The UNA Board of Trustees met May 20 for their annual retreat to discuss topics such as the move to Division I, Kilby School funding and possible tuition increases.

The board met in an informal setting to discuss these topics before their June 13 board meeting.

The trustees spent a large amount of time discussing the possible move to Division I, and conversed back and forth the pros and cons of a possible move up in athletics.

Johnny Williams of Creative Marketing Management presented to the board his agencies’ research regarding UNA’s possible athletic move.

“It’s a very complicated situation,” Williams told the board.

Williams presented benchmarks UNA should meet in order to move to D-I. The benchmarks included securing monies for the application fee, securing an invitation from a Division I conference, adding two more sports and awarding more scholarships to students.

The board also discussed Kilby School and possible ways to fund the school in the future. They appointed a group of Shared Governance board members to make future decisions about Kilby.

“This is not a conversation whether Kilby has value or not,” said Dr. John Thornell, vice president of academic affairs.

Kilby School is the last remaining lab school in Alabama, according to dean of the College of Education Dr. Donna Jacobs. Jacobs said the faculty members at Kilby are UNA employees and the bulk of the funding Kilby receives is directly from the university.

Check florala.net or follow us on Twitter at @UNAFlorAla for updates about Kilby School and the possible D-I move at UNA.