State of Campus Address: Reflecting on the First Four Years of Presidency
September 13, 1999
Delivered by David C. Hardesty Jr., President, West Virginia University
During the past four years, a time of unprecedented, fundamental changes on college campuses, we have pulled together like never before to achieve critical goals. It is indeed amazing when we consider our accomplishments during this brief period of time: [slides accompany each of following]
We have become a more student-centered university. The programs we refer to as Operation Jump-Start are reinvigorating student life and have stabilized our enrollment. The Resident Faculty Leader program, for example, is thriving. There are now eight RFLs, all of them giving students in our residence halls the support they need to be successful. The RFL team this year includes five new faces: Tim and Lori Pearson at Brooke Tower, Robin Jones at Arnold Hall, and David and Debbie Pariser, who are working with extended housing and commuter students.
Operation Jump-Start’s student-centered philosophy is important in our battle against a problem we have in common with colleges and universities across the nation: binge drinking among our students. WVUp All Night, one of several initiatives undertaken by Student Affairs in this regard, is providing healthier, meaningful alternatives to the bar and party scene. And students are participating. It is a tribute to Student Affairs personnel and to the WVU student body that more than 17,500 students attended our recent FallFest concert without one major incident.
We are very optimistic that our students will become more focused on academic life than on social activities, especially those that are destructive to themselves and to our campus and community. And it should be noted that Student Affairs has performed admirably in using existing resources wisely to create and maintain WVUp All Night and other new student life programs.
Programs like the Mountaineer Parents Club, Up All Night, FallFest, and the annual Festival of Ideas are not only improving the lives of students, they are also assisting our recruiters to drive enrollment up to appropriate levels?and helping us keep students enrolled. Last fall, we enrolled one of our largest-ever freshman classes, 3,364, and this semester we expect to have enrolled about 3,600. Elizabeth Dooley, associate professor in the College of Human Resources and Education, has accepted the role of Class Advocate for these future graduates of 2003. We thank her and everyone else who is helping WVU students succeed.