In 1968, the master plan for BGSU Firelands in Huron, Ohio, included a football field and residence halls.

Although this initial model was never implemented, on Friday the Board of Trustees approved a new master plan for the four-building college that will accommodate its increasing enrollment with additional space for students.

Bill Balzer, Firelands dean, and Steve Krakoff, associate vice president for capital planning and design, presented the plan at the 9 a.m. education session and it passed unanimously at the 1:30 p.m. full board meeting.

“We’re delighted with the board’s interest and involvement in this master plan,” Balzer said. “We’re excited for this opportunity to meet our needs and are so pleased with all the support.”

The key priorities highlighted for the master plan include redesigning space, expanding partnerships, aligning campus facilities with academic priorities, and enhancing degrees, programs and coursework.

Since 1999, enrollment at Firelands has increased from nearly 1,400 students to more than 2,500 students in 2010, according to Balzer and Krakoff’s presentation. To achieve the goals of the master plan, Balzer said Firelands must construct additional buildings to accommodate this historical average enrollment growth of over 4 percent per year.

The first building planned is an allied health sciences building with updated laboratories and 60,000 gross square feet, costing between $14 million and $19 million by 2015. The programming for the building is anticipated to be completed by February 2011.

Additional buildings would be added if enrollment continued its pattern into the “long term,” more than 15 years. Existing buildings may be upgraded and renovated for efficient space usage.

The future layout is based off the original master plan, Krakoff said, with a growth path toward the south.

“The master plan for the campus is an alignment of our current physical campus with our new strategic plan and academic mission,” Balzer said. “Campus is growing … and we need to meet the needs of our students.”

New student trustee selection policy passes

In a unanimous decision Friday, the Board of Trustees approved a resolution for a new, clearer student trustee selection policy.

Graduate Student Senate began the process last spring, when it authored a new selection policy, the first to be proposed since 1988.

“We can’t think of a more important representative to have for the students than this,” said Steve Dinda, GSS president. “To really update and modernize the criteria was one of our top priorities from last year … This is really a step in the right direction for students as a whole.”

Undergraduate Student Government followed suit when Joe Edens, off-campus senator, authored an updated selection policy in August.

“The policy wasn’t being followed [due to some out-of-date provisions], so we wanted a new policy that is defined and that can be followed,” he said. “It may be seen as a formality, but we want to make sure these criteria are being met.”

The policy will be implemented spring semester, when USG begins the application and interview process to recruit its next student trustee.

Academic Charter amended for faculty union

The Board of Trustees also adopted a resolution Friday to amend several sections of the University’s Academic Charter.

The amendments were made to prevent role conflict between already existing faculty organizations like the Faculty Senate and the recently approved faculty union, University President Carol Cartwright said in an e-mail to faculty members Friday.

The Faculty Association is now the exclusive representative of the full-time faculty for all matters related to wages, hours, working conditions and grievances, according to the e-mail. Sections of the charter concerning the faculty’s role in determining tenure, tenure review, Graduate Council, Undergraduate Council, and the design and implementation of curricula remain unchanged.

“The amendments that were adopted today are in the best interest of Bowling Green State University and will provide the framework we need to move forward and successfully serve our students and our stakeholders,” Cartwright said in the e-mail. “These changes will pave the way for collective bargaining, without the interference or disruption of a conflicting process for the resolution of collective bargaining subjects.”

The revised academic charter can be found on the provost’s website.