Kat Virula

News Editor

The Millersville University presented the State of The ‘Ville address hosted by President Dr. Daniel Wubah on the evening of September 6th, 2019. Wubah announced an expansion of the university’s commitment to make college more affordable and accessible for students. He also elaborated on bringing together the University in a more collaborated and unique way, and by doing so, Wubah decided to start with the name of the address:

“Last year, we called it the “State of the University” address; but, my staff advocated for a different name because they kept calling it the “State of the Union address.”  Because we want this time together to be unique to Millersville and to focus more directly on our Marauder spirit, we agreed on a new name,… ‘State of the ’Ville’ address.”

While highlighting a historically successful year for Millersville by honoring students and faculty, Wubah shared how Millersville faculty collectively developed 8 new degree programs, and so far, the Office of the Chancellor has approved three of them:

“The remaining five programs are pending approval by the Chancellor’s Office. We’ve never created this many programs in such a short time.  I congratulate you, faculty, for your creativity and your diligence in shepherding these programs to fruition.”

With these new programs, it could encourage students nationwide to give them more of a reason to come to Millersville and study in one of these programs. 

The President also address sustainability, which has rapidly become Millersville’s signature identity across Lancaster County. He acknowledges the Lombardo Welcome Center and how it generates more energy than it consumes. Wubah goes on to explain how this welcome center has helped create the Positive Energy Fund,“This fund provides grants to our students to address some of the world’s most challenging problems.” 

One major goal that  Wubah heavily expressed was affordability at Millersville and has several goals to achieve it. One of those goals was introducing a “declining balance” pricing plan from Dining Services, that reduces residential student dining costs by 14%: 

“And for the first time in our history, Millersville will have a lower total cost of attendance compared to the previous year.  Let me repeat.  For the first time in our history, Millersville will have a lower total cost of attendance compared to the previous year.” 

The next two goals Wubah explained was on affordability and the partnership launch with OpenStax, “Which has saved over 250 thousand dollars in the last year” stated Wubah. This Open Education Resource tool will aid students and eliminate cost barriers and allow immediate access to learning materials.  

Lastly for the goals of affordability, Wubah is committed in increasing the number of scholarships. In the last year, there was a total of 95 new scholarships for students and awarded 3.8 million dollars in institutional and private scholarships and grants:

“During last year’s address, I pledged to work towards raising funds for scholarships, and over the past twelve months, I’ve been doing exactly that.”   

This commitment fulfills a promise that Wubah made at his presidential state of the university address in 2018.

Along with these goals Wubah announced the Strategic Master plans for this academic year and share the details about each of them:

“ Currently, we have three initiatives underway that are integral to our future; Reaffirmation of accreditation, New Strategic Plan, New Facilities Master Plan …First, we are in the midst of a “Self-Study” for our Middle States Commission on Higher Education re-accreditation…Second, our current strategic plan sunsets in June of next year. Charting a course for the next five years and beyond is no small task. We’ve built an inclusive and engaging approach for this endeavor – the All University Council….Third, our Facilities Management Department is working on our next Facilities Master Plan. This plan will guide our infrastructure investments over the next ten years by aligning major renovations and new construction with our Strategic Plan.”

Implementation of the new plan will start on July 1, 2020. As of right now, Phase 1out of 5 is underway with the Refresh Mission Statement and will go on until September 26.

Wubah ended the address with a call to action:

“We can, and we will stay united to form an unbreakable bundle. We can, and we will go far this year because we have a spirit of cooperation and a new spirit of inclusion at the ‘Ville that binds us together.  When we stick together and stay focused, we will make Millersville University is the best University in the nation…THE ‘VILLE!”