Jerome Gilbert Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Brad Smith Among 5 Finalists For Marshall President's Job

Five finalists have been named for Marshall University’s president, the university’s Board of Governors said.

The finalists will be invited for visits to the Huntington and South Charleston campuses in October, the university announced Thursday.

The finalists are Brad Smith, executive chairman of software company Intuit’s board of directors. Smith is also a major financial donor to Marshall who gave $25 million to Marshall’s College of Business in 2018; Bernard Arulanandam, vice president for research, economic development, and knowledge enterprise at The University of Texas at San Antonio; Bret Danilowicz, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Florida Atlantic University; Clarkson University Provost Robyn Hannigan; and Kathy Johnson, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Marshall President Jerome Gilbert announced in April that he would not seek an extension when his contract expires in July 2022.

Second Pay Cut For Marshall University Staff In Two Months

Marshall University’s President Jerome Gilbert announced the school will impose pay cuts to 650 employees due to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on enrollment numbers this year.

This comes after a pay cut to 140 employees in July.

Gilbert said in a public letter that numbers are better than expected, but the school’s fall enrollment is down by 4.6 percent, or 541 students. He explained the school is seeing fewer out-of-state and international students this year, and this has resulted in an overall revenue hit of $3.6 million.

“These temporary salary reductions will affect employees whose annual salaries are in the range of $50,000 to $100,000,” Gilbert said. “The reductions range from 0.07 percent to 5.6 percent and are on a sliding scale, so employees who make more will have higher percentage reductions.”

The July pay cuts affected employees who were making $100,000 or more annually.

Employees making under $50,000 a year are unaffected by either cut.

“I sincerely regret that we have to take this step,” Gilbert said. “We had all hoped this second phase of salary cuts would not be necessary. It is still our intent for these temporary salary reductions to last no longer than one year.”

Pay reductions will go into effect with the pay period that begins Sept. 12 and will be reflected on paychecks beginning Oct. 9.

Marshall President Takes Oath of Office

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin joined Higher Education Policy Commission Chancellor Paul Hill this morning to administer the oath of office to Marshall University’s new President, Jerome Gilbert.

The ceremony was held on Marshall University’s campus Thursday. Gilbert was named the 37th President of Marshall last October.

He took over after then-president Stephen Kopp died suddenly in December 2014. Gilbert addressed this in his speech.

“I follow a very difficult period that the university went through with the unexpected loss of its former president, Steve Kopp,” Gilbert said, “I can tell you that I am strongly committed to carrying on the tradition of striving for excellence that Dr. Kopp established in his tenure.”

Gary White served as the interim president following Kopp’s passing and before Gilbert’s selection.

Gilbert was previously the provost and executive vice president of Mississippi State University.

Marshall President Investiture Ceremony is Thursday

Marshall University’s 37th president will be invested during a ceremony on Thursday.

Jerome A. Gilbert was named president of the university last October and took office in January. He was previously provost and executive vice president of Mississippi State University.

The ceremony will be at 10:30 a.m. in the John Marshall Circle on the university’s Huntington campus. Members of Marshall’s board of governors, delegates from other colleges and universities, state and local dignitaries and Marshall students, alumni and staff are expected.

The event will also be livestreamed at https://livestream.com/marshallu .

Marshall Pres Gilbert to Deal With Cuts

Marshall President Jerome Gilbert spoke with media Wednesday just a few days into his new reign as the University’s President.

Jerry Gilbert was named the 37^th president of Marshall University on October 20, 2015. Gilbert is a Mississippi native who comes to Marshall from Mississippi State University where he served for nearly six years as provost and executive vice president. Gilbert said he realizes the challenges he is now facing as President of Marshall.

“I think the budget climate and state budget is going to be the toughest thing to deal with initially, but I do think we have some plans in place that will take care of managing that budget and helping us focus on those things that we need to do to cut costs so that we can meet those budget reductions,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said he’d like to grow the university to around 15,000 students from the current population just over 13,000. He said the additional tuition will help the university. He also announced university plans to move employees from Laidley Hall to other buildings across campus in order to close that building. And he said it’s his goal at all times when dealing with the cuts to make sure no one on campus is put through furloughs or layoffs.

Gilbert has degrees from Mississippi State University and Duke University and has worked at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Mississippi State University.

Gilbert Ready for Challenge as Marshall President

The Marshall Board of Governors hosted an event Wednesday afternoon introducing Jerome Gilbert as the next President.

New Marshall University President Jerome Gilbert presented with green jacket by Interim President Gary White and Board of Governors Chairman Michael Sellards.

The Marshall and Huntington Community’s welcome Jerome Gilbert and his wife Lee to Huntington. Speakers at the ceremony included board Chairman Michael Sellards and Marshall interim President Gary White. Gilbert said he’s ready for the challenge to lead the university into the next year and has some different ideas for the university already.

“I’m interested in building on the strengths of the past and it’s been a strong liberal arts university over the years and combine that liberal arts with the STEM areas and medicine,” Gilbert said. “It really presents a very broad based education that prepares students for jobs in this century.”

Gilbert was hired last month as Marshall’s 37^th president. He had held various positions at Mississippi State since 1988, including that of provost and executive vice president since March 2010. The Higher Education Policy Commission has approved a two-year contract for Gilbert in which he will be paid $430,000 annually. Gilbert said he understands that right away he’ll be dealing with the budget cuts at the state level, but he has ideas about how to approach the lack of funds in different ways.

“On the flip side of budget cuts I’m also looking at increasing enrollment as a way to increase revenue and I’m going to be very actively involved in looking at ways to recruit additional students from West Virginia and also from the surrounding states, so that’ll be on my agenda as well, looking at new ways to recruit students to Marshall,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert will start the position of Marshall University President in January.