While faculty review students’ final grades, Western’s Board of Regents also will be reviewing President Gary Ransdell’s job performance.

The Board of Regents will vote to approve President Gary Ransdell’s annual evaluation and a salary recommendation at their quarterly meeting at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Mass Media Hall.

Other items up for approval by the board include a decrease in tuition rates for the 2005-06 year, changes to the 2005-06 operating budget and changing the name of Big Red Way.

Regent Kristen Bale was the chair of the committee that evaluated Ransdell.

Bale said the evaluation is a personnel document and not available to the public, but she said it is a very strong evaluation of Ransdell’s performance in the past year.

Regent LaDonna Rogers, who also served on the committee, said there probably won’t be many surprises in Ransdell’s evaluation.

“I think he does an excellent job, and I think that’s what you will see come out of that,” Rogers said.

Faculty Regent Robert Dietle also said the evaluation is very positive.

The committee also will make a recommendation regarding Ransdell’s salary at the meeting.

Bale said the recommendation won’t be announced until Friday.

Ransdell was paid $250,008 for the 2004-05 year, a 14.6 percent increase from the previous year, according to the 2004-05 fiscal report.

The regents also will vote on a decrease in tuition rates for next academic year.

Ransdell recommended a 1.8 percent decrease in tuition rates to the Board of Regents finance and budget committee on April 8 because Western received more funding than anticipated from the General Assembly.

In-state undergraduates will pay $2,580 in fall 2005 and $2,736 in spring 2006 if the tuition reduction is approved, which means students would save $62 next year on tuition.

“I’m sure students will feel relieved that it is going down rather than up,” Dietle said.

An additional $3.5 million to the 2005-06 operating budget is also up for approval at the meeting tomorrow.

The revenue that wasn’t originally added into next year’s budget includes money generated from course change fees, transcript fees and a growth in enrollment.

Changing the university’s address also will be decided at the board meeting.

The Board of Regents executive committee approved changing Western’s address on April 8 to 1906 College Heights Blvd. to commemorate the university’s 100th birthday.

The portion of Big Red Way between Dogwood Drive and University Boulevard would be renamed the Avenue of Champions if the regents approve the change.

The change also includes simplifying Western’s postal system by giving each department on campus postal codes so mail can be sorted easier.

Reach Ashlee Clark

at news@wkuherald.com.