Marshall Pres Gilbert to Deal With Cuts

Marshall President Jerome Gilbert spoke with media Wednesday just a few days into his new reign as the University’s President.

Jerry Gilbert was named the 37^th president of Marshall University on October 20, 2015. Gilbert is a Mississippi native who comes to Marshall from Mississippi State University where he served for nearly six years as provost and executive vice president. Gilbert said he realizes the challenges he is now facing as President of Marshall. 

“I think the budget climate and state budget is going to be the toughest thing to deal with initially, but I do think we have some plans in place that will take care of managing that budget and helping us focus on those things that we need to do to cut costs so that we can meet those budget reductions,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said he’d like to grow the university to around 15,000 students from the current population just over 13,000. He said the additional tuition will help the university. He also announced university plans to move employees from Laidley Hall to other buildings across campus in order to close that building. And he said it’s his goal at all times when dealing with the cuts to make sure no one on campus is put through furloughs or layoffs.

Gilbert has degrees from Mississippi State University and Duke University and has worked at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Mississippi State University.