Welch Reflects on First Year as Henderson President
Katie Brown
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: News
The end of this academic year will mark the end of the first year of Chuck Welch officiating as president of the university.
Although it has been a year of troubling economic times, Welch said that he was overall pleased with his work and thinks he reached his initial goals of this year.
"One thing I said at the beginning of the year is that I wanted to spend as much time as possible trying to understand the campus before I made a lot of quick decisions," Welch said.
Looking back, Welch said he thought that decision had turned out to be a wise choice that prevented him from making hasty changes that he probably would regret now, nine months later.
One area that Welch said that the university is slowly trying to change is in the area of the budget.
"You know we experienced again significant cuts from the state," Welch said. "We may have to rethink everything."
About this time last year, the university was informed that the state was cutting the university's funding by about $660,000.
Welch said at the beginning of last semester he was hopeful that they would be able to get some restoration of those funds.
Henderson has yet to see any of the funding restored.
"There is a fear that there will be further budget cuts from the state," Welch said.
He said that he believes the only reason there was not an initial cut for next year is because the governor and the legislature are plugging some of the gaps with one-time money.
Welch said that he is expecting the university to receive a small amount of money from the national stimulus package, but this, like other funding he is expecting, would be awarded only once.
Henderson has also been forced by the state to cut the scholarship budget by almost 10 percent. Welch is expecting this to hurt enrollment.
"It is difficult to forecast even enrollment, so that is one of the reasons why it is important to keep our tuition as low as possible in terms of an increase for next year," Welch said.
Although it has been a year of troubling economic times, Welch said that he was overall pleased with his work and thinks he reached his initial goals of this year.
"One thing I said at the beginning of the year is that I wanted to spend as much time as possible trying to understand the campus before I made a lot of quick decisions," Welch said.
Looking back, Welch said he thought that decision had turned out to be a wise choice that prevented him from making hasty changes that he probably would regret now, nine months later.
One area that Welch said that the university is slowly trying to change is in the area of the budget.
"You know we experienced again significant cuts from the state," Welch said. "We may have to rethink everything."
About this time last year, the university was informed that the state was cutting the university's funding by about $660,000.
Welch said at the beginning of last semester he was hopeful that they would be able to get some restoration of those funds.
Henderson has yet to see any of the funding restored.
"There is a fear that there will be further budget cuts from the state," Welch said.
He said that he believes the only reason there was not an initial cut for next year is because the governor and the legislature are plugging some of the gaps with one-time money.
Welch said that he is expecting the university to receive a small amount of money from the national stimulus package, but this, like other funding he is expecting, would be awarded only once.
Henderson has also been forced by the state to cut the scholarship budget by almost 10 percent. Welch is expecting this to hurt enrollment.
"It is difficult to forecast even enrollment, so that is one of the reasons why it is important to keep our tuition as low as possible in terms of an increase for next year," Welch said.
Be the first to comment on this story