West Virginia University received permission from its Board of Governors Friday (June 6) to lease additional privately-owned apartment buildings year-round to accommodate a growing student bodynearly 5,100 of whom will be freshmen or returning and transfer students (with less than 28 credits) who are required to live in campus-operated residence halls.
The 12-member panel approved three-year leases for four buildings at Sterling University Ridge Apartments near the Evansdale Campus that will house 252 students; five floors at Pierpont Apartments near the Health Sciences Campus that will accommodate 314 students; and the entire Summit Suites Apartments located near the Downtown Campus that will provide 563 beds. Total cost of the lease arrangements is $11.5 million to be generated from student housing fees.
WVU entered into a one-year rental agreement with the owners of Sterling Ridge last year and has for many years had lease arrangements with the other two privately-owned complexes.
These lease arrangements, coupled with the already approved lease-purchase of Madison House, a former nursing home that will provide 211 additional beds, will help meet the University’s projected housing shortage, said Amir Mohammadi, associate vice president for Student Affairs.
Currently, the University has on campus housing accommodations for about 3,600 students in its nine residence hallswell short of the need.
Mohammadi said a market and feasibility study is under way to address futuremore permanentstudent housing needs.
The Higher Education Policy Commission also gave its approval Thursday (June 5) to these lease arrangements, contingent on BOG approval.
Additional Facility Enhancement
The board OK’d the purchase of two properties near the Sunnyside area of Morgantown20 and 36 Campus Drive (at the intersection of Beechurst and Campus)for $730,000. The land was purchased from the WVU Foundation, which received the parcels from a donor as part of a remainder trust. The property will be used for future campus expansion yet to be determined.
Two athletic department capital improvement projects also got a green lighta $7 million renovation of the 33-year-old Coliseum and a $1.5 million investment in a new soccer complex. Both projects are contingent upon the availability of private fund raising, club ticket sales and the sale of bonds.
The Coliseum project will include modernizing the men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms, women’s volleyball locker rooms, coaches’locker rooms and strength and conditioning areas by December 2004. A new soccer stadium adjacent to the stadium will provide seats for some 1,600 spectators, including ADA seating and parking, plus concessions, ADA compliant restrooms and more by June 2004.
Both projects are part of a $24 million capital improvement plan presented by the athletic department and previously approved by both the BOG and Policy Commission.
The panel also approved construction of a 33,000-square-foot, two-story building in Martinsburg to house the Eastern Panhandle Clinical Campus. The $6.3 million facility will be federally funded through a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant.
The community-based clinical division of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center will be primarily used to train third- and fourth-year medical students to work in this under served region. The facility will include classrooms, a library, 200-seat auditorium, small group space, individual student space and administrative offices.
Academics Gets A Boost
The board approved new academic degree programs.
WVU ’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will now offer a bachelor of arts degree in women’s studies, building on its existing and popular certificate program. A full-time director who has been associated with WVU ’s Center for Women’s Studies since its inception in 1980, Dr. Barbara Howe, will continue to oversee the discipline.
The M.S. in Audiology degree in the College of Human Resources and Education was changed to a clinical doctorate, or Au.D., to respond to new standards set forth by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
The board also approved a new bachelor of science degree in computer engineering at the WVU Institute of Technology in response to student demand.
These programs will now go before the HEPC for approval.
Business Affairs
To reduce expenses associated with travel, the board voted to discontinue the practice of reimbursing employees for meals during single travel days.
They also approved a revised tuition and fee schedule at WVU Institute of Technology, resulting in undergraduate resident rates increasing by 8.74 percent rather than 9.5 percent to reflect the HEPC ’s rating system.
Personnel Matters
The board appointed Superintendent of Schools for Wood County, William Niday, to the Board of Advisors at WVU Parkersburg, replacing outgoing superintendent Dan Curry.
The University’s promotion and tenure decisions were received, and the board discussed in executive session an evaluation of WVU ’s president, David C. Hardesty Jr.
The board returned its current slate of officers for another term, including Curtis H.”Hank”Barnette, chairman emeritus of Bethlehem Steel, chairman; Thomas Potter, attorney with Jackson&Kelly PLLC in Charleston, vice chairman; and T. Joseph Lopez, senior vice president of Global Leadership, secretary.
They also added a new committee, Health Sciences, and appointed board liaisons to intercollegiate athletics, Rod Thorn, and regional campuses, Joseph Lopez.
New faculty and student representatives joining the board are: Music Professor Chris Wilkinson and aerospace engineering senior Charles Battleson, replacing Stan Cohen and Chris Gregory.
Resolutions were introduced recognizing the contributions of WVU regional campus presidents Mary Rittling of Potomac State and Erik Bitterbaum of WVU Parkersburg, who were attending their last board meeting. Rittling recently accepted the presidency at Davidson County Community College (DCCC) in Lexington, N.C.; Bitterbaum the presidency at the State University of New York at Cortland.
Outgoing faculty and student members were also recognized.
The next BOG meeting is set for Sept. 4-5.