The Radford University Board of Visitors held its first quarterly meetings of 2024 inside the Roanoke Higher Education Center (RHEC) Thursday and Friday, March 21-22.
A key business item during the meetings was the board’s unanimous approval of tuition and fee rates for 2024-25. Full details can be found in a university news release.
At the opening of Friday’s board meeting, RHEC Executive Director Kay Dunkley Ed.D., ’73, M.S. ’79, welcomed the board to its downtown facility and expressed her affinity for the university.
“I am very proud to be a Radford alumna,” she said. “And I am one of your examples of how education and training translate into success in the workplace.”
Dunkley holds a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders and a master’s degree in education administration.
Dunkley pointed out Radford’s role in both the establishment of the center and the delivery of educational programs. The university currently offers access to 39 programs at RHEC, ranging from micro-credentials to doctoral programs, delivered in in-person, hybrid and online modes.
Virginia House of Delegates member Sam Rasoul of Roanoke presented the university with House Resolutions honoring the College of Nursing (HR 230) and the School of Social Work (HR 348).
Rasoul also commented on the importance of Radford’s role in helping to create educational opportunities for the diverse population served by RHEC, which sits in close proximity to Roanoke’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge. The bridge, renamed for King in 2008, has historical significance as a connection between segregated parts of the city.
“You've taken up a very important space,” Rasoul said. “Now we are connected in so many ways, including from an educational perspective.”
In his report to the board, President Bret Danilowicz shared positive enrollment projections, noting that deposits for new freshmen are up over comparable totals from the same time last year and that deposits for transfer students are up nearly 100%.
“Radford University obviously offers high-quality, highly engaged degrees with excellent outcomes for its graduates at a price that is affordable,” Danilowicz said. “As we help prospective students and their (families) understand the value proposition of Radford, it appears to be making a difference in the choice of where to go.”
Later in his report, Danilowicz announced plans to re-introduce Radford University’s motto, Investing in Lifetimes, for more prominent use across the university. The motto was formerly adopted in 1998.
Along with the tuition and fee vote, the board also voted to merge the university’s Department of Geospatial Science and the Department of Geology to form the Department of Geospatial and Earth Sciences within the Artis College of Science and Technology.
The board recommended tenure for 15 faculty members across six colleges. A full list can be found on pages 8 and 9 of the meeting agenda.
Three students received board approval for leadership positions next year. Onajae Edmund, a junior dance major from Hampton, Virginia, was selected as the student representative to the board. Abbi Green, a junior mathematics major from Elkton, Virginia, and Meridythe Witt, a dance and music major from Frederick, Maryland, were invited by Danilowicz to serve as Radford’s student ambassadors to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).
Thursday’s committee meetings were highlighted by a tour of Radford University at Carilion for board members and consideration of the location’s future. The board saw RUC’s physician assistant, respiratory therapy and physical therapy students in instructional settings and also visited the Virginia Intercollegiate Anatomy Lab, the emergency services ambulance simulator and the medical laboratory science floor.
During the 2025 General Assembly session, the university plans to present a capital budget request for the development of a new health sciences facility in Roanoke.