In the regular session of its quarterly meeting on Saturday, March 22, 2025, held in the LaVerne E. Ragster Administration and Conference Center on the Orville E. Kean Campus on St. Thomas, the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the newly developed 2025-2030 Strategic Plan titled Momentum- Charting a Course to a Grand Destination University Grounded in Excellence. The plan represents the collective voices of both internal and external stakeholders to chart the course for the future of UVI. The plan, which will be made available to the public in the coming weeks, utilizes an agile strategic planning approach that identifies short- and long-term goals and projects.
During Saturday’s meeting, the Board voted unanimously to approve a $101 million budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The budget includes revenues, such as tuition and legislative appropriations, and expenditures. The budget also includes local, federal and private grants, as well as capital projects.
The Board voted unanimously to approve amendments to the Faculty Emeritus Policy to allow for emeriti status to be conferred on retired senior academic and administrative officials who made significant contributions during their service to the University. Following the vote, the Board unanimously approved Malcolm C. Kirwan to be the first administrator to be conferred emeritus status. Kirwan served as Vice President for Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer prior to his retirement after 38 years of service to the University. He served UVI under four presidents during the period from 1967 to 2005. Among Kirwan’s major accomplishments were overseeing the capital development program resulting in new student resident halls on both campuses, the construction of the Sports and Fitness Center and the construction and modernization of university facilities; the underground installation of UVI’s fiber optics telecommunications network; the building of a reverse osmosis plant and self-sufficient water production system utilizing underground wells on the St. Thomas campus; and the implementation of leading-edge information systems. Kirwin also arranged disaster recovery financing and directed the reconstruction efforts after hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn.
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to increase the University’s graduate application fee to allow UVI to use (Graduate Enrollment Management Centralized Application Service) or Grad CAS, a centralized application service for graduate programs, which streamlines the graduate school application process. With Grad CAS, UVI can efficiently and effectively collect all needed materials for graduate applications, while reaching millions more potential applicants. The general graduate application fee will increase from $25 to $45, and the Business graduate application fee will increase from $25 to $65. “The increase in the fee will give us the opportunity to have a greater pipeline for graduate applicants, as well as administrative support, that is needed, which is built into the Grad CAS,” said UVI Vice President of Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Leah Vanterpool.
The Board of Trustees also voted unanimously to draw down $1.9 million from the HBCU Capital Financing Loan for deferred University maintenance projects.
During the President’s Report, UVI President Safiya George highlighted the achievements of UVI students and faculty as well as various University initiatives. As is customary during the Board meetings, Dr. George presented the President’s Appreciation Award in recognition of the excellence and commitment of those employees and UVI units that have performed exceptionally within the past quarter. The President’s Appreciation Award for this term was presented to the members of the Inaugural/Investiture and Charter Day Committee and subcommittees co-chaired by Dr. Kyza A. Callwood and Jeannine Francis-Brown for the committees’ exceptional dedication and contributions to the investiture ceremony and related activities. “Your collective efforts were instrumental in the success of this historic event,” said President George.
While in executive session, the Board:
The Board last met in regular session on Oct. 19, 2024. A complete list of Board meetings is available on the Board of Trustees page on the UVI website www.uvi.edu and from this direct link.
For more information contact the Public Relations Office at pr@uvi.edu.
