Christopher Newport University will increase its minimum wage beginning in October.

An email sent by University President Paul Trible on Thursday — one day before he announced plans to retire — told the campus community that the minimum wage at CNU would be increasing from $10.50 per hour to $13 per hour.

“This is a 24% increase and will more appropriately pay 136 of our current colleagues! For example, a member of our staff who is earning $22,000, will now earn $27,040 a year — an increase of more than $5,000,” Trible wrote.

The pay increase will take effect on Oct. 1.

The university’s minimum wage is higher than the minimum wage set by the state. In 2020, the General Assembly voted to increase the state’s minimum wage to $9.50. The change took effect in May.

Trible told university staff that the school is also planning to hire a human resources consulting company to perform a market analysis of all staff salaries.

“Our intention is to do more in the days ahead,” Trible said.

Trible said the school is also taking steps to hire more workers to fill the vacancies on its campus. The university’s website listed 81 open jobs as of Sunday morning. A job fair is slated for Oct. 12 in the Freeman Center and there are plans to open a hiring center in CNU North, according to the email.

Trible’s email also announced that more than 200 employees who were not able to work from home during the pandemic received bonuses. Employees who have been with the university since the beginning of the pandemic received $500. More recent hires received a smaller bonus.

“These good folks could not telework,” Trible said. “They had to come to campus to clean our classrooms and offices, to make sure that everything in our buildings continued to operate, to prepare and deliver food and to keep our campus beautiful.”

Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com