The beleaguered president of West Virginia University said Tuesday that he can lead the school out of the scandal over an unearned degree given to the governor's daughter, and said he has "seen no empirical evidence to indicate that WVU's reputation has been ruined."

WVU President Mike Garrison told Gazette editors that he has already made several changes recommended by the panel that investigated the degree given to Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.

"We have a long list of improvements, unfortunately, this issue tends to overshadow some of those, at least right now," Garrison said. "We'd like to get back to talking about the good things we've done and also the good things we are going to do."

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Gov. Joe Manchin (left) and West Virginia University President Mike Garrison hosted the WVU Foundation Scholars at the Capitol on Tuesday. Despite calls for his resignation over a degree scandal involving Manchin’s daughter, Garrison has said he will not step down.

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"There's no secret that a number of faculty on the senate would have preferred a different candidate last year for president, and that was illustrated by the vote they took," Garrison said. "Despite that I've made it a priority to reach out to faculty and make their issues my issues."

He said he still has the support from a number of faculty, alumni and students who believe he should remain in office.

The senate no-confidence motion, which holds no official weight, stated in part, "We doubt that WVU will be able to restore its reputation and its academic integrity under his leadership."

Garrison disagreed on Tuesday.

"I've seen no empirical evidence to indicate that WVU's reputation has been ruined," he said. "I have seen empirical evidence in the last week in a half that ... our enrollment is up by 480 students versus this time last year [and] our research dollars both federal and state are up."

Most of the members of WVU's Board of Governors, which can remove Garrison, have said they support him. Manchin appointed most of that board.

At least one major donor has rescinded a planned gift to WVU because of the scandal over Bresch's alleged executive master's of business administration degree, and a number of donors have vowed to withhold contributions.

Garrison said he will make attempts to reach out to donors in order to secure their continued contributions.

"We like to think that donors think of the university on the larger scale, what the university has meant to them," he said. "That's why people give, because of what the university means to them, not because they like or dislike the president."

Garrison said his next step is to rebuild bridges with faculty and staff, a task he acknowledges will be challenging.

The beleaguered president of West Virginia University said Tuesday that he can lead the school out of the scandal over an unearned degree given to the governor's daughter, and said he has "seen no empirical evidence to indicate that WVU's reputation has been ruined."

WVU President Mike Garrison told Gazette editors that he has already made several changes recommended by the panel that investigated the degree given to Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.

"We have a long list of improvements, unfortunately, this issue tends to overshadow some of those, at least right now," Garrison said. "We'd like to get back to talking about the good things we've done and also the good things we are going to do."

He said an overwhelming vote by the school's Faculty Senate calling for his resignation on Monday was at least partly the result of hard feelings over his appointment as president less than a year ago. The WVU Board of Governors hired Garrison, widely seen as a political appointee, over another candidate recommended by the Faculty Senate.

"There's no secret that a number of faculty on the senate would have preferred a different candidate last year for president, and that was illustrated by the vote they took," Garrison said. "Despite that I've made it a priority to reach out to faculty and make their issues my issues."

He said he still has the support from a number of faculty, alumni and students who believe he should remain in office.

The senate no-confidence motion, which holds no official weight, stated in part, "We doubt that WVU will be able to restore its reputation and its academic integrity under his leadership."

Garrison disagreed on Tuesday.

"I've seen no empirical evidence to indicate that WVU's reputation has been ruined," he said. "I have seen empirical evidence in the last week in a half that ... our enrollment is up by 480 students versus this time last year [and] our research dollars both federal and state are up."

Most of the members of WVU's Board of Governors, which can remove Garrison, have said they support him. Manchin appointed most of that board.

At least one major donor has rescinded a planned gift to WVU because of the scandal over Bresch's alleged executive master's of business administration degree, and a number of donors have vowed to withhold contributions.

Garrison said he will make attempts to reach out to donors in order to secure their continued contributions.

"We like to think that donors think of the university on the larger scale, what the university has meant to them," he said. "That's why people give, because of what the university means to them, not because they like or dislike the president."

Garrison said his next step is to rebuild bridges with faculty and staff, a task he acknowledges will be challenging.

"It's the nature of a public job," he said. "You have a lot of constituencies that you've got to respond to and listen to [and] I have a number of them. You've got to work to blend all these opinions and try to find common area.

"You can only work with people that are willing to work with you and there are a number of faculty that are willing to work with me," he said.

As he has since the panel's report came out, Garrison said that his office relied on Provost Gerald Lang and business school Dean Stephen Sears for the decision to give Bresch the degree and add courses and grades to her transcript. Lang and Sears were given the majority of blame in the panel's report, and resigned to return to teaching after the report came out.

"I'm upset that [mistakes] were made and I take responsibility that they occurred," he said. "But under no circumstances did I at any point tell anyone directly or indirectly to make sure she had this degree."

Meanwhile, following a public appearance with Garrison at the Capitol Tuesday, Manchin said it is "time to move forward" to "repair the damages" caused by the controversy over his daughter's unearned degree.

In brief comments after the 2008 WVU Foundation Scholars presentation, an evasive Manchin repeatedly referred to the panel's report, which did not directly implicate Garrison in the degree controversy, but concluded that faculty felt "palpable" pressure to award the degree.

"The report was very specific on the corrections that need to made, and I think that will be done," Manchin said.

He downplayed the Faculty Senate's no-confidence vote Monday: "It's pretty much what I expected from them."

The governor noted that the Faculty Senate had demanded that an independent panel investigate the matter, and said it would "not be very professional" not to follow the recommendations of the panel.

Manchin cut off the interview without directly responding to questions about whether Garrison should resign, again citing the findings of the independent panel.

"They need to go by the report...and fix the things that appear to be broken," Manchin said.

Manchin also again denied having conversations with Garrison over his daughter's degree.

"I think that's pretty much been documented," the governor said.

Staff writer Phil Kabler contributed to this article. To contact staff writer Veronica Nett, use e-mail or call 348-5113.