More good things are coming to Vincennes University.
Phil Rath, the university's vice-president of finance and governmental affairs, told members of the Board of Trustees Wednesday morning that he recently had “probably the best exit audit conference” with state higher education officials in his life.
Even compared to Purdue University and Indiana University, in terms of managing its money VU is considered “at the head of the class," Rath said.
Rath said the state's Department of Higher Education has given preliminary approval to $22 million in additional capital improvement projects for next year. And most of that, at said, will be spent on repairs and renovations at Thomas W. Wathen and Walter A. Davis halls, homes respectively to the university's business and management and social science programs.
The university's average cost per square foot, in terms of construction and renovation, is significantly lower than anyone else's, Rath said, which is why VU keeps getting money to spend on making improvements.
“It's off the charts,” Rath told the board, “in a good way. And this is their way of rewarding us for the job we do.”
Rath also said a $2.5 million facelift at nearby Kimmell Park — which the university acquired from city officials early this year — is “moving right along.”
The widening of the parks' entrance — which also serves as the city's flood wall — should be done by the end of the year, he said.
Work will continue through the winter, he said, and university officials hope to finish the project and reopen the park by spring
The project — which also includes new bathrooms, lighting and stabilization of the river bank, to name a few — is getting “a lot of statewide recognition,” Rath said, and he also called it “one of the best acquisitions (the university) has ever made.”
The board also on Wednesday approved a combined bid of $5.6 million — to be split between ARC Construction in Evansville and Heinz Plumbing and Skill Electric in Vincennes — for renovations to be made to Francis Vigo Residence Hall.
Mike Sievers, president of the board's finance committee, said the money will be spent to update the residence hall's heating and air-conditioning system.
And Kristi Deetz, VU's director of external relations, said after a one-year dip in system-wide enrollment — the first in a decade — the university increased its total headcount this fall to 18,920 students, up from 18,713 last year.
During the annual census – conducted on Oct. 15 — the Vincennes campus had 4,417 students while Jasper reported 586 students.
Much of the expansion, Deetz said, was due to an increase in the university's Early College and dual credit programs. Seventy-two percent of the university's students, she said, are enrolled part-time.
Looking ahead to spring 2017 enrollment, Deetz said November's new student registration day welcomed 81 new students — 16 more than last year at the same time — and as of Nov. 30, 151 new students had enrolled for the spring semester on the Vincennes campus.
Deetz also reported that applications for the fall 2017 semester are on the uptick as well.