Gilbert said his first priority is enrollment, which, he emphasized, “is not just one person’s responsibility. Every single one of us here at Marshall needs to be focused on enrollment as their number one priority, starting with the president.”
“It’s very important. A growing university is a healthy university,” he said. “I’ve set a modest goal of having a total of 15,000 students over the next four or five years. I think we can meet that or hopefully exceed that number.”
The university’s current enrollment is 13,600.
The board held its first meeting since Gilbert took over as president about five weeks ago in the Shawkey Room of the Memorial Student Center on the Huntington campus. Gilbert shared with the board what he has been doing since he assumed his duties, impressing the likes of board chair Michael Sellards.
“Jerry, in five weeks couldn’t you do a little more?” Sellards joked. “Congratulations. (You’re off) to a tremendous start.”
Sellards also thanked former Interim President Gary White, who, Sellards noted, “looks a little more relaxed” these days.
Gilbert said current salaries at Marshall are not competitive, so he wants to put into place a 5- to 10-year salary plan that would allow the university to attract and keep the very best faculty and staff. He also wants to see improved retention and graduation rates. He hopes for a retention rate in the upper 80s (percent), compared to what it is now—about 74 percent.
He also cited enhanced marketing of the university, increased private fund-raising, and expanded research and doctoral programs among his initial emphases.
Gilbert noted that Marshall is struggling with some transient budgetary challenges due to ongoing reductions in state allocations.
“The priority is to get us through this temporary challenge,” he said.
Once that is accomplished, “We will raise the name of Marshall University to new heights,” Gilbert said.
In other business today, Dr. Tammy Johnson, executive director of admissions and international student services, reported that although it is early to tell what the fall enrollment numbers might look like, freshmen admissions are up 6.1 percent overall, while freshmen deposits are up 3.6 percent overall when compared to this time a year ago.
“These numbers will likely change many times before the start of fall term,” Johnson said. “The next good benchmark date for us to look at freshmen numbers will be after May 1. We’ll have a better idea then.”
The board approved a budget reforecast for Fiscal Year 2015-16 and an Intent to Plan for the Master of Arts in Education, starting in fall 2016.
The College of Education and Professional Development proposed the intent to plan to combine its existing Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education, Master of Arts in Elementary Education, and Master of Arts in Secondary Education into a single Master of Arts in Education.
The new Master of Arts in Education consists of a set of core course requirements, several areas of emphasis and a capstone experience. The new program will require all students to complete 12 hours of coursework in research, human growth and development, technology and assessment. Each student must also select an area of emphasis consisting of 15-21 hours of required coursework.
The board also gave its final approval of an Electronic Records Management policy, which was created to establish best practices that will protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of institutional records; to shield the institution from liability, to preserve Marshall history and to improve overall efficiency of operations.