ARCHIVED VIDEO OF PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS AVAILABLE

Old Dominion University President Roseann Runte used her Thursday State of the University to thank and recognize dozens of members of the university community for their achievements and contributions over the past year and for their loyalty, support and understanding during the period of budgetary crisis.

"In our state the wealth is not commonly held, at least among institutions of higher learning," Runte said during the speech in the Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building auditorium.

She noted that many members of the university family worked hard to convince legislators that ODU should not be cut as much as other state schools, since a two-year-old study concluded that the university is seriously underfunded when compared to other doctoral-level universities in Virginia.

"The victory was real and the cut of 21 percent could have been greater," she said. "It was, however, one of the most painful victories I have experienced in 21 years of academic administration. No matter one's perspective, we must all agree that 2002 was a dismal October in Virginia."

An archived version of the president's speech is available for viewing on the Web at http://www.lions.odu.edu/org/ats/multimedia/streamed_events/events/sotu2003/.

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