MVSU Public Relations Department
Mississippi Valley State University President Donna H. Oliver said her administration is committed to being responsive to the state’s current fiscal challenges while also maintaining its profile of autonomy in support of the university’s unique mission and purpose.
“We recognize that these are very difficult times economically in our state and that many recommendations will be made regarding how best to meet these fiscal challenges,” Dr. Oliver said.
MVSU has been working proactively in anticipation of potential recommendations towards institutional cost cutting and has implemented austere budget savings measures in preparation for accomplishing the proposed 12 percent budget cut requested by Governor Barbour earlier today.
“An 18-member Renaissance Efficiency and Innovation Committee (REIC) consisting of members of our university faculty and staff from units throughout the university have already begun reviewing and analyzing costs savings and efficiency recommendations,” Dr. Oliver said. “The committee developed recommendations in three different phases which included suggestions ranging from restructuring, reallocation and outsourcing in academic, non-academic, and support units and in keeping with Governor Barbour’s budget proposal we are prepared to implement the recommendations of the committee if and when the need arises,” she said.
President Oliver also stated her contention that even during a recession; care should be taken to balance state budgetary interests with each institution’s unique mission-including institutional culture, populations served, public service missions, programmatic needs and local workforce development needs. President Oliver also acknowledged that the ultimate decision rests in the hands of the state Legislature and the Board of Trustees of the State Institutions for Higher Learning (IHL). “We are hopeful that an examination of institutional mergers in state higher education will not only be made in terms of cost/benefit analysis, but also what effect an action of that sort would have on our state’s educational and public service mission to the citizens of our state, and especially those citizens in the Mississippi Delta who make up some 80 percent of our student population,” Dr. Oliver said.
The president said the administration is focused on assuring that the University’s viability and posterity remains on a solid and firm foundation.
“The Valley will continue to make necessary changes and work to ensure that our students receive and have access to an affordable and high quality education,” she stated.
Initially created by the state legislature in 1946 to train teachers for rural and elementary schools in the Mississippi Delta, Mississippi Valley State University is one of eight state supported institutions for higher education in the state of Mississippi’s consortium of Institutions for Higher Learning (IHL). It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Associations of Colleges and Schools and serves nearly 3,000 students seeking undergraduate and graduate degrees. – MVSU –
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