University of Mary Washington President Judy Hample prepares for her state of the university address. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

UMW president promises to increase campus diversity

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UMW President Judy Hample gives state of the university address

BY JEFF BRANSCOME

Date published: 11/18/2008

BY JEFF BRANSCOME

University of Mary Washington President Judy Hample yesterday emphasized her commitment to diversity, saying she will hire someone to oversee such initiatives.

Hample, who started the job four months ago, said she will soon conduct a national search for a vice president of diversity and inclusion.

"I believe that such a person would help us to energize our efforts to heighten diversity awareness and help to focus our attention on achieving a number of specific goals " Hample said. She said the University of Virginia established the position four or five years ago.

During an hour-long state of UMW speech, Hample also touched on student life and the school's continuing transition from a college to a university. The audience consisted mostly of employees.

She said she hopes to merge business administration and education departments at the Fredericksburg campus and College of Graduate and Professional Studies in Stafford County.

Her goal is to create colleges of business administration and education, each with its own dean. She said she wants to start a national search for the deans sometime next year.

"From my perspective, it's important that we maximize limited resources, and that we eliminate what I believe to be internal competition for students within these programs," Hample said.

She made pointed remarks about campus life, saying alumni she talks with praise what they call the "Mary Washington experience."

"I wonder if that is as strong today?" she said. "I've sort of come to the conclusion that it might not be. The perception of too many of our students is that we have an unresponsive bureaucracy and administration."

Students, she said, need Internet access to financial records, coursework, transcripts, etc.

She said she wants to renovate dorms into "living and working environments" with places to study, socialize and get a cup of coffee after midnight. "These simple things that students want, need and are, frankly, long overdue," she said.

On the diversity front, Hample said she recently doubled funding for minority-student recruitment. UMW administrators and faculty also need to better represent society, she said.

"We are denying our majority students valuable insights and experiences that we don't give those students an opportunity to live and to learn with in a population that is reflective of the overall society or even the local community," she said.

She briefly touched on budget constraints, saying UMW needs to eliminate programs not central to its mission. She didn't name anything on the chopping block but plans to give a speech on the budget early next year.

"It's time for tougher decisions," Hample told yesterday's audience. "And yes, I know it will be unpopular. And yes, that's what I think the board pays me these big bucks for."

Hample told The Free Lance-Star that she thought the tone of her speech might have been too strong for some.

"I tend to be very direct about the things I say," she said.

Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com

The Bullet, UMW's student-run newspaper, recently published an editorial that criticized President Judy Hample for not spending enough time with students. In an interview, Hample said she was stunned by the editorial. She said she has spoken frequently with student leaders, alumni and others and is trying to learn as much as she can in a short time period. "I know that I've been going 24/7," she said. "I've got a lot of constituent groups that I need to spend some time with."

Date published: 11/18/2008

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