Historic Cheyney University Announces Expanded Programming and Partnerships to Ensure School’s Financial Future
(Cheyney, PA – March 5, 2019) – The fortunes of Cheyney University, the nation’s first institution of higher education for African Americans, have taken a major course reversal – upward.
The university’s president, Aaron A. Walton, today announced that Cheyney plans to end the fiscal year on June 30th with a balanced budget for the first time in at least six years. This is a result of sweeping changes to the school’s business model, as well as a new fundraising campaign led by Cheyney alumni called “Resurgence.”
Walton also declared Cheyney is poised for its largest and most academically qualified incoming freshman class in several years.
“Students enrolling for fall semester should know two things as they prepare to join us,” Walton said. “First, Cheyney has positioned itself for a strong and sustainable future. And second, we have transformed Cheyney’s culture to accept nothing short of excellence in academics, character and social responsibility.”
With students and alumni in attendance, Walton introduced the first of the private industry partners who are helping him make over the campus which straddles both Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania. The goal of the changes: restore Cheyney to its heritage of student achievement ranking among the nation’s top Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The partnerships converged at Cheyney’s recently launched Institute for the Contemporary African American Experience, a hub for cutting-edge and hands-on student research.
One of Cheyney’s partners in the Institute is Epcot Crenshaw Corp., a West Chester-based company that develops technologies to solve environmental problems. The company announced today it is developing a new headquarters on campus including research labs, greenhouses and a new aquaponics facility. Cheyney students will get real-world experience in these facilities.
“America needs more graduates to join in the analytical services professions and in the science and technology fields in general, and minorities are particularly underrepresented in those areas. We look forward to furthering our partnership with Cheyney resulting in a pipeline of great young minds coming into the STEM workforce right here in Delaware and Chester Counties,” said Epcot Crenshaw Chairman and CEO C. Satish Smith.
Thomas Jefferson University is another partner introduced at today’s event. A joint research project has already begun between the two schools focusing on health disparities in the Greater Philadelphia Region. The collaboration also is designed to propel Cheyney graduates to enter post-graduate studies at Jefferson. The university will also place a medical facility on campus aimed at giving Cheyney’s students interested in health sciences practical experience as they matriculate.
“We are fully committed to Cheyney and are in talks with President Walton about what our presence on campus will ultimately look like. We expect to have more details over the next months. In the interim, we have faculty and students from Cheyney involved with projects at Jefferson,” said, Joseph B. Hill, Jefferson’s Senior VP and Chief Diversity Officer.
Starbucks has also committed to joint projects with Cheyney researching barriers to workplace recruitment and retention of minorities in the Philadelphia area. In addition, Cheyney plans to generate revenues by leasing space on its 275-acre campus to strategically aligned partners.
In addition to these partnerships, President Walton also stated he expects a big upturn in enrollment in the fall. The university currently has just over 400 students enrolled, down from four times that number in the early 2000s. However, the school has received approximately 2,700 applications—representing an increase of over 30 percent compared to this time last year—and has offered admission to more than half. The average grade point average for accepted students who have already placed a deposit for the fall is 3.25.
In anticipation of increased enrollment, the school has greatly expanded its academic success center with professional and peer tutors, full-time life coaches, proactive advising and health and wellness programs.
These positive university announcements are the result of nearly two years’ work by the president and his staff. Walton arrived at Cheyney in June 2017 with the mandate of quickly overcoming financial and academic problems that accumulated over the past several years. The school ran a budget deficit of $7.4 million in fiscal year 2017. The deficit was trimmed to $4.7 million in fiscal 2018. Walton has been in the process of reducing the school’s expenditures by $7.5 million, even while expanding support services to students.
Governor Tom Wolf has praised Walton’s turnaround efforts. According to Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott, “President Walton has demonstrated tremendous leadership through his plan to stabilize the university and create opportunities for future generations of students.”
Read more at www.cheyney.edu.