LLU - Scope, Newscope

LLU president B. Lyn Behrens, MBBS, presented the board with an update on the 1997 strategic plan objectives and strategies.

Highlights of the Loma Linda University Board of Trustees, which met in full session on Monday, August 18, include the following:

* The board appointed Leslie Pollard, DMin, as special assistant to the president and director of diversity for Loma Linda University. On July 31, Dr. Pollard was appointed as vice president for diversity of Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center (LLUAHSC) by the executive committee of that board. Dr. Pollard was senior pastor at the Oakwood College Seventh-day Adventist Church, Huntsville, Alabama.

* Gerald Winslow, PhD, was appointed as special assistant to the president for spiritual life and wholeness for Loma Linda University. The previous special assistant, Wil Alexander, PhD, is concentrating his efforts on the directorship of the Center for Spiritual Life and Wholeness. In June, Dr. Winslow was appointed vice president for spiritual life of LLUAHSC.

* LLU president B. Lyn Behrens, MBBS, presented an update on the 1997 strategic plan objectives and strategies. The strategic plan for 1998-03, which included the operational plan for 1997-98, was presented to and approved by the Board of Trustees.

* Currently, approximately 50 Seventh-day Adventist mission hospitals are in varying degrees of financial or organizational difficulty. The board was appraised of an initiative, Adventist Health International (AHI), proposed by Loma Linda University to channel the best of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's ideas and resources to assist these struggling institutions. This will be done in collaboration with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Maranatha, Adventist Health Systems and hospitals, and other interested parties.

The purpose of AHI is to identify the organizational, financial, and human resources necessary for a successful Adventist health-care system. LLU is committed to developing AHI into a service that coordinates the existing resources of Adventist health care to help any legitimate church project or institution that needs assistance, meets established criteria, and is willing to commit
to significant planned change.

The School of Public Health is preparing an off-campus program offering master's and bachelor's degrees in selected disciplines at multiple locations around the world. Other Loma Linda University schools may provide tuition scholarships to selected on-campus individuals committed to leadership roles in this health-care renewal program.

* Loma Linda University has ended the 1996-97 fiscal year with an unaudited gain in net assets from operations of $959,821. Each of the schools and the Faculty of Religion ended the year either on budget or better than budget.

* The University has an unaudited increase in net assets of $17,190,521 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1997, in addition to the $959,821 from operations; $6,783,990 in the plant fund; $66,092 from funds functioning as endowment and other unrestricted activities in the Foundation; $5,810,662 from temporarily restricted funds; and $4,622,760 from permanently restricted funds.

* The Loma Linda University external debt has been reduced from $15,809,183 on June 30, 1996, to $13,899,920 on June 30, 1997. Of this debt, $8,886,173 is owed to the General Conference on the co-generation/chiller project. This debt is on track to be paid by the year 2001.

LLU Board of Trustees meets in August