Julie Griffith, appointed to the Ball State Board of Trustees by Gov. Eric Holcomb in November 2021, attended her first meeting as a trustee Jan. 28. The board voted to establish a new Employee Development Wellbeing Committee on the Board of Trustees, which will review inclusive excellence and faculty retention.

The current committees on the Board of Trustees include Academic and Student Affairs, Audit and Compliance, and Finance, Facilities and Planning.

Renae Conley, chair of the Board of Trustees, said implementing a committee that solely focuses on the mental health and overall wellbeing of employees was a good addition to what the Board of Trustees is already committed to because “[employees] are so critical to our future.”

Alan Finn, vice president for business affairs and treasurer, proposed the establishment of the committee, which he said board members began discussing in 2021.

“I applaud all of you for the foresight to develop a committee that's going to focus on the most valuable resource that we have at Ball State — our people,” Finn said. “Without talented and engaged faculty and staff, we're not going to meet our mission and we're not going to achieve our strategic priorities.”

Though Finn said he doesn’t know exactly what the Employee Development Wellbeing Committee will look like, it will review the strategic imperatives of inclusive excellence, professional development and wellbeing, human resources policies and rewarding and recognizing employees. The new committee will also work with other committees on the Board of Trustees to achieve its goals, including working with the Finance, Facilities and Planning Committee to review employee salary and benefit changes.

The Board also voted to reappoint three members to their leadership positions: Conley as chair, Mike McDaniel as secretary and Brian Gallagher as assistant secretary. Rick Hall was voted into the position of vice chair.

Leadership for each committee include:

Academic and Student Affairs

Chair: Matt Momper

Members: Renae Conley, Amy Wyse, Brian Gallagher

Audit and Compliance

Chair: Mark Hardwick

Members: Renae Conley, Matt Momper, Julie Griffith

Finance, Facilities and Planning

Chair: Rick Hall

Members: Henry Hall, Mike McDaniel, Renae Conley

Employee Development Wellbeing Committee

Chair: Brian Gallagher

Members: Henry Hall, Julie Griffith, Renae Conley

Conley previously worked with Griffith at PSI Energy. Griffith is the current executive vice president for Strategy, Partnerships and Outreach for the Indiana Innovation Institute. She graduated from Ball State with a bachelor of science degree in Political Science in 1979 and has served on the Foundation board and the Dean's Advisory Council for the University's College of Sciences and Humanities. 

“I've had the honor of knowing Julie for a lot of years,” Conley said. “She's a bright, funny, kind, level-headed person who has a high level of integrity and the kind of person that you want to be a trustee for Ball State and has a tremendous amount of love for the university.”

Ball State’s Board of Trustees will meet again March 25. 

Contact Grace Mccormick with comments at grmccormick@bsu.edu or on Twitter @graceMc564. Contact Jamie Strouts with comments at jdstrouts@bsu.edu. 

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