Each fall brings about excitement! Good news abounds and campus is full of activity. The Welty Writers’ Symposium and Gala will take place this week – this is always something that I look forward to attending.
The evidence is abundant that The W continues to have a meaningful impact locally, in the state of Mississippi and beyond. The W continues to lead the state’s public university system with the highest degree completion ratio. We had a 32.8% degree completion ratio per 100 undergraduate full-time equivalent students, compared to the IHL System’s overall average of 21.2.
This remarkable achievement is the result of much hard work and collaborative efforts of our talented faculty and staff. I am proud of The W’s role in raising the educational attainment level of our state and proud of the dedication of our faculty and staff.
We know that our faculty and staff are undercompensated. The IHL’s legislative budget request for fiscal 2021 includes the first step of a multi-year plan to address faculty compensation, but staff salaries were not addressed. We will be updating the market analysis of salaries to identify the amount needed to adequately compensate our staff. With the trend of public higher education’s greater budgetary reliance upon tuition, it is likely that we will have to factor staff salary increases into future tuition rates.
We continue to have strong relationships with community colleges whose students transfer to complete their education at The W. We have signed agreements outlining pathways to degree completion with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Copiah Lincoln Community College, with a scheduled signing with Itawamba Community College October 18.
The IHL System will not release official enrollment numbers until early November rather than publishing preliminary figures that have traditionally been released mid-September. The goal is to minimize confusion between preliminary and final enrollment numbers. The later release of enrollment numbers is the result of a consensus reached several months ago by the Chancellor/Presidents to establish an enrollment census date later in the fall semester that facilitates more accurate enrollment reporting and better positions our universities in comparative outcome metrics used by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) that is part of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). I look forward to sharing our enrollment news at the appropriate time.
While on the subject of enrollment, our strategic enrollment planning efforts, combined with the demographic projections for the future, indicate that future enrollment growth opportunities will be increasingly tied to our academic programs and delivery methods.
With Dr. Jennifer Miles’ leadership over the past several years, we have reworked our admissions recruitment and scholarship processes to effect strategic recruitment and leveraging of scholarships. Within our available scholarship resources, I think we have maximized what we are able to do at this time to affect enrollment with this current structure.
To better align our recruitment efforts with our academic programs we have reorganized our enrollment management and financial aid offices to become a part of Academic Affairs. These offices now report to Dr. Scott Tollison, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, effective Oct. 1.
With this reorganization, we will not be filling the Dean of Students position. In addition to the University Police, Student Life, Counseling, and Housing and Residence Life will be direct reports for Dr. Miles. She is also assuming responsibilities for Title IX.
The progress that has been made in the areas of recruitment and scholarships is attributed to the work that Dr. Miles, Shelley Moss in Admissions and Nicole Patrick in Financial Aid have done to hone these strategies. We can now focus on aligning these efforts with our academic planning. Please join me in celebrating what has been accomplished to date, and in working to further our enrollment plans.
More cause for celebration – the renovation and expansion of Turner Hall has been completed. The former Demonstration School is the new home for the department of Speech Language Pathology and the Speech and Hearing Clinic. The move from Cromwell has been a gradual one, making the fall break a busy time for that department. The formal ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place in late January. A Demonstration School reunion will be held at a later date so that those W Alumni can see the transformation of their former classrooms.
The area around Taylor and Keirn Halls has been fenced off to secure that site for the demolition of those buildings. Once the asbestos abatement has been completed a “muncher” will be brought in to do the actual demolition. It won’t be nearly as dramatic as an implosion, but it will be great to see progress being made in clearing the site for the new Culinary Arts building.
We continue to welcome external recognition from multiple national sources.
For the seventh consecutive year, The W was named one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to a new survey by The Great Colleges to Work For program. It also is the seventh consecutive year for The W to be named to the prestigious Honor Roll for institutions in the small enrollment size (500 – 2,999 students).
Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recently ranked The W No. 5 as a best value among public Southern regional universities and 18th among best public regional universities in the South. I am particularly proud of a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report. We are listed as having the lowest Median Amount of Debt at Graduation ($14,000) for regional universities in the South.
Washington Monthly magazine also ranked The W as the highest among Mississippi’s public universities in the 2019 Best Bang for the Buck–South category. The magazine placed The W at No. 53 of 203 universities in the South.
Congratulations on a job well done and for making The W a “best value” and a top tier university.
Lastly, in just three years, our athletics program has become an integral part of The W’s campus life with 17 sports and approximately 214 student athletes. Last year, our athletes had a collective grade point average of 3.04, proving that they are truly student athletes. The Owls logo is visible on clothing, sports venues and countless merchandise—a visible sign of our presence in the community.
The key to this growth has been affiliation with athletic associations that have allowed competition against a host of schools. In 2017, The W was added as a new member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, with the fielding of The W’s first intercollegiate athletic teams since 2002.
In March 2019, the athletics program was accepted as a provisional NCAA Division III member, a division that also includes Millsaps College and Belhaven University in Mississippi. The three-year process of becoming a full Division III member should be complete in the 2021-22 season, opening even more opportunities for The W’s Owls.
Adaptability. Positivity. Responsibility. These three themes will continue to be hallmarks of my presidency. I am so grateful for the loyalty and generosity our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends continue to demonstrate in advancing The W and helping it shine more brightly. Together we continue to make a difference.