December 16, 2013

Dear Colleague:

This morning Governor McDonnell released his proposed 2014-2016 biennial budget. I am pleased to report that in his budget the Governor has allocated an additional $9.4 million in base operating support to Old Dominion University for FY15, continued into FY16, for a total of $18.8 million over the biennium.

The proposed budget also provides funds for a bonus ranging between 2% and 3% for state employees in December 2014, if certain revenue projections for the Commonwealth are met.

In addition, the Governor allocated $975,000 for each year of the biennium to the Frank Reidy Center for Bioelectrics, and provided $586,000 in each year for our Back on Track initiative, an online program to assist those who have some college credit, but have not finished their degrees. The proposed budget also contains $750,000 in each year of the biennium to strengthen the University's high-performance computing infrastructure, and $500,000 in each year for the creation of a nursing education doctoral program.

The Governor's budget further provides $125,000 for the continued study of a possible School of Public Health in partnership with Eastern Virginia Medical School.

The budget provides an additional $1.6 million in undergraduate financial aid and $221,000 in graduate financial aid in both years of the biennium.

In terms of capital related projects, the Governor's budget provides ODU the authority to construct two new residence halls, to design and construct a new Webb Center, as well as to conduct the preliminary study of a new football stadium.

I know you will join me in thanking Governor McDonnell for this tremendous continued support of our University. Our task now is to work hard to retain this support through the 2014 General Assembly session. Finally, I would like to thank members of our Board of Visitors and Elizabeth Kersey for their significant assistance in the budget process.


Sincerely,

John R. Broderick
President