(Danville, Va.) — Averett University has again been recognized by U.S. News and World Report. The magazine has named Averett as the no. 17 best regional liberal arts colleges in the south, its highest ranking to date. Averett was also recognized as the seventh best university in the south for veterans and ranked ninth Southern regional college for best value. Only three Virginia schools made the “2018 Regional Liberal Arts Colleges” list.
(Danville, Va.) — Averett University laid off 11 employees this week and reduced one full-time employee to part-time status.
Cassie Jones, Averett’s Director of Marketing and Communications, confirmed the decision.
The layoffs happened on Monday afternoon and were blamed on a decrease in enrollment by adult students in Averett’s Graduate and Professional Studies program and an increase in higher-achieving students.
Jones said the decision was painful but is part of an effort to reorganize and make the university more efficient. The cuts represent a 2.5% reduction in the overall budget.
She said that half of the affected employees worked in the GPS program and rest are spread throughout the campus.
(Miami) — The National Hurricane Center says Irma’s projected path is continuing to shift to the west, just a few crucial miles, that should keep its eye just off Florida’s west coast on a track to hit St. Petersburg, not Miami or even Tampa.
The hurricane’s leading edge was already lashing the Florida Keys with hurricane force winds. If the center of the storm keeps moving over warm Gulf of Mexico water, it may regain more strength before making landfall again.
St. Petersburg, like Tampa, has not taken a head-on blow from a major hurricane in nearly a century. Clearwater would be next, and then the storm would finally go inland northwest of Ocala.
At midnight, the storm had top sustained winds of 120 mph and is moving northward at about 6 mph.