West Virginia Universitys regional campus in Montgomery is at acritical crossroadsand needs to not only grow enrollment, but improve retention and graduation rates, construct a new residence hall and reach out to alumni.

WVU Institute of Technology President Charles Bayless made his case Friday (Nov. 4) at the Universitys Board of Governors meeting.

Bayless, beginning his seventh month as president of his alma mater, said Techs current enrollment of 1,200 full-time equivalent students has been steadily declining. This is because of competition among schools for fewer traditional age college students, outdated facilities, and a lack of focused marketing and recruiting.

Freshman-to-sophomore retention rates have dipped to 56 percent, and graduation rates have also fallen, he said.

Steady state budget reductions for higher education and increased costs associated with a technology-driven curriculum such as engineering have also hurt the school, which faces a $1.8 million deficit this year, he added.

One of the biggest problems, Bayless noted, is $20 million in needed improvements to the campus infrastructure because of deferred maintenance over the last several decades. Labs are archaic and facilitiesespecially residence hallsare in need of renovations, he said.

Getting labs and facilities up to where they need to behas to be a focus,he told the board. And, the only way to get more money for projects is torecruit more students.

We truly have to do a better job,he said.Interestingly, just over 300 West Virginia students indicated on their ACT that they wanted to major in engineering. That tells me we need to recruit outside our market.

South Korea , he noted, with just one-sixth of the population, graduated more engineers than U.S. schools last year.

Tech has a new institutional marketing campaign that cuts across the campus, with fresh materials and a tracking system, Bayless said. Recruiters have been added to key out-of-state markets in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and a concerted effort is being made to improve advising, offer mentoring, initiate student learning communities and differentiate Tech from the two-year Community and Technical College.

Bayless said Tech officials are also talking to private developers about a new campus residence hall with faculty in residencemuch like what is done on WVU s Morgantown campus.

A new hall will do more than anything to jump-start Tech,he added.And getting to students in the first four to five weeks of schoolbefore they get into academic troubleis critical.

In addition, Tech will be reaching out to its alumni. Less than 1 percent of Techs graduates currently give to the school.

With an endowment of about $5 million, Bayless hopes to merge the fund-raising function with the WVU Foundation to grow money for scholarships and other academic enhancements.

I graduated in 1968,Bayless said,and until I came back as president, I had not received a single mailing. We need to fix that.

Tech, long known for its strong engineering and science programs, will continue to work on attracting students with interests in math and science, but will also focus on recruiting students interested in Techs printing technology programs.

Athletic coaching education is also becoming a niche academic area, he said, and is Techs fastest-growing major.

He called the situation at Techfixable.

It will take a lot of work, but it can be done,he added.

In other business, the board agreed to send salary recommendations for regional campus presidents to the state Higher Education Policy Commission for approval.

The board also:

  • Approved institutional compact progress reports for submission to HEPC
  • Revised BOG operating procedures
  • Approved an increase in the budget, from $2.7 million to $3.1 million, for WVU Parkersburgs main classroom building structural rehabilitation project, with the funding source to be resolved
  • Approved White Hall safety renovations to bring the 63-year-old facility into compliance with current life safety codes at a cost of $5 million by August 2008.
  • Heard a report on the Universitys sources of revenue and uses of funds

The next meeting of the 17-member panel will be Dec. 16 by telephone.