WVU BOG aims to raise $200M

The head of the West Virginia University Foundation told the Board of Governors on Friday it would like to have $2 billion in assets and raise $200 million annually.
“We can become a $2 billion organization,” Cindi Roth, president and CEO of the WVU Foundation, said during the meeting.
The foundation has assets of $1.6 billion and has surpassed the $135 million fundraising mark each of the last three years and four of the last five.
“We have high aspirations,” said WVU President Gordon Gee.
In other matters, Provost Maryanne Reed said the retention rate of first-time freshmen increased more than 3% from fall 2018. WVU has a 79.3 % rate and is inching close to 80%. The increase also means roughly $2.8 million more for the
university.
“This is roughly the equivalent to 161 additional students who have returned and paid their tuition who would not have been back with last year’s rate,” she said.
Some of the efforts to improve the freshmen retention rate included:
More intensive outreach to freshmen who failed to register for classes or indicated they planned to transfer; required mid-term grade reporting and adoption of the early alert system; more intrusive advising and implementation of new introductory chemistry and math courses requiring additional classroom hours for students who need extra help.
Sharing student date reports that highlight retention issues to key players every week in the spring and bi-weekly during the summer to keep them updated on changes and progress.
Requiring a grade point average of 2.0 for students to remain enrolled. This way, first-time freshmen know they will be suspended if they do not earn a 2.0.
The board agreed to sell Fieldcrest Hall on Van Voorhis Road to WVU Hospitals. The board also agreed to establish a Department of Neuroradiology — a subspecialty of radiology using neuroimaging that focuses on the diagnosis and characterization of abnormalities of the central and peripheral nervous system, spine and head and neck.
In addition, the board agreed to rename the Section of Digestive Diseases (Gastroenterology) within the Department of Medicine to Gastroenterology and Hepatology.