New names for an education center and a music school, a partnership with charity group Porter-Leath, and a salary reimbursement for President M. David Rudd were among the topics discussed by the University of Memphis Board of Trustees at a Wednesday meeting.
The meeting took place at the Madison Academic Magnet High School on the U of M Lambuth campus in Jackson, Tennessee. The setting was appropriate considering that much of the meeting related to a presentation updating the board about the “entire compendium” of non-college facilities run by the university. U of M Associate Vice President Sally Gates Parish, who holds a Ph.D. in education, shared that the university will host facilities that are set to serve 1,600 non-college students in the Memphis community.
In addition to the ELRC (early childhood) and campus school (now expanded to serve Kindergarten in addition to 1st through 5th grade), a partnership with charity group Porter-Leath was announced during the meeting that will lead to the PLUM Early Childhood Academy in Orange Mound, which is expected to open in February 2022. Another partnership with the Harwood Center will see the university opening seven classrooms on the south U of M campus in the spring for children with special needs.
Parish shared that a university-located middle school was fully enrolled for their on-campus home. She also noted that, in August of 2022, a university high school will open with its inaugural 9th grade class in the same center.
“I think I speak for a number of faculty and staff who are also parents of children in these schools that this experience is something that is truly life-altering for us as professionals, for our children who go to these schools, but also for the children in the community at large who have access to an innovative, engaging, high-quality education that starts right here at the university,” Parish said during the meeting.
University President M. David Rudd then revealed that the building these schools function in will be named the Orgel Educational Center. The motion was later carried unanimously after trustee David Kemme stated that $1 million was given by Billy and Robin Orgel to the university.
The music library in the Rudi E. Scheidt school of music was also voted to be named the Efrim and Caroline S. Fruchtman Music Library at the request of an anonymous donor who gave the university $100,000. In documents provided before the meeting it was stated that the Fruchtmans were a married couple on faculty in the music department from the ’60s through the ’80s and were mentors to the anonymous donor.
It was also agreed by the trustees that 10 percent of Rudd’s own salary would be reimbursed after a pay cut he took alongside members of the president’s council during the pandemic. This contribution tackled “issues around the pandemic and affordability for students,” according to Chairman Doug Edwards.
“As the year unfolded, and as we received federal funds, we found ourselves in a position where we were able to reimburse our present council members for the money that they had given as a result of the president’s request for everyone to take a pay cut,” Edwards said during the meeting. “Unfortunately it didn’t apply to him … the president’s salary was not included in those discussions, so we had a conversation this morning and recommended that we reimburse 10 percent of his gross salary for approval.”
Dean of the Lambuth campus Dr. Niles Reddick took a moment to thank guitar player Wes Henley, who was in attendance at Madison Academic Magnet High School. In August of 2020, Henley committed a $250,000 estate gift to the Lambuth campus. This included Henley’s Highland House Productions, a Jackson recording studio that saw the likes of Carl Perkins record music within the space.
“Wes is a career musician who played guitar for Carl Perkins, George Harrison — I think you all know who that is — and the group Survivor,” Reddick said during the meeting. “His talent [helps] our students meet their goals. Thank you so much, Wes, for all you’ve done for our music program.”
Reddick also shared that, come January, the Lambuth campus will be admitting its largest nursing class to date. Reddick said he expected over the next two years to reach 300 nursing students.
“That’s been an incredible journey,” Reddick said during the meeting. “We’re excited about our partnership with West Tennessee Healthcare, who have in the past given us quite a bit of scholarship money, so we’re very excited to grow that program.”
Chairman Doug Edwards adjourned the meeting by thanking all involved for the work done at the university over the past year and “giving people an opportunity to have an education that will allow them to live a better life.”
“This has been an incredibly challenging year for all of us,” he said at the meeting. “The university has come through a period where many universities have really fallen on hard times.
If you look at enrollment around the world of higher education, at what’s happened to some universities in terms of their enrollment during the pandemic, I think we’ve done a terrific job at doing exactly what we’re here to do.”