"As directed by the senate in January, I asked about both the appointment of Dean Bernard, and the costs of establishing the new Office of Research. There were two failed national searches. The ‘best’ candidates as determined by the two searches were simply too expensive: UCO is very much below average salary for graduate deans. There was a proposal by a few of the deans to convert Dr. Bernard from interim to permanent dean, and the rest of the deans agreed that this was a desirable outcome. This outcome accorded well with the provost’s goal of enhancing both the graduate college and the to-be-established research office.

The costs involved in setting up the new research office are extremely modest. Dr. Bernard got a modest raise when converted from his interim status. Dr. Wilson also received a modest raise. There were no additional staff hired, nor any other expenses. In regard to money, not only has the transition cost been “almost nothing,” but there have been changes proposed that will increase funding: if the Regents approve, there will be a modest increase in the graduate application fee from twenty five to fifty dollars.

Again pending Regents approval, there will be an increase of approximately one million four hundred thousand dollars from increases in fees for on-line and correspondence courses: UCO has been very unusual in not charging fees for on-line courses and has had atypically low fees for correspondence courses. The correspondence courses may be shifted to residence credit and thus will be fully applicable to student’s degree program hours.

Modest instructional fee increases will greatly aid campus plant improvements, and will not be overwhelmingly burdensome to the students, amounting to an estimated twenty five dollars a year.

The merit pay issue is still in process, with the expectation that we will see a document this month. However, there isn’t much likelihood of our seeing money to feed into a system."