Mississippi Valley State University held its Fall 2023 Faculty and Staff Orientation on Monday, August 14, in the R.W Harrison Complex. Faculty and staff were informed of the university’s values and expectations for the upcoming academic year during the event.
Dr. Jerryl Briggs, the 8th President, gave the State of the University Address during the orientation. In the address, one of the tasks Dr. Briggs mentioned was the removal of one of the university’s priorities.
This priority was the reaffirmation of the university’s accreditation. This priority was taken off because MVSU received no recommendations and no findings during the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) visit to the campus in March.
“After the visit, during the exit meeting, the committee typically discusses recommendations or issues of compliance with any of the standards and QEP. Our exit meeting with the committee ended with MVSU having no issues and no recommendations, meaning we had no areas of noncompliance, and this will be reflected in their report,” Briggs explained. In December, the same COC Board of Directors will meet to finalize that process,” Briggs added.
“When the board looks at MVSU, what will they see? They are going to see that we had no recommendations and no findings. That is tremendous because only 10 percent of schools receive that kind of report, and we are in that percentage.”
Briggs also informed the faculty and staff of MVSU’s plan to begin and continue the process of completing the delayed maintenance and campus modernization. Briggs said, “MVSU has received the funds to begin working on a few projects the university has been working toward for the past few years.”
“I am glad we are now moving forward with projects for which we finally have the funding, so it is time to get some dirt moving. We can see dirt moving over by the stadium for our new jumbotron,” said Briggs.
With the installation of the state-of-the-art jumbotron, viewers at the football games will be able to see in-game replays, with audio and video capabilities, to share university updates, commercials, and school presentations and enhance the overall game-day experience.
While the jumbotron is one of the projects MVSU has begun the process for, many more are scheduled to start, as well.
“We finally have the funding to complete renovations of the student center and the academic skills parlor building. We finally have the funding to replace all our campus signage because the beauty of our campus matters. We will also be replacing the roofs of several buildings on campus,” said Briggs. "We have also received funding for Leflore Hall. People have asked whether we will remove Leflore Hall or renovate Leflore Hall. We have decided to replace it.”
The decision to replace Leflore Hall was made because modernizing the campus would improve the look of the campus, which would benefit the university when recruiting new students.
Move-in for the 2023 MVSU fall semester will be held Thursday, August 17, through Saturday, August 19. from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.