West Virginia University's new budget includes funding for 20 new academic jobs
West Virginia University
October 31, 2010
The West Virginia University Board of Governors on Friday adopted a $901.4 million budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The budget includes funding for 20 new faculty lines, moving the University halfway to President James P. Clements’ goal of hiring 100 new faculty members in his first three years. The first 30 faculty lines were added in FY2010.
“While this budget is lean, and includes some cuts and realignments to prepare for even tighter budgets in the future, it remains crucial that we add faculty so we can increase research and reduce the faculty-student ratio, two things we must do to take WVU to the next level,” Clements said after the meeting, held in Charleston.
Even with the additions, Clements noted, WVU still has far fewer faculty than its peers.
Almost half of the budget, $423.4 million, will go to salaries and wages, including about $5 million set aside for faculty and staff raises that will be allocated later. The majority of the salary increase expense is anticipated to be for one-time, non-recurring increases. The budget also includes a $7.5 million increase in the cost of benefits due to the higher salary expense and WVU’s share of insurance costs.
The budget includes a $14.2 million cut from FY2010 in state support. The reduction is offset by a matching infusion of federal stimulus funds.
