts.

He said it's important to reward faculty with good salaries. Stroup's administration has pushed to raise university salaries to the national average for public, comprehensive schools such as Southeast.

"I want them to be well compensated, and I think they are well compensated," said Pelts.

Stroup said: "We've made an investment in our people. We've done that for the last two years."

Ken Dobbins, vice president for finance and administration at Southeast, said that under the new budget faculty stand to gain a pay hike of more than 5 percent.

The salary package includes a 3 percent across-the-board pay hike. In addition, eligible faculty will receive a $1,000 merit pay hike and rank adjustments.

Rank adjustments are $1,300 for full professors, $350 for associate professors, and $200 for assistant professors.

Clerical, technical and service employees will receive 3 percent across-the-board pay raises. Clerical staff will also be eligible for merit pay of 1 percent or $150, whichever is greater. Technical and service employees will be eligible for merit pay of 1 percent or $200, whichever is greater.

Professional and administrative staff Southeast's mid-management personnel will receive a 2 percent across-the-board pay raise. Eligible staff members will receive merit pay of 2 percent or $600, whichever is greater.

The executive staff consisting of the university's top administrators, including vice presidents and deans will receive pay raises based totally on merit. But those pay hikes will amount to a 4 percent pay raise on average, Dobbins said.

In other business, the regents authorized $691,300 worth of capital projects for the coming fiscal year, including $269,900 for repairs to the Scully Building and $214,200 for improvements to the social-science building. The projects will be funded from a state appropriation.

The board approved submission of a $24.98 million request to the state for capital improvements for the 1995 fiscal year. Included in the request is $12.67 million for the university's top priority construction of the College of Business Administration building.

Southeast has been seeking state funding for the project for a couple of years now. University officials and community leaders made a strong pitch for funding this year, but with no success.

The board voted to change the academic calendar, eliminating the Friday fall break in October and extending the Thanksgiving break by one day. The change will take effect in fall 1994.

The regents rescinded plans to establish a youth gymnastics program at Southeast. The move was a formality as university officials and gymnastics coach Bill Hopkins had already elected not to establish the program because the cost of needed improvements at the Parker building made it economically infeasible.

In other action, the board approved curriculum changes providing a historic-preservation option within the master of arts in history degree program, and an option in rhetoric and composition within the master of arts in English degree with an emphasis on teaching.