Dr. Alfred Rankins, former interim president at Mississippi Valley State University, now the first-ever African-American higher education commissioner of Mississippi, visited MVSU on Friday as part of his 2018 listening tour of the state’s eight institutions of higher learning.
Between sessions with Valley faculty and staff, students, alumni and the public, he discussed the feedback he was collecting on the tour. Rankins already had visited the University of Mississippi and its medical school as well as Delta State and Jackson State universities.
Foremost among the concerns he has heard as he has toured the state’s universities, he said, is the need for more funding.
“It’s a consistent theme,” he said. “They are feeling the pain of state budget cuts over the last four years and having to cut their own budgets as a result.”
Budget constraints in some cases can mean faculty and staff not getting pay raises or schools not filling vacant positions.
“My main reason for going out on this tour is to get input from individuals who are on these campuses every day,” Rankins said. “I want to know how can the (Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning) help them.”
Rankins said his top goal as the top administrator of higher education in the state is to raise educational attainment, and through this tour he hopes to raise the profile of the state’s eight public universities.
“I want to get the message out about good things going on on these campuses,” he said.
Rankins served for a year as interim president at Valley after President Donna Oliver’s contract was not renewed because of declining enrollment at the school.
“I think Valley is now in a better place,” he said. “They’ve increased enrollment. They’re financially sound, and they continue to fill a need here in the Delta.”
Given tight budgets and a prediction of more to come at the state Legislature in the upcoming year, Rankins downplayed any potential promise of a windfall in funding. “My message to Valley and to the other schools is that they can’t expect significant increases in funding from the state,” he said.
“There may be small increases here and there, but schools are going to have to focus more on tuition as a source of revenue and growing enrollment.”
Mississippi has implemented tuition increases several times over the past few years, and Rankins didn’t rule out the possibility of more tuition hikes.
“I’m hoping it’s not the same trajectory, but tuition here in Mississipi is still comparatively relatively low compared to other states,” he said.
“On the operational side, more dollars will need to come from tuition than from state appropriations.”
A native of Greenville, Rankins said he was happy to be back in the Delta and indicated the transition to commissioner of higher education from his last job as president of Alcorn State University has gone smoothly.
Regarding population loss across the Delta and the challenge that loss presents to both MVSU and Delta State, Rankins said aggressively recruiting outside the Delta will be crucial.
“It’s incumbent on those schools to expand their footprint outside the Mississipi Delta,” he said.
In general, he’d like to see Valley continue to concentrate on enrollment management — recruiting students from inside and outside the Delta and retaining them through to graduation, providing a steady tuition stream.
Rankins said he has less face-to-face time with students in his new role as the boss of eight university presidents, but so far the job suits him.
“The opportunity to lead our system was attractive,” he said. “I had worked on three campuses within the system, and I worked as deputy commissioner before. I thought I was well qualified for the job.”
Valley was the fourth university on Rankins’ tour of Mississippi’s eight institutions of higher learning. He will visit the University of Southern Mississippi next week and Alcorn State University and the Mississippi University for Women before the fall semester ends.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
