FISK PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES TUITION FREEZE & CFO APPOINTMENT

Nashville, Tenn., April 15, 2015 – As a part of the University’s strategic plan to foster and ensure its fiscal health and financial sustainability, this morning, Dr. H. James Williams made two  important announcements.

Undergraduate tuition will be frozen at the 2015-2016 level.  Incoming freshmen tuition will be $19,624 for the year and remain at that level through 2018-2019 for the Class of 2019.  Each class of continuing students will have their tuition frozen at the 2015-2016 level for the remaining number of years to their graduation.  This means that the Class of 2018 will have three years and the Class of 2017 will have two years at the 2015-2016 freeze level.

President Williams stated, “We listened to our students and their families. The Board approved our recommendation to freeze the tuition because our students and families deserve a high-value education that they can afford.  There is already a gap in the amount that families can afford to pay and the cost of a quality education.  We value our students and will, to the extent possible, adjust our spending to match their budgets.  Fisk is already a national leader in the value of the degrees it confers; this step enables us to increase that value proposition.”

Williams also announced the appointment of Sydney Rose Leo, as Vice President for Finance & Administration/Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective May 1, following a national search conducted by the Association of Governing Boards. Leo comes to Fisk from Danvers, Massachusetts and the Interaction Institute for Social Change, where she served as CFO.  She brings over twenty-five years of financial, strategic, organizational transformation and change management, information technology, and operations experience. 

Leo’s prior work experiences includes senior manager/director stints with Ernst & Young, KPMG, and Deloitte & Touche.  In addition, she has provided extensive consultant services on enterprise risk management, strategic planning, internal audit practices, and accounting information systems to  a host of clients, including Harvard University, Boston College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bucknell University, General Motors, and SONY.

Leo earned the Bachelor of Science in Sociology degree, with a concentration in organizational behavior, from Smith College, the Master of Science in Accounting and Finance degree from the University of Hartford, and the Master of Science in Computer Information Systems degree from Bentley University.

 

Fisk University, in its educational programs and activities involving students and employees, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or age. Furthermore, the university does not discriminate against veterans or individuals with disabilities.