Dialogue: Nota Bene: Fall Board of Trustees Meeting

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Nota Bene: Fall Board of Trustees Meeting

October 29, 2020

Good Morning,

The Virginia Wesleyan University Board of Trustees wrapped up a busy month with its Fall Business Session yesterday. Earlier in the month, they met to hear updates from the Emergency Response Team on the University’s COVID Action Plan and to review a variety of topics from plans for spring athletic competition to new and expanded academic programs.

Last week, the Board held their fall committee meetings with the Academic Affairs, Investment, Finance and Administration, Student Affairs, Advancement, Enrollment, and Trusteeship Committees all meeting.

Some of the actions from the Fall Business Session included the approval of a Tuition Freeze for the fourth year in a row (for academic year 2021-2022), acceptance of the final revised 2019-2020 fiscal year budget that will be submitted to the auditors, and the approval of the proposed revised 2020-2021 budget. The pandemic has required the University to make difficult financial decisions and all areas of the campus have learned to cope with budget reductions. While these decisions are never easy, continued adversity caused by the COVID crisis has shown how creative and innovative our faculty, staff, and students can be.

The Board offered a special welcome to Alisa Crider '10, an ex-officio member as the new Alumni Council Chair, and also recognized long-time Trustee and benefactor D. Henry Watts H'07 with the distinction of Emeritus. The Board also welcomed Kim Hammer, our new Vice President for Advancement/Special Assistant to the President.

At the Board workshop two weeks ago, the Board discussed various academic initiatives, including the Lakeland University Japan (LUJ) and VWU Global collaboration in Tokyo, and new online and noncredit programs of VWU Global Campus. They heard reports from our outsourced Chief Investment Officer at Commonfund and an update on the recent construction projects on and around campus: Susan T. Beverly Hall, Coastal 61 at Oxford Village, Brock Commons, and DeFord Manor.

The Board is interested and concerned about issues that expand well beyond our beautiful campus. They had thoughtful discussion surrounding the social justice movement, Black Lives Matter, racial and political tensions on college campuses nationwide and the current national situation regarding the United Methodist Church. All of these issues have implications for VWU and higher education in general. I thank our Board members for their reflections and support.

I would like to thank our Board of Trustees Chair, John Malbon, as well as our Board Committee Chairs—Nancy T. DeFord (Academic Affairs), David Kaufman (Enrollment), Jon Pruden (Student Affairs), Vince Mastracco (Advancement), Tim Bailey (Administration and Finance), and Jim Shumadine (Investment)—for their strategic leadership and service to VWU.

As always, I thank our Trustees for their time, guidance, and caring stewardship of Virginia Wesleyan University and its students.