Eastern Virginia Medical School - Governance

Governance

As EVMS has a unique public/private structure unlike most schools in Virginia, the structure of the Board of Visitors is also unique.

• two non-legislative members to be appointed at large by the Governor of Virginia
• two non-legislative members to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules
• three non-legislative members to be appointed by the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates
• six members to be appointed by the Eastern Virginia Medical School Foundation
• four members who shall be appointed by their respective city councils as follows:

-two members from the City of Norfolk

-one member from the City of Virginia Beach

-one member appointed by the following city councils in a rotating manner beginning with the City of Chesapeake, the City of Hampton, the City of Portsmouth, the City of Suffolk and the City of Newport News

As part of the 2008 Virginia General Assembly session, a compromise was reached in order to include EVMS in Governor Tim Kaine's $1.43 Billion bond to finance renovation and construction at Virginia's universities, state colleges, and government facilities. In the compromise, EVMS would allow seven of its Board of Visitors to be appointed by the Governor, House, and Senate of Virginia in order to meet the definition of a public university which some state legislators did not believe EVMS currently fit.

Throughout its history, the idea of merging the school with nearby Old Dominion University or The College of William and Mary has been raised but not carried out. In 2007 EVMS and ODU created a formal cooperation agreement to share resources strategically in hopes of attracting strong faculty and obtaining grants.