INSTITUTE, W.Va. –West Virginia State University President Ericke Cage says that the university will continue evolving despite the current challenges that university’s face around the country.

Ericke Cage

Cage was asked questions by WVSU Board of Governor chairman Mark Kelly Monday afternoon in the P. Ahmad Williams Auditorium in Ferrell Hall for the Conversation on the State of the University. This day also marked 134 years since the university was founded.

The main things that were talked about was the challenges that the university faces and how they are continuing to face those challenges head on as the university finds ways to evolve.

Some of the things that he talked about was the enrollment cliff and if higher education is important.

Cage says that the Yellowjacket Pledge that they launched in February will help with the enrollment issue and be an incentive for people to come to the university for school because the pledge aims on making college accessible and affordable.

“And it was created specifically for the purpose of trying to address these external threats that we see that were facing,” he said.

Another thing he talked about during the challenges that universities across the state and the country, is making sure that they have majors that align with jobs that are currently in demand right now.

He said that the agriculture lab will help steer the university in the right direction with this matter.

“It’s going to be an important part of pivot as an institution making sure that we’re leaning into our land grant heritage building the state Agriculture Laboratory on our campus, starting a school of agriculture, food, and natural resources, not just for the sake of doing those things but because we know that those things represent a real-world need,” Cage said.

He said that the lab is currently still being planned and should be finished sometime in 2028.

Cage also said that they are also working on changing there cybersecurity minor to a Bachelor of Science degree, because he knows that cybersecurity is also an in-demand job. He said the hope was to have that become a major in time for Spring 2026 semester.

He also announced he started the Future State Committe in Fall 2024, which has been working with an outside consulting to look at what the university is doing from an enterprise perspective and try to identify a way they can transform the university.

He said that this will also aid in the pivot the university is taking, along with the budget.

“In addition to, what I’m calling a transformative budget process, which the senior leadership team is currently engaged in now, we’re going to do that now, looking at everything we do from an expenditure standpoint at the university and making sure it’s all focused on student success and driving our mission forward,” Cage said.

He says that everything that they are doing right now is to ensure that the university is around for years to come.

“We as a leadership team, we as a faculty and staff are committed to making sure that we are providing our students with an exceptional educational experience and committed to making sure that this university is around for the next 134 years,” Cage said.