In a wide-ranging budget discussion before the Senate Appropriations Committee last week, IUP’s Michael Driscoll and three other State System university presidents talked about the system-wide challenges they are facing due to economic pressures, and new ways in which they are striving to fulfill their educational mission.
Rather than the traditional practice of taking testimony from State System administrators, this year the state-owned universities were represented by the presidents of four schools, including IUP.
Driscoll pointed out that between 2019 and 2025, IUP reduced its workforce by 40 percent, and he said the university has torn down a number of buildings that were no longer needed or useful. The labor cuts, he said, were especially difficult and were exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic, and he said he understands if he is not particularly popular with some people.
Asked about whether or not some buildings could be repurposed rather than become future targets for demolition, Driscoll said IUP is looking at “rededicating and renovating” a set of buildings, with possibly a “small addition” to bring together nursing and other allied health professions so that those students could complete their studies alongside future doctors training in the proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine. At the IUP Council of Trustees meeting on Thursday, Driscoll said the university hopes to move into the “pre-accreditation” phase for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, and to soon begin recruiting students to arrive on campus in the summer of 2027.
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