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VMI executive committee tentatively backs five priorities for six‑year plan
Summary
The executive committee of the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors reviewed five draft priorities for the institute's six-year plan'including faculty development, cadet fitness and wellness, classroom and IT modernization, experiential learning, and enrollment access'and asked staff to add numbers and return for further review.
The executive committee of the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors reviewed and signaled support for five draft priorities that will form the backbone of VMI's upcoming six-year plan, staff said.
Dallas Clark, a VMI staff member who walked the committee through the plan template, said the submission will include two parts: spreadsheets with data and a narrative describing institutional strategies. "These are we've got them organized into five themes, five priorities," Clark said, noting the list is not presented in priority order and that final ranking will be driven by available resources.
The five themes discussed were: a centralized Center for Teaching and Learning to support faculty development and curriculum innovation; a "Forging Fit Leaders" program to expand cadet fitness, resilience and wellness; a 21st-century learning and operations modernization package including classroom and enterprise-software upgrades; expanded experiential-learning and internship pathways; and enrollment-management initiatives focused on increasing Pell-eligible cadet access.
The superintendent reported recent campus highlights and enrollment signals in support of those priorities. "We graduated a week ago, 256 graduates, 140 of which commissioned in the armed force of the United States," the superintendent said, and added that 557 deposits are currently recorded for the incoming class. He and staff described pilot programs and operational steps tied to the priorities, including a nutritionist position funded in partnership with vendor Parkhurst, biometric testing pilots for summer transition cadets, and plans to migrate VMI's enterprise software to Ellucian's cloud/SaaS offering to improve data integration.
On operational timing, Clark outlined the submission process: VMI will file a draft on July 1 for OP6 review, expect comments this fall, and work toward finalized materials to be included in the budget process. "We will submit this plan on the 1st of July in draft," Clark said, and staff explained the plan's narrative and spreadsheets will be refined with numerical details before final submission to the Department of Legislative Services later in the year.
Board members pressed staff for practical detail but expressed broad agreement with the themes. "I support all five," board member Ernie Edgar said, while others said the forging-fit and experiential-learning items could merit highest priority because of accreditation and student-development implications. The chair advised there was no need for a formal motion at the meeting and asked staff to return with budget numbers that will inform final prioritization and legislative outreach.
Next steps include completing numerical cost estimates, socializing the 5-by-8 summary card with the governor's staff and OP6 reviewers this fall, and circulating a revised submission for board review when state feedback arrives.
