HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Brad Smith appeared in front of the Marshall University Board of Governors for the first time as president on Thursday.
The meeting marked his first since taking over as the university’s 38th president at the beginning of the year. He focused his presidential report on five topics including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, an academic update, organization and talent update, legislative and economic development update, and his 100-day listening tour.
Smith addressed Marshall’s enrollment decline impacting the overall budget. The budget report during the meeting revealed that tuition and fees for the university is down $2.9 million compared year to year. Marshall officials stated the allocated balance of CARES Act money to cover the shortfall.
Smith said official enrollment numbers will not be posted until later this spring for this semester but figures are “tracking the way we thought given pandemic conditions.”
He continued by saying his team must strategically think about enrollment strategy moving forward.
“We are going to take this as an opportunity to step back and strategically think about our enrollment strategy moving forward. Our team, under the leadership of Interim Provost (Avi) Mukherjee, has been looking at the best practices externally,” Smith said.
“I saw the first report out and we will come back with a holistic gameplan to continue to build this university’s enrollment back to the source of strength we know it can be.”
Smith said some positives with academics include retention rates are up 250 basis points and the momentum seems to be in place for the fall.
“As we look to the fall semester, we do have early indicators that we may be getting back to pre-pandemic levels. Examples would be admitted students are up over 20 percent and those who have submitted a deposit are up 30 percent,” Smith said.
Smith has been interacting with students and many in the campus community during a 100-day listening tour to begin his tenure. Listening sessions with constituent groups, including staff and administrators, alumni and community leaders began when he was first selected to be the next president in the fall.
He told the board that 36 groups have spent time with him during the tour.
“They have been incredibly informative. There have been some major things that have emerged. I will simply say that we will be sharing all of that publicly and making sure everyone knows what the messages have been that have come from various groups,” Smith said.
“I think that will become the foundation upon which will chart the course for the next chapter.”
As part of his organization and talent update, Smith told the board about the status of two crucial hires he will make – provost and athletics director. Smith said Feb. 17 is the application deadline for provost and a search committee will narrow a list down by the end of the month.
Smith said off-campus interviews for provost will be conducted in the first week of March with on-campus interviews following spring break. He expects a mid to late April decision on the provost. Dr. Avinandan (Avi) Mukherjee serves as Interim Provost as Smith has previously called him a ‘strong’ candidate.
Current Interim Athletics Director Jeff O’Malley is one of four finalists for the permanent role. Smith said the four finalists have been on-campus this week and will continue to be next week. Smith said the naming of Marshall’s next athletics director will be by the end of February.