Virginia Tech names Melinda West university bursar
Melinda West, assistant to the vice president of finance at Virginia Tech, has been named university bursar.
West will succeed Evelyn Ratcliffe who retired June 30 after serving as university bursar since 2005. Ratcliffe held additional positions in the Office of the University Bursar during her Virginia Tech career including manager of student accounts.
In her new position, West will be responsible for the effective operation of the Office of the University Bursar, which includes the billing, collections, and accounting for Accounts Receivable, Student Accounts, and other general receivables of the university and the related revenues.
The office also processes cash receipts and cash disbursement including the printing and distribution of checks and Automated Clearing House (ACH)/Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments for payrolls, vendor payments, and financial aid (annual cash receipts in excess of $1.2 billion, and annual disbursements in excess of $500 million); administering the alternative tuition payment plans and federal loan programs such as Perkins and Health Professions Student Loans; and administering the university’s relationships with banking institutions.
Additionally, the university bursar ensures strong customer service to students, parents, faculty, staff, and the effective management of staff and financial resources of the department.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1996, West was the manager of general accounts receivable and loans/collections in the Office of the University Bursar from 1996 to 1998. She then moved to the Internal Audit and Management Services Department as a senior internal auditor before moving to the position of assistant to the vice president for finance in 2004.
West is a certified public accountant. Before coming to Virginia Tech, she served as an auditor with the Commonwealth of Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts. West received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Radford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Averett University.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
