President Lester Lefton opened Monday’s Faculty Senate meeting by announcing that Kent State system-wide enrollment hit 42,235 for this year.

Lefton said enrollment is up 4 percent on the main Kent campus and 2 percent overall, according to 15th-day statistics.

The rest of the statistics, which were compiled by Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness, will be released Tuesday. He said he estimates this number will remain stable in future years.

“Our system-wide enrollment continues to be the highest ever,” Lefton said. “It’s just terrific.”

Lefton also discussed some major changes being made to both Bowman and Satterfield halls over the next two months. Furniture and charging stations for electronic devices will be added so that both buildings will be more comfortable learning environments for students.

“There isn’t much electricity in these buildings,” Lefton said. “I’ve been working with architects to make sure we have charging stations for lots of people to plug in.”

The senate meeting began with some announcements from Paul Farrell, the senate chairman. Farrell said the senate has formed a committee to search for a new provost. Lefton said candidates for the provost position should start to apply as early as January 2012.

The senate discussed three issues Monday night. All three were tabled for future meetings:

• Course catalog hold policies for courses that will not be offered for five or more years

• Changes to faculty senate bylaws

• Adding a Kent Core class with the School of Digital Sciences and the School of Public Health

Contact Megan Wilkinson at [email protected].