The Washburn Board of Regents came together Feb. 8 for a short, but busy meeting.

After roll call and the approval of the previous meetings minutes, the officers gave their reports.

During his report, Washburn President Jerry Farley announced that Washburn had named Carla Pratt as Dean of the Law School. Pratt will step in after the current dean, Thomas Romig, steps down June 30.

Farley also introduced eight new professor emeriti and emeritae who had retired after many years of service to Washburn. Many of the new emeriti and emeritae met before the meeting to take a group picture and Farley had them stand, to a resounding applause, during his report. Farley recognized the newest member of the Board of Regents, Michelle De La Isla, who assumes her role as a regent after her election as Topeka mayor in 2016. Marshall Meek, president of the Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation, was introduced and announced the success of Washburn’s Day of Giving, with $103,000 raised, which will be used for various projects around the Washburn community. Other portions of Farley’s report included the announcements of Career Day, the Lincoln Harman Lecture Feb. 6 and the Megan Phelps-Roper conversation Feb. 5.

The board approved $72,057 for the renewal of a contract for an integrated library system for use by Mabee Library and the law library. It was noted that this amount was negotiated down by Alan Bearman, dean of libraries and student success, from the previous contract.

Jim Martin, vice president for administration and treasurer, reported almost $33,000 was spent for the repair and maintenance of doors and locks in Petro Allied Health and the purchase of $41,000 for training and equipment at Washburn Tech.

Eric Grospitch, vice president for student life, updated the board on the strategic plan that has been developed for fraternity and sorority life.

Vice President for Academic Affairs JuliAnn Mazachek updated the board on the progress made on the development of an East campus of Washburn Tech with an anticipated groundbreaking in March. Mazachek also introduced Nancy Tate, associate vice president for academic affairs, who presented the results of two surveys, one from the student population and another from the faculty, which are part of the accreditation process coming up in spring 2019.

Finally, Mazachek introduced Alan Bearman, who updated the board on the Ignite Program, which was developed to help students who typically wouldn’t come to a university succeed. Bearman said that the program was far exceeding expectations.

Bearman’s update concluded the information items and the board adjourned the meeting.