New members of the Board of Regents were appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to take the positions of Michael Bernhardt and Kenneth Bryant as their six-year term expired on Feb. 25. The new members, Warren Ayres and Shelley Sweatt, will attend their first Board of Regents meeting in May along with re-appointed member, Tiffany Burks.
“We’ve had great regents in the past and the two members that will be rotating off, have been really strong and beneficial for us,” Director of Board and Government Relations Debbie Barrow said. “It’s always hard to fill someones shoes, but everybody brings new skills to the Board so I think it’ll be a good fit.”
Three regents rotate off the Board every two years, out of the nine regents not counting the student regent, three of them always have an expiring term on Feb. 25 of the even-numbered years. This year was the first time Abbott, who took office in 2014, made appointments.
“The new [Board of Regent members] will go through a training process between now and the May board meeting,” Barrow said. “They know a lot about Midwestern but this is just to bring them up to speed on what’s happening.”
Abbott appointed mass communication junior Megan Piehler as student regent in June 2015. She will attend her last Board of Regents meeting in May. She said having a reappointed member is good for the Board as well as appointing new members to keep perspectives fresh.
“There’s a benefit in that [Burks] is already up to speed on everything,” Piehler said. “That’s equally beneficial and it’s exciting to have new people.”
Ayers graduated from MSU and resides in Wichita Falls. Sweatt went to Texas Tech and she is executive director of the Priddy Foundation.
“It’s nice to have that perspective from the community they can kind of gauge how the community is going to perceive things,” Piehler said.
During the search process for new Board members, Barrow’s involvement included making sure that the governor’s office knew as much as they needed to know about Midwestern as well as dropping off information pieces about potential regents.
“With the two new regents being from Wichita Falls, they know us very well and we’re very excited to help them learn more about Midwestern,” Barrow said.
