2023 State of the University

We must engineer a new way forward while continuously battling questions about the worthiness of higher education. While these challenges are before us, I know we have the capacity to identify the complex variables we face and engineer solutions that positions us to grow.

THREE-PHASE STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION Phase I:
The transformation of the Executive Leadership Team and creation of Extended Executive Leadership Team heightens our inclusivity while practicing shared governance, increasing communication and improving transparency.

The launch of the Councils of Transformation (i.e., academic, enrollment management, fundraising and student success) bring leaders together to address specific items and transform the university.

Academic Council

• Proposed streamlining the annual faculty evaluation process
• Exploring ways to strengthen academic programs through program review, academic transformation
• Reviewing degree programs to ensure traditional and transfer students have a direct path to degree completion
• Working with New River Community and Technical College to operationalize our MOU that aims to make the pathway from a certificate to a graduate degree one that is understandable, accessible, and affordable
• Expansion of online courses
• Revamp programs in a manner that positions us to emerge as a leader in programs that drive economic growth and development

Enrollment Management Council

• An aggressive approach to growing our enrollment through recruitment and retention initiatives.
  

Fundraising Council

• Responsible for creating an infrastructure to raise funds and develop friends of the University
• We received a $50,000 gift to promote entrepreneurship in Southern WV while encouraging economic growth and development through outdoor recreation $50,000 future investment in our nursing and engineering programs from Shawn Ball of L&S Toyota.

• Day of Giving Successes:
• By 9:30 a.m., we exceeded 50 donations which unlocked a $25,000 pledge from alumnus John Jarrett.
• Compared to last year, we witnessed a 277% increase in the number of gifts while increasing the amount raised by 149%
• Donors contributed to 14 different funds – one of which was the William Benn Student Success fund designated to help students overcome financial hardships
• 60 donors who donated almost $10,000 to the William Benn Student Success fund during Day of Giving
• The Tech Golden Bear Alumni Association committed to raising $1M.

Student Success Council

• Responsible for establishing a culture of student success
• Identified barriers that hinder student success outside the classroom and eliminates them by actively working across campus to address concerns through programming, tutoring, and support services

Phase II:

• Reallocation of institutional resources to strengthen effectiveness while developing a robust, outward-facing unit that promotes who we are, what we do, and who we do it for
• Expanded the university relations executive director’s role to include chief of staff duties

Phase III:

• This evaluation explores our personnel, expenses, current and potential revenue sources.
• We are operating with an overall deficit of roughly $5M for fiscal year 2023. This is largely due to a 17% decline in enrollment since fall 2018 which directly impacted our tuition and fee revenue.
  
• The Ex ecutive Leadership Team has been working to align our expenditures to our current enrollment levels, while also using existing resources to position the university for future growth. This includes streamlining processes, utilizing One WVU, spending Foundation funds, finding alternative revenue from grants, partnerships and fundraising, and reallocating funds to align with strategic growth initiatives to increase revenues.
  
• We made the tough decision to eliminate 11 vacant positions and reduce our operating budget by almost $1.4M.
  
• The se reductions better reflect our actual yearly spend and align our budget to our spending levels.
  

Communiversity

• Communiversity means the community is the university, and the university is the community. We must work to deepen relationships with the city, county and region.
• Develop a Communiversity to develop a robust community with a thriving economy.
• We will aggressively pursue the Carnegie Foundation’s Elective Classification for Community Engagement.
  

Economic impact
^{prepared by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research from the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics}

• Estimated our operational and student expenditures generated an economic impact of $35M in WV
• University and student expenditures supported 378 jobs that helped workers earned nearly $20M in income while generating about $1.3M in state and local tax revenue
• In Raleigh County, our operational and student expenditures generated an economic impact of $32M while supporting 367 that earned $19M in income and $1.2M in tax revenue for state and local governments.