West Virginia State University News July 25, 2012 Virginia State University July 20,2012 WVSU Awarded $750,000 As West Virginia State University continues to brand itself as a university of choice for students from West Virginia and beyond, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) yesterday unanimously approved a request for additional funding of $750,000. The additional monies will be used during the coming academic year to improve campus Wi-Fi, library offerings and online services, assessment and student recruitment and marketing. "We are truly appreciative of the faith this demonstrates in State's ability and desire to deliver quality education for West Virginians and students across the country," said WVSU President Brian O. Hemphill. "We thank Chancellor Hill, Chairman Hendrickson and the HEPC members for the additional opportunities this funding will provide to enhance services to our students, to improve our enrollment and to increase the number of students completing degrees at State." Hemphill has been conducting open forums over the past two weeks for members of the community and University, in which he has laid out several focus areas for immediate attention, action and resource allocation. "We will direct our focus and a portion of these new resources on the critical areas of exceptional student service, recruitment and retention, branding and marketing, library resources, academic assessment and the campus technology infrastructure," said Hemphill. "We have to get the word out about the value of a State education, and these additional monies are going to help us do just that," said Kitty McCarthy, interim vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. "Recruitment and retention are everyone's job at State," added Hemphill. "We have experienced enrollment issues in recent years and we are going to turn that around," he stated. "In addition to new enrollment initiatives, we are putting additional resources toward retention and graduation. If students are good enough to be enrolled at State, they are good enough to graduate," said Hemphill. "Requiring our students to achieve excellence means providing them with services and materials that also are excellent," Hemphill added. "We must keep our collections and our online library services current to allow State students to be competitive in occupational and graduate school arenas." Additional library books and periodicals are also needed to maintain the expected collection for the University's accreditation, which the institution has earned continuously since 1927. The reaffirmation of State's accreditation will take place during the 2014-2015 academic year. A portion of the resources allocated to assessment includes adding LiveText for students, an e-portfolio and assessment instrument. WVSU's campus technology also needs strengthening. "We are so appreciative that a portion of this new funding can be used to enhance our current technology infrastructure. Every student and faculty group I've met with thus far has not-so-gently brought this need to my attention," Hemphill said smilingly. "As a primary step to building an improved technological infrastructure, we need to become a Wi-Fi saturated campus. We've begun to build a wireless campus, but it needs expansion. Building a Wi-Fi campus will improve student satisfaction and, in return, student retention," he added. In a related technology realm, the campus will begin a Web site revision project, shared Donna M. Simon, interim vice president for University Relations and Operations, and chief of staff. "The additional monies approved by the HEPC will allow us to enhance our 'front window' to the world," Simon said. "We are formulating a timeline for the Web project and will begin meeting with students and other campus stakeholders regarding design options and content early next week." "This is an exciting time in State's history," President Hemphill said. "With these new resources provided by the HEPC, the University community will be able to continue to realize its mission of meeting the higher education and economic development needs of our region, of West Virginia and the global community." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/2012meeting-form.html for the October 21-23, 2012 HBCU Library Alliance 5th Membership Meeting and the Photographic Preservation Pre-Conference in New Orleans, LA. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.