With many meetings, debriefings and reading materials to wrap his mind around, the former president of Alcorn State University said time has flown by.

“It’s going fast and furious,” Ross said. “We are engaged in a very quick learning curve.”

Ross has spent many hours re-learning the university’s budget, he said, and plans on having another budget forum before the semester ends.

At the next forum, Ross said he hopes to share information on some of the preliminary budget decisions.

Barrie Wilkes, associate vice president of Financial Services and Reporting, said another forum would be beneficial with Ross at CMU.

“I think it’s important that he be front and center, along with his vice president team,” Wilkes said.

Ross, who took over for interim university president Kathy Wilbur March 1, does not deny he is concerned about the budget, but said he does not want the university to lose track of its goals and stop because of financial concerns.

With a proposed state appropriation reduction of 3.1 percent — an amount considered modest by Ross and other officials — Ross believes CMU will be prepared.

“Am I concerned that we are going to have to make some choices because we can’t be everything to everybody? Yes, I’m concerned about that,” he said. “You’re never going to have all the information you want, and time has a way of running out before you get all the information you want.”

Ross acknowledged another tuition increase is in CMU’s future because of reductions to state appropriations. When appropriations decline, tuition has to go up.

That is the equation, Ross said, but he hopes to keep it as modest as possible.

The budget forums are important to keep the conversations going, said Wilbur, who returned to vice president of Government Relations and Public Affairs.

“By the time we would meet again, we will know a little bit more about what the legislature is thinking,” she said. “I don’t think the next one will by any means the last one.”

Open to talk

During the transition period, Ross wants to get to know the campus community.

“Don’t be surprised when I ask a group of students to come have pizza and Pepsi with me, and they may have no official position on this campus,” Ross said. “(It’s) just to talk and see what’s going on. So you’ll see that.”

He might be seen sitting outside on a bench eating a sandwich, Ross said. He hopes to utilize those instances to talk with people.

That is one thing Ross wants to accomplish with the transition team — open communication.

The team had its first meeting Thursday. It was the first time Ross had met a lot of the team members.

The transition process involves sharing data and information to keep things consistent. Ross wants the transition process to create permanent communications channels, not only from the president to the campus, but from units across the campus as a lasting legacy of the transition.

“I want, really, not only to introduce myself to the university, but for the university to re-introduce itself to itself,” he said.