The next board of trustees meeting will be held Thursday in the Clara Sperling Skyroom at the Holmes Student Center.

The academic affairs, student affairs and personnel committee will meet first at 9 a.m.

After that meeting is adjourned, the finance, facilities and operations committee will meet at 10 a.m.

The meetings will cover the recommendations the university has for the board, including a request for more money for Barsema Hall and the arena.

Also included in the agenda is discussion to reconstruct Lot 17, the visitor parking lot located between Founders Memorial Library and Watson Creek. The university will ask for $471,300 to reconstruct the lot and portions of Carroll Avenue.

During the 9 a.m. meeting, a main item of discussion will be faculty reports on sabbatical leaves, which the university provides to support and encourage scholarship, research and artistry to strengthen academic programs.

“It gives [the faculty] a chance to get more information and become better faculty for the university,” said provost Ivan Legg.

The members of the faculty who will speak are Chris Carger, an assistant professor of literary education, Anna Payne, an associate director of the Counseling and Student Development Center and Paul Stoddard, an associate professor of geology and environmental geoscience.

Another topic of discussion will be an update of the Affirmative Action and Diversity Resources Program, Legg said.

It is a program committed to ensuring that equal employment opportunities and diversity exist throughout the university committee, according to its mission statement.

“It is to diversify the campus, so both faculty and students will be prepared for a diverse world,” Legg said.

The meeting also will discuss key priorities for programs that are to be completed by fiscal year 2002.

“The meeting will be pretty straight-forward,” Legg said.