The University of Oregon board of trustees passed five resolutions during its quarterly two-day meeting Dec. 9-10 in Eugene.
The board voted unanimously to approve three new programs, proceed with the next phase of building the child behavioral health building on the Portland campus and submit a new capital project to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
The three new approved programs are:
- Master in science in data science, aligning with a bachelor’s degree program in data science.
- Master in science in cybersecurity, also aligning with a bachelor’s degree program.
- A bachelor’s in education program for child behavioral health.
The two master’s programs would continue to grow the UO’s offerings in a key growth area in the job market, where a presentation by the College of Arts and Sciences highlighted there are more than 4,000 job openings for cybersecurity work in Oregon alone. The addition of a third degree track for child behavioral health (along with BS and BA tracks) gives more flexibility for students and increases access to some community college students who want to enter the program.
Work will also start to pick up for the planned child behavioral health building in Portland now that the board has officially approved accepting the capital allocation from the HECC that was granted last June. It’s currently in the design process, but the building will be two stories, 54,000 square feet on the east side of the campus. The project was approved at $79 million, with a mixture of bonds and UO matching and philanthropy. It will be the UO’s first mass timber building and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2029.
The board also heard a report and approved a proposal for submitting a renovation of Lawrence Hall to the HECC. Submissions are due in April 2026 and awards would be announced in June 2027.
On Tuesday trustees also heard a report on owned and earned media from Vice President for University Communications Carol Keese, an enrollment management update from Vice President for Enrollment Management Derek Kindle, a risk management update from Vice President and Chief Resilience Officer André Le Duc, an external financial audit report from the firm Baker Tilly as well as Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Jamie Moffitt’s quarterly financial report.
During Wednesday’s reports section of the meeting, the board listened to public comment and reports from the Officers of Administration Council, United Academics and other campus labor organizations. President Karl Scholz, Provost Christopher Long, Associated Students of the University of Oregon President Prissila Moreno and University Senate President Dyana Mason all gave reports.
The agenda, materials and recordings of the meeting are available on the board website.
—Ben Schorzman, University Communications