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Tag: Brian Hemphill

Upward mobility

Last year, when Old Dominion University was searching for its new president, the executive search firm contracted by the university also provided a bit of business intelligence about how the university of 24,000 students in Norfolk was viewed nationally.

“Old Dominion University was seen as a university on the rise,” says ODU’s rector, Bruce Bradley, former president and publisher of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper and retired president of Landmark Publishing Group.

That pretty well describes the steady upward transformation that Bradley says he’s observed at ODU during the past few decades.

The university, he says, has gone from being perceived as “an adequate commuter college” to becoming a recognized research and residential university with ambitions to make a larger impact, perhaps on the national stage.

“It’s gotten up a head of steam,” says Bradley, who first came to the Hampton Roads region in 1971 when he began serving in the U.S. Navy.

Founded in 1930 as the Norfolk division of William & Mary and Virginia Tech, ODU became an independent institution in 1962 and achieved university status in 1969.

Bradley says ODU’s 2021 designation as an R1 research university (recognizing it under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a doctoral university with a great amount of research activity) was huge.

The R1 designation creates a pathway to recruiting high-quality faculty and students, obtaining large research grants, and attracting industry and government agency partners, the university says.

Equally as significant to ODU’s future are the ongoing efforts by ODU, Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and Norfolk State University to create the ONE School of Public Health, with support from Sentara Healthcare. There has also been talk about a potential merger of EVMS and ODU.

“If you look at the public health metrics for Hampton Roads, we tend to score near the bottom on every key category,” Bradley says. “So, the thought is, one of the ways we can address the health inequities in this community is [by] combining these two organizations [ODU and EVMS] and funding it more aggressively through Sentara, which has been a willing partner, as well as the [state government].”

ODU also is focused on graduating students who will enter the health care profession and work to create better health outcomes in Hampton Roads. The university says it’s second in the state only to Virginia Tech in producing STEM-H (science, technology, engineering, math and health sciences) graduates — accounting for about 40% of all ODU graduates.

And it wants to produce even more, aiming for growth among students from underrepresented communities and those who are the first in their families to attend college.

This fall, ODU plans to launch the largest fundraising campaign in its history, says President Brian Hemphill. Photo by Mark Rhodes

Increasing opportunity

ODU, which estimates it has an annual economic impact of about $2.6 billion, also has evolved into one of the commonwealth’s leading institutions for social mobility.

President Brian Hemphill, who became ODU’s first Black president on July 1, 2021, has walked that road himself.

“For me, it was growing up in eastern North Carolina the son of a brick mason, [my] mother a seamstress, and having the opportunity to grow up in humble beginnings on a farm and understanding the importance of hard work,” he says.

Hemphill’s parents worked hard so that he and his seven siblings could go to college, he says. “There was a sense of responsibility to go out and do the best I could every single day.”

Since then, Hemphill has been a strong advocate for increased educational and economic access and opportunity.

“About 28% of our students are African American, and about 49% of our students are from diverse populations or backgrounds,” he says. “We’re one of the few campuses that have a center for social mobility. It is really looking at the opportunity for engaging students and positioning them for success — with services and support, as well as some of their financial needs.”

Formerly president of Radford University, Hemphill notes that 38.1% of ODU’s fall 2020 undergraduates received federal Pell grants, which assist low-income students. That’s compared with an average 26.1% for all of Virginia’s public four-year institutions.

Additionally, last year, the university reported that roughly half of ODU’s incoming freshmen and 25% of its graduating class were first-generation college students.

“That’s an important niche for us to continue to focus on,” says Bradley, ODU’s rector, adding that the success of first-generation students is crucial to the futures of ODU and the region.

During the 2010s, the number of African American students at ODU increased 34% (from 5,211 to 6,846) and the number of Hispanic students jumped 73% (from 1,204 to 2,088), according to data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).

Additionally, approximately 25% of the university’s enrollment consists of distance learners, and ODU has conferred more than 20,000 degrees to online students. Hemphill wants to grow that remote-study enrollment because, he says, the university faces space constraints for in-person lessons on its 337-acre waterfront campus.

ODU’s online degree program began by serving Navy personnel around the world, then through a satellite learning system in partnership with Virginia community colleges before maturing into today’s web-based studies.

Workforce development remains an overarching focus for ODU’s efforts in distance learning and face-to-face instruction, providing employers with assistance to sustain and grow their companies and Virginia’s economy, Hemphill says.

To that end, in June ODU announced plans to create a School of Supply Chain, Logistics, and Maritime Operations, acknowledging the region’s historic roots in the maritime industry and its juxtaposition to the Port of Virginia and Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval station.

ODU has an established record of leader- ship and collaboration with the maritime industry, Hemphill says, adding that industry partners have asked the university to increase its work in the space.

The university is also increasing its research in coastal resilience and offshore wind, coinciding with timely factors such as sea-level rise and Dominion Energy Inc.’s planned $9.8 billion wind farm in waters 27 miles off the coast of nearby Virginia Beach.

And in September, during his State of the University address, Hemphill announced that ODU plans to launch a School of Data Science in partnership with the Jefferson Lab (Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility) and NASA Langley Research Center, both of which will receive faculty status for researchers. ODU faculty and students in turn would receive access to the national labs’ facilities and have opportunities for research collaborations.

In July, the ODU Monarchs joined the Sun Belt Conference, widening the school’s exposure to ESPN audiences and reducing travel time to away games. Photos courtesy Old Dominion University

‘The front porch’

ODU has been taking its “on the rise” reputation literally in recent years, making and planning a series of major additions to its physical footprint.

Last year, the university opened its new $75 million chemistry and biochemistry building, which features the 122-seat Michael and Kimthanh Lé Digital Theater and Planetarium, as well as 24 research laboratories and 13 teaching labs.

Also in 2021, the university opened a $62 million residence hall, providing housing for up to 470 students in an environment designed to be a living-learning community for cybersecurity, gaming, health professions and engineering students.

In summer 2023, ODU plans to complete work on its $75 million, three-story Health Sciences Building. Housing the School of Dental Hygiene, the School of Rehabilitation Sciences and the School of Medical Diagnostic and Translational Sciences, the building also will function as a focal point for university community health care initiatives.

During the 2022 General Assembly session, ODU secured $188 million for a new, five-story, 160,000-plus-square-foot Biology Building that’s slated to replace the university’s Mills Godwin Life Sciences Building by 2026.

On the athletics side, in July ODU joined the Sun Belt Conference, which will widen the school’s exposure to ESPN audiences, while roughly halving travel time to away games.

“It’s a great move for our student athletes and fan base,” Hemphill says. “Our fan base is excited to be able to compete against the likes of James Madison, Marshall, Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State.”

Wood Selig, ODU’s director of athletics, says the Sun Belt’s 10-year contract with ESPN was a “game-changer” because of the exposure it will give ODU and its conference rivals, and the access it will provide to ODU fans to follow their favorite teams. Last year, the conference signed a media rights deal with ESPN that will see a 50% increase on Sun Belt football games aired across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.

Additionally, ODU, which completed a $67.5 million makeover of its S.B. Ballard football stadium in 2019, announced in September that it had received a $2.5 million donation from Dennis and Jan Ellmer toward the $20 million renovation and expansion of the school’s baseball stadium. Dennis Ellmer is president and CEO of Chesapeake-based Priority Auto Group Inc., a dealership with locations in Hampton Roads, Roanoke and Northern Virginia. Planned in stages, the baseball stadium makeover will include expanded and upgraded seating, luxury suites, a club area, new locker and meeting rooms, and a new press box.

“In many ways, athletics can be the front porch of an institution; it’s certainly a part of the branding and mission,” Selig says. “A well-run athletic program can generate national notoriety, which can help with enrollment growth, out-of-state enrollment interest and elevate the overall brand and perception of the institution in the eye of the public in a very significant and meaningful way.”

And at least one former ODU athlete has elevated the university’s profile as an ambassador in a different realm: poetry.

Last year, ODU alumna Natalie Diaz, who was a point guard and captain of the women’s basketball team, became the first Latina and Native American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry. A 2000 ODU graduate, she received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” fellowship in 2018 before going on to win the 2021 Pulitzer for “Postcolonial Love Poem,” her collection of what the Pulitzer jury described as “heart-wrenching and defiant poems that explore what it means to love and be loved in an America beset by conflict.”

The next stage for ODU as it seeks to reach wider notice could come this fall when the university will announce what Hemphill says will be the largest fundraising campaign in ODU’s history.

“There are a lot of things I’m proud of, and it starts with our faculty, our staff and our students,” Hemphill says. “They are the drivers behind the growth and momentum of this great institution.” 

ODU at a glance

Founded

Old Dominion University was founded in 1930 as a two-year school to train teachers and engineers as an extension of William & Mary and Virginia Tech.
It gained independence in 1962 as Old Dominion College and began offering master’s degrees in 1964 and doctoral degrees in 1971. It was renamed
Old Dominion University in 1969.

Campus

Old Dominion has seven academic colleges and three schools. Its 337-acre Norfolk campus is bordered on two sides by the Elizabeth and Lafayette rivers. The school also operates regional higher educational centers in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Hampton.

Enrollment1

Undergraduate: 18,363
Graduate: 4,656
In-state: 20,178
International: 717
Students of color: 11,5902

Employees: 2,474

Faculty: 915 full-time

Tuition and fees

In-state tuition and fees: $11,630
Tuition and fees (out of state): $31,580
Room and board: $14,116
Average financial aid awarded to full-time freshmen seeking assistance: $15,987

1 Fall 2022 enrollment statistics
2 2021-22 data

A stitch in time: ODU, EVMS eye potential merger

At the end of 2020, Eastern Virginia Medical School firmly rejected a study recommending that the medical school merge to become part of Old Dominion University.

But time passes, minds change, and sometimes there’s turnover at the top.

In August 2021, Dr. Richard Homan, who’d led EVMS for nearly a decade, retired. By December, Dr. Alfred Abuhamad, then the medical school’s interim president, signed an agreement with ODU’s new president, Brian Hemphill, and Howard Kern, then president and CEO of Sentara Healthcare, pledging “to explore ways closer alignment or affiliation could enhance their collaborative efforts to strengthen educational research and health care outcomes in Hampton Roads.”

And this summer, ODU hired Dr. Alicia Monroe as chief integration officer and senior adviser to Hemphill, a two-year position to establish an academic health sciences center with EVMS and Sentara Healthcare. In July, Hemphill wrote a letter to ODU’s faculty and staff stating that the university’s goal is “to develop a comprehensive plan to integrate ODU and EVMS in 2023.”

Even so, school officials weren’t quite ready to say the two institutions are merging.

In response to questions from Virginia Business, the two schools released a joint statement stating it was premature to respond to the question, “Is EVMS becoming an arm of ODU?”

Aubrey Layne, Sentara’s senior corporate vice president and chief of staff, didn’t share that hesitation, however.

“EVMS is affiliating or actually combining with Old Dominion as part of their plan to become a sustainable medical school,” he said during an August interview.

To make the partnership official, Virginia’s General Assembly would have to give the OK, according to both EVMS spokesperson Vincent Rhodes and Layne, who added that he, along with officials from the two schools, met with Gov. Glenn Youngkin in August about the plan.

A spokesperson from the governor’s office confirmed that Youngkin “had a meeting with the appropriate partners to gather additional information on the collaboration between the entities,” without providing more detail.

“I think the political will is there,” Layne says.

A joint effort

Founded in 1973 as a public institution not affiliated with an undergraduate university, EVMS took shape after community leaders became alarmed about a physician shortage in the region.

“We grew out of the community, and collaboration is in our genes,” says C. Donald Combs, EVMS vice president and dean of the School of Health Professions.

Close cooperation between Sentara and EVMS hasn’t always come naturally, though. In 2020 and 2021, the medical school paid Vienna-based public relations firm Tigercomm $497,000 for crisis communications and community support work in what Tigercomm President Mike Casey has said was a bid to avoid a potential EVMS-ODU-Sentara merger “being pushed by Sentara” at the time. Tigercomm’s work for EVMS came under media scrutiny in 2021 in a series of articles focusing on the fact that Casey had co-founded in 2011 an investigative watchdog blog, Checks & Balances Project, that had been publishing a series of articles critical of Sentara since late 2020. EVMS and Tigercomm were adamant that they didn’t pay C&BP for its coverage of Sentara, and Casey notes that he does not have “ownership or control” of C&BP or its content.

So, how did Sentara and EVMS go from that awkward place to embarking on a partnership with ODU?

“A lot of it has to do with a change in leadership,” Layne says. Aside from Abuhamad, who became EVMS’ permanent president, provost and medical school dean in June, Hemphill became ODU’s ninth president in July 2021, succeeding John Broderick. At Sentara, Kern retired at the end of August, with Dennis Matheis becoming president and CEO in September.

Hemphill, who served as Radford University’s president for five years, came to Norfolk after overseeing the 2019 merger between the Jefferson College of Health Sciences and Carilion Clinic to create Radford University Carilion, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in health sciences.

In his June letter, Hemphill wrote, “Although much work remains ahead, the vision is clear. ODU and EVMS face an important moment with the promising potential to achieve more through a full integration, which is both impactful and inspiring.”

Sentara, ODU and EVMS officials also note that collaboration will also help improve health care for Hampton Roads residents.

Bottom line

In terms of finances, Sentara makes the argument that EVMS needs to partner with a public university — like Virginia Tech’s partnership with Carilion Clinic to create the VTC School of Medicine — to receive “state funding parity with other Virginia schools” and be better positioned to raise philanthropic dollars.

For fiscal year 2021, EVMS had an annual budget of about $278 million. About $31 million of that came from the state government. Sentara gives more than $60 million to the school for training and education each year, according to Layne. In March, Sentara also donated $6 million to EVMS, ODU and Norfolk State University to develop the ONE School of Public Health, which will be Virginia’s first such institution.

“The issue here has to deal with additional funding, so that the EVMS is a sustainable organization into the future,” Layne says.

Underlying the entire merger discussion is the severe staffing shortage affecting the health care field.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported this year that about 18% of Virginia hospitals are “critically understaffed,” a situation Virginia state Sen. Jen Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach, is familiar with as a nurse practitioner.

“We’ve been in a shortage of primary care providers for a while,” she says. “And then, on top of that, is our mental health care provider workforce challenges.”

Kiggans says a merger between EVMS and ODU would be “instrumental” in bolstering the region’s health care workforce pipeline. “It keeps us competitive with places like Charlottesville and U.Va. and even Richmond and VCU.”

By joining forces, Sentara, EVMS and ODU could share staff members and health science libraries, as well as bolster clinical opportunities for students, she adds. “None of these individual institutions of learning can survive independently.”

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected and updated to clarify the authorship of a blog that published stories about Sentara Healthcare. The Sentara stories were published on the blog Checks & Balances Project, which was co-founded by Mike Casey, the president of public relations firm Tigercomm, but Casey has said he doesn’t own or control C&BP or its content; C&BP is a client of Tigercomm.

ODU earns R1 classification in national ranking

Old Dominion University has earned the highest research activity classification in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the university announced Tuesday.

ODU is now one of 137 four-year research institutions with the Research 1 classification, which indicates “very high research activity.” To receive the R1 classification, doctoral universities must meet benchmarks in 10 indicators, including research doctorates awarded, total research expenditures, the aggregate level of research activity and the number of research staff. The classification, produced this year by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, is published every three years.

ODU is one of nine universities upgraded to the highest level this year, joining fellow Virginia R1 institutions George Mason University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech.

“I’m so excited to move back home and live next door to a leading research university. Congratulations to the whole ODU team — this is an important achievement,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement.

The 2018 report designated ODU a Research 2 institution with “high research activity.”

Over the last 10 years, the number of ODU faculty’s scientific publications has doubled. Over the past five years, external funding for applied research projects has tripled, contributing to $69 million annually in overall research expenditures. More than half of the university’s faculty have been involved in externally funded research projects, which have grown by 22% in total expenditures in the last 10 years. In that same period, ODU doubled its non-faculty Ph.D. research staff.

“This is a significant milestone for our campus community and a historic moment in our research efforts,” ODU President Brian O. Hemphill said in a statement. “ODU is truly honored to join the elite ranks of the nation’s top-producing research institutions, which comprise less than 5% of all institutions. Our faculty are so deserving of this prestigious honor and the limitless opportunities and well-deserved recognition that come with it.”

ODU partners with the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense.

The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education developed the Carnegie Classification in 1970 to support its research and policy analysis program. It is used for research, grant-making and funding decisions, as well as annual rankings like those of the U.S. News & World Report.

The doctoral universities classification includes institutions that awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees during the update year and institutions with below 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees that awarded at least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in at least two programs.

The classifications will become official at the end of January 2022, when the review and comment period concludes. The Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research will provide the final update before transferring responsibility to Albion College in Michigan.

Radford’s Brian Hemphill named new ODU president

Radford University President Brian Hemphill has been hired as Old Dominion University’s ninth president, ODU announced Friday. He will succeed John Broderick, the Norfolk university’s president of 13 years, who is retiring this year.

Hemphill, who has led Radford since 2016, will join ODU this summer, according to a news release Friday from the university. He will be ODU’s first Black president since the university’s founding in 1930 as part of William & Mary. It became an independent public institution in 1962.

“It is both an honor and privilege to be selected as the ninth president of Old Dominion University, a dynamic public research institution that has proudly served the Hampton Roads region and positively impacted the commonwealth of Virginia,” Hemphill said in a statement.   

Before joining Radford, Hemphill served as president of West Virginia State University for four years. Before that, he was vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Northern Illinois University for eight years. At Radford, he oversaw the university’s 2019 merger with the Jefferson College of Health Sciences, now known as Radford University Carilion, with 1,200 students enrolled.

Hemphill received degrees from Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Iowa State and the University of Iowa, where he received his doctorate in higher education administration and policy studies. He is married to Marisela Rosas Hemphill, who worked in student affairs at Colgate University in New York and also has a doctorate from the University of Iowa. They have 8-year-old twins, Catalina and Cruz, and Hemphill has two adult children as well.

Kay A. Kemper, rector of ODU’s board of visitors, said in a statement that the board was “highly impressed with [Hemphill’s] substantial accomplishments in less than five years as president of Radford, as well as his commitment to a student-centered approach.” According to the news release, Radford saw record enrollment in the fall of 2019 and 2020, and Hemphill started a student retention plan and academic center to assist first-year students with their studies. Under his leadership, Radford received its largest federal grant in its history, $13.8 million from the U.S. Department of Education, and launched its largest capital project, the Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity.

Broderick, who joined ODU 28 years ago, is its longest-serving president. His achievements include raising more than $1 billion in public and private funding for the university since 2008, growing its endowment to $272 million as of June 30, 2020, as well as accelerating its research opportunities. In 2010, ODU established the Center for the Study of Sea Level Rise, and in 2013, it received an $11 million donation from alumnus Mark Strome to start the Strome Entrepreneurial Center. ODU also opened the Barry Art Museum in 2018, funded by a $37 million donation by Richard and Carolyn Barry, the institution’s largest gift.

“I congratulate Dr. Hemphill on his appointment,” Broderick said in a statement. “I believe his strengths and values will align well with Old Dominion’s culture and aspirations. In the remaining months of my presidency, we will work closely to ensure a smooth transition as we position Old Dominion for continued greatness.”  

Among the university’s current projects is a partnership with Norfolk State University to develop a regional School of Public Health. Sentara Healthcare announced in January it has awarded a $4 million grant to the universities to pursue the collaborative school, as well as a $3 million grant to strengthen public health in the region, shared with NSU and Eastern Virginia Medical School.

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