In Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum’s first general faculty meeting, he discussed the problems with the budget for the upcoming year.
He also discussed some of his future plans and addressed faculty concerns.
Keenum said MSU will have to deal with the budget cuts proposed by Gov. Haley Barbour.
“Financially, we are clearly having a challenging time with the national recession already inflicting a lot of pain,” Keenum said. “We will hope for the best and plan for the worst.”
There will be two principles governing the administration’s response to help minimize the budget cuts’ impact on the university, he said.
“We are going to protect our core academic functions of the university, and we are going to minimize the impact on personnel,” Keenum said. “Faculty and dedicated staff are the backbone to this institution.”
He also said one of his focuses will be increasing enrollment.
“We have two options – to either cut and reduce or to grow and expand,” Keenum said. “Our strategy is to minimize the impact of state funding losses as much as possible by growing our enrollment, increasing our external research funding and probably a tuition increase.”
Keenum said some of his priorities include listening to the concerns of the faculty.
“My first priority as president is to listen, listen, listen,” Keenum said.
He also mentioned some of the campus changes he has initiated as president.
“We made a few changes with Perry Cafeteria with a la carte dining,” Keenum said. “I am hoping we will see more students, more faculty and more staff enjoy this very historical building.”
Not only has Keenum tried to improve dining services, but he is also working to improve Mississippi State’s image.
However, Keenum said he regrets not being able to spend as much time with the general faculty.
“One area in which I will need your input is that soon I will be seeking to review our university mission statement,” Keenum said.
David Nagel, Robert Holland Faculty Senate president, said he was pleased with the number of faculty that attended the meeting.
“The turnout was excellent,” Nagel said. “He brought in his plans for the future and did a great job of answering questions as well.”
Mechanical engineering instructor Chris Emplaincourt said she has confidence in Keenum’s ability to care of State during the economic downturn.
Assistant library professor Karen Davidson said she thinks Keenum is motivating and positive and he will be good for the university.
“I think he [Keenum] is going to do the best he knows how to do,” she said. “I am really looking forward to seeing what he is going to do.”
Keenum said much of his first month as president has been busy.
“I have been visiting major donors both in Mississippi and across the country,” he said. “These are people that I love and issues that I love to deal with, so I thoroughly loved this transition.”