The Board of Trustees appointed two new members and reviewed the financial plan at a meeting over the weekend.

Dr. Arthur Culpepper, executive director and deputy compliance officer for the University of Texas System, and Mitch Wilburn, preaching minister at Park Plaza in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will join the board. Culpepper is a 1986 graduate who was also a wide receiver on the football team during his time at the university. Wilburn graduated in 1990 and was named the Young Alumnus of the Year in 2007. The new board members will be eligible to serve up to five three-year terms on the board, which sets policy and guides the university’s long-term direction.

The board also heard an update on the financial plan to cut the university budget by $5-7 million. The board first approved the plan in November and last weekend heard an update from the university administration. University president Dr. Phil Schubert said about 75 percent of the plan has been implemented so far.

“We’re rapidly approaching culmination of the initial steps that we laid out … the majority of it has been completed,” Schubert said.  

Other agenda items included presentations to the board about ACU Dallas and the student experience on campus. Each board meeting focuses on a different topic for the board to discuss, Schubert said. The February meeting focused on the student experience including student perceptions and satisfaction, spiritual formation and the residence hall philosophy.

The board also spent time writing a letter to the editor for The Optimist about the board’s position on LGBTQ issues.