At its regularly quarterly meeting today, Coastal Carolina University’s board of trustees approved a 3 percent pay increase for University employees. The measure does not apply to senior administrators, including the president, chief operating officer, athletic director and vice presidents, or to athletic coaches who have contractual pay increases. The board cited the hard work and dedication of faculty and staff, who have not received a cost-of-living salary increase in four years.

The board elected officers for 2011-2012. D. Wyatt Henderson was elected chairman. He will replace William H. “Billy” Alford, who has served as chairman since 2007. Gary W. Brown was elected vice chairman and Larry L. Biddle was elected secretary-treasurer.

Henderson, a certified public accountant, is managing partner of Henderson Accounting in Greer. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from CCU in 1998 and was named Alumnus of the Year in 2004 for the E. Craig Wall College of Business Administration. He established the Cecil H. Black Memorial Scholarship at CCU to benefit outstanding accounting majors. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the S.C. Association of Certified Public Accountants and the South Carolina Tax Council.

Brown, an architect, is president of Goforth, Brown and Associates in Florence. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Clemson University in 1985. Active in Florence civic affairs, he has served as president of the Florence Rotary Club and the Pee Dee Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He has also served on the boards of the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce, Encore Theatre Company, Arts Alive and the Downtown Design Review Board.

Biddle, president of Burroughs Company in Conway, is a lifelong educator and businessman. From 1966 to 1974 he served as assistant director of Coastal Carolina University, where he taught Spanish and coached basketball and baseball. As assistant principal of Conway High School, he founded the nationally recognized Renaissance program, a system of rewards and incentives for students, teachers and administrators. Biddle earned a bachelor's degree from St. Mary’s College of California and a master’s degree in Spanish from Middlebury College Graduate School. Biddle and his wife Ginny were instrumental in establishing the Biddle Center for Teaching and Learning, an outreach of CCU’s Spadoni College of Education.

The board approved a motion requesting the state to solicit bids for the purchase or lease of a nearby apartment complex to provide additional housing for resident students. The University is seeking an additional 350 beds to accommodate the increase in enrollment anticipated for Fall 2012.

The board approved a motion to hire a consultant to review the University Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for compliance. The development of a QEP is one of the performance indicators required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) as part of its reaccreditation process. The cost for the consultant’s services is estimated at $3,000.

The board approved the naming of a reading room in honor of longtime CCU history professor Charles W. Joyner, founding director of CCU’s Waccmaw Center for Cultural and Historical Studies. The room will be called the Charles W. Joyner Reading Room and will be located in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

The board approved the hiring, with tenure, of Jonathan C. Smith for the position of associate professor of politics and director of intelligence and national security.

The board also conditionally approved a lease for a building located at 910 Third Avenue in Conway for $750 per month from the Burroughs Company. The board charged the administration to research the market for a lower-priced alternative before proceeding with the lease. The building, part of a community outreach initiative, will be used for classroom instruction and as a gallery to exhibit artwork of CCU and area high school students.