Crimson and Gold Connection; Dr. Steve Scott

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, keeping you connected to the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. This is the Crimson and Gold Connection on 89.9 KRPS, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro. I'm joined this week by President of Pittsburgh State University, Dr. Steve Scott. Thank you for joining me. Fred, great to be here. First things first, how are you and what have you been up to? Well, I've been pretty busy. It seems like, and if you asked me to recall where I've been the last few days, I might struggle a little bit. I have to look my calendar, but just lots of opportunities out there. One of my main jobs, of course, is to be on the road, to be engaged with our donors and the supporters that we have in the area and beyond. And so continue to do that, also really interested in the life-slave session. That's upcoming in January, so we've got some work to do in that area. And we've got some initiatives underway that people will begin to hear about in the next few weeks, I would think, that very promising for the campus and maybe even more so for the community.

But lots of really good things going on, people working very, very hard, and I think you see the result around the campus. That's great to hear. And I know that really, we have about six weeks left in this year, and then the new legislative session starts up in Topeka, and I personally look forward to that just because I like politics. But can you give us something behind the scenes that they're working on that we're going to hear in January? Well, right now, the governor is working on preparing her budget, and so she works with her staff, certainly the Board of Regents, K-12 community, and lots of folks will be lobbying her at this point to say, you know, we really need some support. K-12 is pretty well taken care about the court decision, of course, I think they'll receive another $90 million or so in funding this year, some additional funding. Our leadership in Topeka Board leaders, certainly Blake Fenders, the President of Board of Regents, they've been reaching out to the executive branch, and really working with them on that, on the budget proposal, and we're really seeking to just restore cuts we've have in the past. That is what we're asking for, we're not even asking for new money, and this last year we got about $34 million across the system as a partial restoration, but we're still

$50 million below the high point of our allocation back in 2009 or so. So we'd really like to see that restored. We have a proposal that we would support students at a higher level with some need-based scholarships that would be funded by the state, and then finally, we all have across the system deferred maintenance needs, and so there's a request in for some assistance in that regard as well. The state revenue picture has actually been very bright, they continue to run ahead of of estimates, and you might remember a few years ago, it's like every month, it's almost a horror show, as we would miss the estimates and the projections, and it was very, very painful. I think this last month, we were ahead $36 million of projections, and overall an estimating group of economists and others, state officials, they recently said, I think there's going to be over $200 million extra this year that they didn't anticipate in next year a little bit more than that. But our expenditures continue to rise with Medicaid and social services support, as I mentioned, K-12.

So it's going to be a tight budget again, but we go into the session, I believe, optimistic that higher education will move forward. I think what I hear from you to summarize is that overall, it's on a rebound. There's no doubt the state revenue is on a rebound. The concern we have right now is 2020 is election year, and there will be a lot of interest in cutting taxes, and I say this facetiously, when you cut taxes, you reduce state revenue, and when that happens, that's typically not good for Pittsburgh State University nor the region system, or for any other state agency. And our governor is coming in, Governor Kelly is coming in, and basically says she wants to rebuild some of the agencies that were devastated over the last number of years. And the tax structure that was put in place, it didn't work. It really destroyed the revenue side, and it really hurt the agencies, and so we've got some work to do in roads, HRS, and just a variety of areas. And so we're hopeful that she'll stand strong, and this will maintain those revenues,

and we won't get too excited about tax cuts. All right, moving on to something lighter. Five years of the Bicknell Center, coming up here in the next time, between the next time we talk, I've said many people in that chair that's just sitting in now and talking about the Bicknell Center. What it means to them for Malamanquia and being a director of an orchestra to, of course, Joe Furman. And so what does the five years of the Bicknell Center anniversary mean to you? Well, it's extraordinary, and later today I'm going to meet with the foundation, a group of foundation members and probably two or three hundred people in the room over at the Student Center. And I'm going to talk specifically about the Bicknell Center. I think it's one of the best fundraising efforts we've ever put into place. It's one of the most transformational efforts we've ever been involved in. And you know, there's over 600 donors that made that building possible. We'll talk about Gene Bicknell or the Walton Family Foundation, and certainly there are others that made very large donations. But there's donations from $5 to $10 million that made that possible.

And so what I'm going to share with the group at noon is just the excitement I have and what I have felt is I've sat there and watched all these different Broadway shows, Bill Clinton on that stage, Laura Bush on that stage, Condolee Sirice recently was on that stage, Mitt Romney, Soledad O'Brien, I mean the list just goes on and on. And you know, our mission at Pittsburgh State is to provide transformational experiences for our students in our community. And if you want a great example of that, and if you want a great example of how private support makes that happen, it's the Bicknell Center. So I said early on as we raised money for it, that it wasn't about a building. It was about what would transpire within that building. And I think you've seen that vision realized. And I think at a high point recently, not enough, you were able to be there, but when Secretary Rice was on that stage, she was phenomenal in the crowd. It was a sell out, of course, just energy in the room and excitement and every single head as I was on the stage with her, looked at it, these heads, they were all at her.

They were all looking at her and it was just so focused and it was an experience they could never have happened, that would never have happened six years ago. But now it can, because we have that beautiful venue. So it's a huge deal. So I'm very excited that December 7th is a day, certainly that will live in infamy as we all know. But for Pittsburgh State University, it's a milestone day of opening the Bicknell Center and really providing transformational experiences for our community. And not just for five years, but for decades to come. All right. Well, thank you for your time. Thank you. It's always great to be here. The holiday extravaganza and the fifth anniversary of the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts that President Scott Westby can about takes place Tuesday, December 3rd, begins at 7.30 pm. The event is open to the public. Visit bicknellcenter.org for more information. I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro and you've been listening to the Crimson and Gold Connection, a production of 89.9 K-R-P-S.

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