GV renews Mantella contract for five additional years

In their Nov. 4 meeting in Detroit, Grand Valley State University’s Board of Trustees voted to renew President Philomena Mantella’s employment contract through June 2029.

According to a news release from the university, the renewed contract will feature a 4.2% raise for Mantella, increasing her yearly salary from $480,000 to $500,000 beginning in July 2024.

The Board’s unanimous decision came months ahead of the deadline to consider the renewal, signaling confidence in Mantella’s leadership among Board members who expressed gratitude toward the president for her leadership on matters including navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and implementing the university’s new strategic plan, ‘Reach Higher 2025.’

With the renewal of her contract, Mantella will oversee the university’s operations through the decade as it seeks to not only rebuild enrollment and normalcy following COVID-19, but also navigate additional challenges on the horizon, including the possibility of an economic recession occurring in the next year.

Final polls show maintained lead for MI Dems as party seeks unified control of Lansing

The latest polling prior to Election Day shows thin advantages for Democrats as recent redistricting has energized the party’s hopes of achieving victory in executive and legislative races.

In the latest gubernatorial poll released from the national polling organization Cygnal, Governor Gretchen Whitmer maintains a 4-point lead over Republican challenger Tudor Dixon. An average of polling samples collected from the race by FiveThirtyEight shows Whitmer with an average lead of 4.8% over Dixon.

Other statewide Democrats have maintained slim leads as the party hopes to keep control of the offices of governor, secretary of state and attorney general.

The narrow yet sustained leads for statewide Democrats in Michigan are widely seen as imperiled as the evaporation of advantages for Democrats around the country has begun to signal a shifting tide in races to control various offices.

However, with the state’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission having redrawn state lines ahead of the election to ensure a fair electoral map void of partisan influence, Michigan’s political outcome may prove unique and detached from the country at large.

With new lines having been drawn for state districts, control of the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate, both currently controlled by Republicans, is also seen as having the potential to change hands.

Should Democrats win majorities in the chambers and maintain their positions in executive offices, it would be the first time the party has controlled the Legislature and the governorship simultaneously since 1983.