Bleachers and business ventures were two of the proposals approved by the Board of Trustees yesterday.

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation will give students in the College of Business Administration a chance to gain real-life experience working with local businesses, President Carol Cartwright said. Today’s economy is based on innovation, and the center will let students use their ideas in actual business ventures.

“It’s related to our larger goals of economic growth and outreach,” she said.

The university will pay about $750,000 to replace old bleachers in the Ice Arena and to create two new locker rooms, Trustee Patrick Mullin said.

The arena is used as much by the community as it is by the university, said David Creamer, vice president for administration. The construction will be funded by revenues generated by the arena.

They also approved the following measures:

• Renaming the College of Fine and Professional Arts to the College of the Arts. This will help to create a clear and focused identity for the arts at Kent State, Provost Paul Gaston said.

“The arts are a vital part of contemporary culture,” said Dean Timothy Chandler.

• A new investment policy for the university, increasing the amount of alternative investments. Mullin said the plan aims to maximize performance and minimize risks.

• A routine salary increase of 2 percent for unclassified staff and for classified staff not in a bargaining unit.

• Appointing Board chair R. Douglas Cowan to NEOUCOM’s Board of Trustees to serve the remainder of James Schubert’s unfinished term until May 2008. Schubert passed away last semester.

Contact administration reporter Rachel Abbey at [email protected].