State of the University Address: The WVU Compacts

February 12, 2001
Remarks by David C. Hardesty Jr., President, West Virginia University

In important and creative ways, West Virginia University touches the lives of all of our state?s citizens and many more Americans. Today, building on decades of work, WVU reaffirms its determination to deliver the best aspects of higher learning to its students and the communities of our state.

Today, we will highlight our proposed Compacts with the State of West Virginia?our campus blueprints for the next six years?and we will underscore that we are responsible to the citizens of our state. For 134 years, West Virginia residents have expected WVU to help them reach their full potential?their potential greatness.

Make no mistake about our message today. When we advance WVU, we advance every life in our state. We shape our nation. And we improve the well-being of humanity.

Board of Advisors, Interim Governing Board, and Higher Education Policy Commission members; colleagues; students and parents; donors and friends; President Mary Rittling and Potomac State College of WVU, President Erik Bitterbaum and WVU at Parkersburg, President Karen LaRoe and the WVU Institute of Technology, and Associate Vice President Michael Lewis and the Charleston Division of the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center; ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you all for contributing to a highly successful year. As we begin our advance into the 21st century, remember this: No entity in West Virginia, public or private, is more critical to the state?s well-being than West Virginia University. This is true not just because we offer more degree programs?168 at last count?than any other college or university in the state, and not just because we have such a strong and effective service mission to help the people of West Virginia, or just because we are doing world-class research that targets the state?s needs, or just because we are in the national vanguard of high technology.

Our importance is evident because we are doing all these things with an energetic spirit that reflects our conviction that we can and will achieve greatness. In every action we take on behalf of those we serve in our state and nation, we are striving to demonstrate that WVU is, unquestionably, the University Where Greatness is Learned.

WVU is a unique resource for West Virginia West Virginia?s importance to the vitality of West Virginia and the nation is magnified because of its uniqueness. We are truly special because we have: three regional campuses, a second medical campus in Charleston, a lifelong learning center at Jackson?s Mill, and the statewide WVU Extension Service. We have several one-of-a-kind colleges and schools which provide important benefits to the citizens of West Virginia: the state?s only College of Law, School of Dentistry, and School of Pharmacy, as well as the state?s only comprehensive College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences, and College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

Only 10 other state universities share WVU?s complex mission as a land-grant, research-oriented, public university with a comprehensive health sciences center. The others in our exclusive group are Ohio State, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Texas A&M, Michigan State, the University of Florida, the University of Arizona, the University of Missouri at Columbia, the University of Kentucky, the University of Minnesota?Twin Cities, and the University of Nevada?Reno.

Even within this select company, WVU stands out because of the critical role we play in the development of our state and our balanced approach to executing our mission.

As I noted in my fall State of the Campus address, I believe we are stepping up from our current level of excellence to tomorrow?s level of national prominence. Today, WVU is noted for having provided national leaders to the top ranks of business, education, government, the military, the arts, and numerous other professions. Our students, faculty, undergraduate and graduate programs, student life and parent initiatives, business practices, and research centers of excellence regularly bring us national recognition.

These indicators of WVU?s success in our focus areas raise the bar ever higher. The state and nation have come to expect more of us. Last November, under the leadership of the WVU Foundation, we embarked on a historic mission to raise $250 million in new private funding over a three-year period. The theme of this fund-raising campaign is “Building Greatness.” It?s a theme that is echoed by our University?s new slogan, “Where Greatness is Learned.”

Truly, our current aspirations are the highest in our history. In today?s world, mediocrity will not suffice. Only greatness will do. And our state needs us to be great.

WVU has much greatness within, and it is valuable to West Virginia

I recently came across a statement by Granville Davisson Hall. Hall, one of West Virginia?s founders, wrote this in 1901 in a publication called The Rending of Virginia [recently republished in a version edited by John Edmund Stealey III]:

“The happy geographical position of West Virginia, her genial climate; her riches . . . and her fine school system, crowned by the University in Morgantown, assures an intellectual growth adapted to the natural aptitude of her people.” He quoted the governor of West Virginia, who said that “we are a favored people” with “abundant reasons for Thanksgiving.”

Hall?s generation arrived optimistically at the dawn of the 20th century because of their courage and steadfast resolve to build a state that would compete favorably in the world as they found it.

True, much has changed since 1901. Globalization, consolidation, and the transition to a different economy challenge our state. But we have persevered. Slowly, we are becoming a state of the future, not of the past. West Virginia University?s contributions make us a vital partner with the citizens of our state. Our economic development activities, for example, emerge naturally from our research and inventions, and we strive to nurture them through important spin-offs and engagement activities. Embodied in our students, faculty, and alumni, WVU?s excellence is at work in our state, our nation, and in the world. West Virginia?s founding fathers would approve. Indeed, they would be amazed!

Our state has so many reasons to be proud of its flagship University today. Along with all the great strides we are making in teaching, research, and service, we represent West Virginia positively on the national scene in unique ways. For example, nobody represents our state with more grace and dignity than Don Nehlen. Coach Nehlen coached his last game for WVU on December 28?a decisive victory in the Music City Bowl, crowning the last of 21 successful seasons. During Coach Nehlen?s tenure, the WVU football program achieved 13 bowl trips and two undefeated campaigns. There, indisputably, is an example of greatness. We thank Coach Nehlen, who is acknowledged by his peers as one of the greatest college football coaches ever, for his exceptional leadership. His positive influence on his players, the University, and the state will be felt for many years to come.

As we bid goodbye to one exceptional leader, we welcome a new one as Rich Rodriguez, a 1986 WVU graduate and former Mountaineer defensive back from Grant Town, returns to Morgantown as our head football coach. Rich and his wife Rita, a Jane Lew native who?s also a WVU graduate, care deeply about West Virginia and WVU. They value the University?s mission of educating young people and helping them succeed.

Also new among the University?s high-energy leaders is Dr. Eddie Reed, the director of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, who is known worldwide for the advances he has made against ovarian cancer. Dr. Reed is pursuing the ambitious goal of helping the Center become a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center within the next few years. His plan calls for significant expansion of the center?s research, clinical trials, education, and service to the state. Among the first initiatives he will develop are a women?s health program and a program to test the latest cancer-fighting medications.

WVU has a rich legacy that is embodied in contributors like Don. We honor them and are grateful to them for leading us to our current position. New leaders like Rich Rodriguez and Eddie Reed, proven professionals who share WVU?s commitment to greatness, are the backbone of our drive to achieve more national prominence and recognition for our excellence.

Before highlighting WVU?s future direction as it is outlined in the new Compacts, let?s take a minute to reflect on what we have achieved in recent years.

WVU?s Compacts build on the successes of the Senate Bill 547 era

As you well know, more than five years ago WVU began a series of transformational initiatives under the guidelines established in Senate Bill 547. In finding ways to reallocate $32 million on the Morgantown campus, and $38 million University-wide, we made tough decisions that eliminated some academic programs and administrative functions and merged others. Some staff and faculty vacancies have not been filled. But, in the end, these tough decisions led to a remarkable number of initiatives resulting in enormous progress consistent with our mission and vision. Consider:

  • Faculty and staff salaries have increased each year above projections.
  • WVU has retained its top-tier national research university status, and has made significant gains in sponsored research funding.
  • Integration 2000 has helped lower administrative costs and realized such accomplishments as common academic calendars and course numbering, library database sharing, and integrated administrative systems.
  • Student life programming has improved dramatically, resulting in increased enrollment while maintaining the highest graduation rate of any public college or university in West Virginia. Innovative programs like Operation Jump-Start, the Career Success Academy, Mountaineer Parents Club, WVUp All Night, FallFest, the Festival of Ideas, and the Resident Faculty Leaders, are recognized models for other institutions around the nation.
  • All the colleges and schools have increasingly focused their missions, and we have developed new opportunities in forensic identification, biometrics, neuroscience, management information systems, and aquaculture, among others.
  • The WVU Extension Service and other outreach programs have been reorganized and strengthened.
  • A Facilities Master Plan has already provided us a new Libraries Book Depository and the White Hall Computer Lab, and will soon provide the Student Recreation Center, a renovated and expanded main library building, a new Life Sciences Building, and space for administrative offices in the WVU Foundation?s new building, One Waterfront Place.
  • Investments in technology have resulted in more computer labs and a distance-learning infrastructure, as well as the $35 million library addition. Colleges, too, have made their own investments through private support or reallocations. As examples, consider the new technology classroom in the College of Law, the School of Physical Education?s distance delivery of its Master of PE teacher education program, and the record-breaking $5 million gift to the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources from alumnus Ray Lane. Private support continues to benefit students and programs University-wide through the “Building Greatness” campaign.
  • It is in part through the efforts of the West Virginia University Foundation that we have been able to remain competitive with our peer institutions. Since 1995 the WVU Foundation?s annual disbursements on behalf of the University have grown from $21 million to $27 million. The Foundation’s endowment has doubled, increasing the endowment value per student from $7,541 to $14,477.
  • Economic development and technology transfer have been made priority efforts so that WVU?s expertise and resources can enhance the fortunes of the state and its citizens. In the past 18 months, invention disclosures have doubled and patent applications have tripled.

Importantly, we have successfully leveraged State-provided dollars during the Senate Bill 547 era to attract federal and other outside funding. The new Eye Institute, the Shott Chair in Journalism, the Cisco Systems Academy?all these enhancements and many others?are the result of WVU?s ability to supplement State funds with outside money, leading to added value within our educational enterprise and a better return on the State?s investment.

Our capital campaign, under the adept leadership of the WVU Foundation, has received $125 million in outright gifts and pledges towards its $250 million goal. We are at the halfway point, ahead of schedule. I am proud to be able to announce for the first time two more extraordinary contributions.

First, Jim and Ann Milano of Monongalia County have pledged $500,000 to create the James and Ann Pozega Milano Reading Room and Collection Endowment Fund. The gift will be used to maintain and replace furnishings in one of the reading rooms in Wise Library, and to support acquisitions and preservation of the library?s Appalachian Collection?which is one of the nation?s best collections on regional cultures.

There?s a wonderful story behind this gracious gift. As a student, Jim frequented the library because there was no desk in his dorm room. Both he and Ann said that the library was their second home during their WVU years. During his evenings of studying, Jim said he noticed Ann and eventually asked her to the movies. It should come as no surprise, then, that the reading room being renovated is the very same room where this couple met.

Another exceptional gift?$2.2 million?comes from the estate of Mary Jackson of Jane Lew. Ms. Jackson strongly believed in education and family and earned her master?s degree in education from WVU. She taught middle school and also worked in the West Virginia Department of Education. Her gift is for scholarships to benefit WVU students who are residents of Lewis County, with a preference to those from Jane Lew.

Please join me in a round of applause for the generosity bestowed upon WVU by these true believers, and for the WVU Foundation for its remarkable, remarkable progress to date.

New legislation, SB 653, requires that we establish new covenants with those we serve

Building on our ongoing success, WVU now puts forth goals for the initiatives mandated in Senate Bill 653 in the form of our institutional covenants. The legislation requires each institution of higher education to develop a written set of goals for broad-based engagement called “the Compact.” These goals establish a covenant between each institution and the people it serves during the six-year period July 2001 to June 2007. WVU?s Compacts will:

  • Develop a capacity to conduct research that enhances West Virginia and meets the state?s “new economy” needs.
  • Help to provide citizens with graduate studies opportunities?particularly in teacher education?in every region of the state.
  • Focus the institutional mission, emphasizing points of distinction and quality, and strong links with regional and statewide efforts in educational, economic, and social revitalization.
  • Provide greater access and capacity to deliver technical education, workforce development, and other higher education services to place-bound adults.
  • Help to create independently accredited community and technical colleges in every region of the state to meet local educational needs using existing infrastructure if feasible.

Obviously, WVU is already working hard to achieve and sustain the excellence that Senate Bill 653 seeks to foster in every part of West Virginia?s higher education system. As a great state university, though, we can and will do much more?using resources already in hand and additional resources that must be provided by the State Legislature and private sources.

Here to provide an overview of the Compact for the Morgantown campus is Provost Gerald Lang, who is spearheading this critical undertaking for WVU. He will be followed by the regional campus presidents, who will give very brief overviews. In addition, you will be provided today with an executive summary piece explaining each Compact. Copies of the entire WVU Compact are available from the Provost?s Office. Dr. Lang . . .

An overview of the WVU Campus Compacts

[Dr. Lang:] Thank you, President Hardesty.

As we prepared the WVU Compact, we identified one important principle to guide our thinking. Namely, we agreed to maintain our mission while continuing the change agenda to align the University with the needs of West Virginia. Our intent is to continue to engage in planned and proactive change to improve student life, to enhance our academic programs, to further stimulate research, to integrate technology in all that we do, and to engage more fully in public service?in essence, we agreed to remain true to our roots as a land-grant university serving the people of West Virginia.

The process of developing the Compact was an interactive one, with the deans of our colleges and schools, including those in the health sciences, serving as the point persons for input from their respective units. We worked on a short time deadline, receiving final directions in mid-November 2000 and a due date of February 1, 2001. A committee of faculty, staff, and administrators reviewed drafts along the way. I view this Compact as a living document that can be modified over the course of its six-year life span as conditions change.

I will now lead us through some of the key goals of the Compact, tying each goal to ongoing and future efforts. Each goal will appear on the screen behind me as it is discussed.

Undergraduate Academic Experience

We have been engaged in a two-year-long discussion of the academic standards and expectations and we will continue this most important discussion. The academic experience is the heart and soul of an academic institution and the reason why we exist. With our next 10-year reaccreditation visit forthcoming, we have much to be proud of.

Take, for example, the new Center of Writing Excellence established by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. This initiative responds to past concerns raised about the writing performance of our students. The continuing review of Liberal Studies Program courses by the Faculty Senate only helps to improve our curriculum. I also want to thank the Faculty Senate for endorsing the need for a capstone experience for all students entering WVU in Fall 2001. This will help our students synthesize their undergraduate education in a unique and special way that is an important part of their educational experience.

In the next several years, we must continue to work together to further transform and improve the first-year experience for our students. All indications point to the critical importance of the first year in improving retention and eventual graduation. Our goal is to assist every student who is capable and interested to meet our academic standards and, ultimately, earn a degree.

We are currently reexamining the Undergraduate Academic Services Center to make sure it is contemporary and meets the needs of today?s students.

Finally, I am truly excited about the new Institute for Math Learning. This is an investment focused on student success. It is designed to help our students succeed in a difficult and often career-limiting discipline. It will address math instruction on our campus as well as build upon existing relationships with high school math teachers to create a more seamless instructional system.

Access To Higher Education Opportunities

As a land-grant institution, we remain committed to our heritage of providing broad access to the sons and daughters of the state?s populace.

Our STEP (Summer Transition Entry Program) and HSTA (Health Sciences Technology Academy) programs are well recognized for helping economically disadvantaged students, often first-generation students, have the opportunity to not only attend but succeed in college.

In the next several years, we will continue to strive to make the K-16 experience more continuous. We need to focus on helping those qualified high school students start college early. We need to provide asynchronous learning opportunities to those in rural counties. We need to make admission more seamless and readily accessible. The Promise Scholarships?if funded by the Legislature?will, I believe, open up WVU to more of the state?s best high school graduates. We need to be ready.

Student-Centered Commitment

WVU has attained a well-deserved recognition for being among the first institutions in the country to envelop the student-centered mantra. Our success in developing Operation Jump-Start has exceeded our wildest dreams. WVUp All Night is known throughout the country. Over 100 institutions have sought to learn more about this fine program.

Our effort over the life of the Compact is to become the University of choice in the region! We have a resident-life experience equal to no other, we have a comprehensive set of student life initiatives, and as I indicated we are working on systemic change within our academic curriculum.

Our forthcoming Recreation Center and our new Library will make WVU an envied institution dedicated to the well-being of our students, both their bodies and their minds. And let?s not forget how critical the arts are in setting a cultural foundation to our lives. New renovations in the College of Creative Arts will provide up-to-date facilities to enjoy performances and provide students majoring in the performing arts the opportunity to pursue their studies in modern facilities.

Enrollment Management

Enrollment has been an important strategic area of concern for the past six years. At the onset of Senate Bill 547, we were losing enrollment and our fiscal stability was at risk. The campus responded as we made recruitment and retention a priority. CEMR, Creative Arts, Journalism, Physical Education, and Business and Economics have shown substantial growth in the number of undergraduate majors. Our enrollment has stabilized.

But we cannot live on our past success. There is a large downturn in the number of students graduating from West Virginia?s high schools this year?nearly a thousand fewer than last year!

This is the beginning of a decade of a downward demographic trend in the number of graduates from our high schools. In spite of all of our hard work, our various scholarships, our new initiatives, the application rate is slightly behind that of last year, reflecting this demographic trend.

We must work harder at recruitment and we must dedicate ourselves to helping our students succeed and thus remain at WVU to complete their degrees. With fewer students to recruit we must all put forth renewed efforts at retention.

Recently I have challenged some of our deans to begin to think more creatively about their curricula. For example, if it takes a master?s degree to be certified to be a speech pathologist and audiologist, then why do we not develop a five-year degree for these students? The model exists in our current Benedum Collaborative Model of Teacher Education program, which is recognized nationally for its integrated, dual-degree format. Its focus on better teachers and better schools was celebrated at a recent conference in Charleston. Several external speakers validated our approach to training tomorrow?s teachers. One individual from North Carolina noted that WVU is a prime target for teacher recruitment.

Why not use the same model in speech pathology?

I have urged the dean of Business and Economics to consider more active recruitment from within WVU for the MBA program. Why should our graduates go elsewhere for this degree?

These examples are meant to stimulate discussion about new, contemporary programs that help us maintain enrollment. It may reflect a shift to more graduate students, but with the current statewide demographic trends this may be a best-practice strategy. Whatever we decide, we must act quickly!

Graduate Education

Although I have already made reference to graduate education, I want to emphasize that such effort is the hallmark of a Doctoral/Research University-Extensive. WVU is one of only 148 institutions in this country carrying this classification. Without question, research and graduate education are inextricably linked, thus making the education of doctoral students a key to our research viability.

We have eight nationally ranked programs and many other programs of high quality, as evidenced by the various independent accreditation assessments. We need to expand the number of programs so recognized.

We need more distance-education programs like our Executive MBA, offered simultaneously to students at eight sites, or our new integrated marketing curriculum in the School of Journalism.

We need more collaborative graduate programs like those being developed by our teacher education faculty and their counterparts at West Liberty State College and Glenville State College.

We must continue to do what we do best!

Library Access

Throughout the Senate Bill 547 era, we have continued to invest in our libraries, a resource so vital to a research university. In fact we committed over $3 million to support the library, giving it favored status in a time of budget reallocations. We will continue to invest in our libraries. But I must acknowledge that regardless of how much we invest, the cost of library materials grows at a rate of inflation that is three times that of the Consumer Price Index.

We are asking our state leaders for the support that is needed to develop a statewide consortium to provide universal access to electronic databases.

Enhanced Research Capacity and Economic Development

In the past, we have stressed the expansion of our research capacity through traditional means of support for the individual faculty member. The development of new centers and multidisciplinary areas of excellence represents part of the new future for research growth. We need to explore new ways to develop and invest in these efforts.

A recent $1.7 million grant from the Benedum Foundation will allow us to begin the development of our research park and to further support our new technology transfer initiatives, an area in which we have lagged behind other research institutions.

The Carnegie Foundation has just announced a new five-year study of PhD programs in line with the evaluation of the current classification system of institutions. We must remain cognizant of the need to deliver high-quality doctoral education while growing our research programs to remain in the top classification category after the current review.

We must become proactive in linking our research with the state?s fiscal health. A viable economic development agenda is crucial to funding our growth in future years. Our Extension Service is but one example of our ability to connect to the economic pulse of the 55 counties of our state.

A new idea we are developing relates to the creation of a Center for Renewable Resources and Economic Development, much like that we reference as the Health Sciences Center. It is a way for us to focus on issues that have broad-based application to West Virginia while at the same time giving our traditional disciplines a new emphasis. Such a center would be strongly supported by the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences and the Extension Service.

Health-Care Education and Delivery

Our Health Sciences Center has made great strides in recent years in developing new standards for patient care and for the education of health-care professionals.

A new era is on the horizon. The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute is a reality, and during the life of the Compact it will come into its own. For all of us, understanding and learning to treat neurological disease is of personal importance. Our Cancer Center has a new director and an expanded focus including clinical service, teaching, and research. Our forthcoming Eye Institute will help many improve their ability to see and enjoy life to its fullest. These are exciting areas for both research and patient care. We should take pride in our University treasures.

Workforce Development

West Virginia needs a strong workforce if it is to move from the old economy to the new economy. Did you know that the WVU Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Development has been responsible for preparing the curriculum for many of the remedial courses offered by our state?s community colleges?

Our Cisco Academy is recognized as a regional leader in network training. In fact, we have expanded our role at Cisco?s request.

Our computer sciences program is exploring a new partnership with Carnegie Technology Education to prepare the new Internet workforce.

These three examples illustrate well how WVU is helping to train the workforce needed for the new technology-driven economy.

Although I have tried to compartmentalize many of my points for the sake of presentation, I believe it is clear that many are interrelated. All support our vision of being a student-centered learning community meeting the needs of West Virginia and the nation.

Resources

Under Senate Bill 547, we were engaged in a period of substantial reallocation. In essence, we had to fund nearly 50% of our salary increases internally over the past five years.

To be successful under Senate Bill 653, we need to seek new investments from the State. We have been aggressive in seeking these new investments to reward our employees, to support our operations, and to dedicate to our new initiatives.

The underlying philosophy of Senate Bill 653 is that “Education is the Passport to Prosperity.”

Governor Wise has stated that West Virginia will be “the Education State.”

Thus I am willing to deduce that WVU is West Virginia?s Passport to Prosperity!

We have been good stewards of past investments. It is our pledge to work together, to expect excellence, to build greatness.

By working together we will succeed.

And now I call upon Dr. Mary Rittling, campus president for Potomac State College of West Virginia University.

Compact: Potomac State College of WVU

[Dr. Rittling:] President Hardesty and members of the West Virginia University Community:

I thank you for this opportunity to present Potomac State College?s mission for the next six years. These campus priorities are highlighted in our annual report and in the Compact.

Before I begin I want to mention that this week marks the official 100th Anniversary of Potomac State College. On February 15, 1901, the “Keyser Preparatory Branch of

West Virginia University” was created by an act of the Legislature at the urging of Mineral County Delegate Francis Reynolds. He was concerned about the quality of secondary education in the area. We plan to continue this legacy through the following initiatives:

Program Review

The heart and soul of Potomac State College is to provide our students with skills and competencies for their success in the global marketplace. To accomplish this end, we?ve created a network of educational pathways. Last year, Potomac State College implemented an Associate in Arts, an Associate in Applied Science, and a certificate program in Criminal Justice Studies. We also began serving as a site for the WVU Regents BA degree program. Next fall, students will have the opportunity to earn an associate?s degree in child care as we make final revisions to curriculums for our upcoming Tourism and Hospitality and General Forestry Technology programs. We also look forward to serving as a site for the WVU BS in Nursing program.

Student Success

However, we are well aware that recruiting students to our campus is only half the formula for their success; retention makes up the other half of our goal. Last year, we made renovations to residential facilities changing them from double to single rooms, we upgraded classrooms making them more spacious and conducive to learning, and at the request of students improved our dining services and facility. Also, through a generous donor, we began construction of a new baseball field.

Campus Life

We will continue to enhance the quality of campus life for our residential students and commuting students by improving the connection between academic and student services and our communications with students. Our renovations to residence halls will continue as we increase the cultural, social, and athletic activities on campus.

Information Technology

Potomac State College has already begun to improve information technology on campus. We are more closely linked with WVU for administrative technology and will investigate increased linkages for academic services and instruction. In the future, we have a vision to add a “technology” wing to our library that will provide greater and improved access not only for our students and employees but also for the greater Potomac Highlands community. I know these enhancements will aid faculty in their use of instructional technology as well as improve the college?s capacity to deliver distance-learning courses.

Workforce Training and Community Services

Also in the past year, Potomac State College has concentrated on the growth and development of its workforce training and community services department. Through a collaborative grant with business and industry, the college now has a center with a coordinator to implement programming. We anticipate significant growth in our business partnerships over the next few years.

I know these and the other issues in the Compact will require our energy and our very best efforts, but I am confident that the faculty and staff of Potomac State College have the ability and willingness to meet these challenges and opportunities.

At this time I?d like to invite to the podium Dr. Erik Bitterbaum, president of West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

Compact: WVU at Parkersburg

[Dr. Bitterbaum:] Forty years ago this fall, West Virginia University at Parkersburg began as a branch campus of the University. The genius and marvel of the Parkersburg campus is that it continues to reinvent itself.

  • It reinvents itself so area residents can achieve their dreams to be teachers or engineers.
  • It reinvents itself to deliver workforce-development training, to prepare liberally educated technologists, and to serve as an instrument of economic development.
  • It reinvents itself to be a recognized path of choice to success as it supports students in their learning and honors faculty for their great teaching.

Through a blend of certificates, associate programs, and select baccalaureate degrees, it serves as a regional campus of the University and as a higher education center with WVU graduate programs.

Our Compact is built upon the shared belief that WVU Parkersburg must continue to be an institution that is accessible, affordable, flexible, innovative, high quality, student-centered, and above all, focused on being a community of teachers and learners. We are an open-admission institution with high expectations of and for our students.

We nurture collaborations such as those we have with the Wood County Schools and the Caperton Center for Applied Technology. We pursue partnerships with area vocational centers and alliances like the Polymer Alliance Zone. These collaborations expand our capacities to change lives and spark new beginnings.

One of the goals of WVU Parkersburg?s Compact is to advance the skill levels of the regional workforce through training programs and alliances. June Gallagher?s story shows how we?re doing this.

A resident of New Haven, West Virginia, June is one of the first graduates of the Polymer Alliance Zone?s Pre-Employment Training or PAZ-PET. The program involves six weeks of night classes, Monday through Friday, on the Parkersburg campus. Perfect attendance and an 80% overall grade point average are required. Successful graduates are eligible to be interviewed by polymer companies participating in the program.

June exceeded all program requirements as she juggled working full time and being a mother. She achieved a 95% GPA and never missed a class. Soon after completing the PAZ-PET program, June was contacted by SDR Plastics in Ravenswood and offered a position as a blender operator. She credits WVU Parkersburg in helping her achieve a career in the polymer industry.

June is an example of the thousands of graduates here and throughout the country making a difference because they can take advantage of what WVU Parkersburg has to offer them as a regional institution. Our Compact includes goals to provide area residents with increased accessibility to higher education opportunities and to impact regional economic development while we pursue the challenges of the future.

Another key Compact goal for us is to forge cooperative efforts with area public schools and provide high quality professional development experiences. One of our initiatives involves the development of a Center for Teaching Innovation for our faculty and area public school teachers. We will share exciting innovations in teaching strategies designed to actively involve and engage students in the classroom. We look forward to the Center?s impact on the teaching and learning process.

As we strive to become a great undergraduate institution, WVU Parkersburg will be responsive and accountable in its focus and direction. The opportunities of Integration 2000 are helping us become a more effective regional campus and move toward closer integration with the University. WVU Parkersburg?s Compact will enable the institution to continue its commitment to reinvent and reinvest itself as a platform of educational potential and promise.

And now I call upon Dr. Karen LaRoe, president of West Virginia University Institute of Technology.

Compact: WVU Institute of Technology

[Dr. LaRoe:] Thank you, Dr. Bitterbaum.

Two years ago, when President Hardesty offered me the job as campus president and regional vice president, he asked that I attend the Harvard seminar for new presidents. Two weeks ago, 15 of us from that initial class met again. One of the major speakers said: “The main thing is that the main thing is the main thing.” For one who has been working on the Campus Compact for six months this statement made real sense. The main thing at WVU Tech is that we will address the engineering, scientific, and technical education needs of our students, business, industry, and government during the six-year period of our institutional Compact.

One of the goals of our Compact is to facilitate higher education access for the 22 counties of southern West Virginia. On February 2, two years ago, Tech committed to increasing the college-going rate in southern West Virginia. To date I have visited 22 of the counties in our area of responsibility. Counselors talked to me about student dreams and the barriers to obtaining them. Community and business leaders talked about how higher education could meet their needs.

Growing from these visits is our “Yes I can” program. Last year we targeted five counties and visited every high school. We took along a team of Tech faculty and staff to each of the high schools. In a single visit we admitted graduating seniors, counseled them on financial aid, and scheduled them for fall classes. At one high school we enrolled 50% of the graduating class. The goal is to increase the college-going rate. Whether they enroll at Tech, WVU in Morgantown, Marshall, or Concord College is irrelevant as long as they know that college is an obtainable dream. As of June 30 our freshman enrollment was up 50% from the previous June and 95% matriculated.

Over the next two months we will take the “Yes I can” program to every high school in our 22-county region. We look forward to working with Dr. Larry Cote on this. Together we can and will make a difference.

As West Virginia?s only institute of technology, Tech has built a reputation with employers for producing graduates who know the concepts and apply them. This is, in great part, why we have been designated for the second year in a row as a Top 50 baccalaureate engineering institution by U.S. News and World Report and are ranked as a second-tier liberal arts institution in the southeast region. We plan to increase our applied research emphasis and turn our campus into a living laboratory for our faculty and students. As a part of this, Tech is creating the Applied Technology and Business Center and a technology incubator where workforce development will be a clear focus.

We are working with our legislators to introduce two bills this session. One will provide incentives for entrepreneurial activity by West Virginia college and university graduates. The other will provide incentives for West Virginia veterans to return home and pursue higher education here in the state. Both of these bills are designed to keep our best and brightest home.

Other Compact goals include expanding opportunities for teacher education in math, science, and technology and creating more access to graduate programs.

William Butler Yeats said: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” At Tech we know what the main thing is, and we are passionate about delivering quality across our mission.

It is a pleasure to return the podium to President Hardesty.

Conclusion: WVU achieves greatness through excellence in its mission

[President Hardesty:] Thank you, Presidents Rittling, Bitterbaum, and LaRoe. And thanks, especially to Provost Lang. We applaud your leadership, and we extend thanks to those who have worked with you to create the Compacts for WVU and the regional campuses.

I?d like to close by sharing a recent experience. Several weeks ago I met with 54 WVU students, a mixture of freshmen and student leaders of various organizations. I had each student share with me one memorable experience so far at WVU and one area we might improve. As you might guess, the 54 suggestions for improvement touched on student apathy, parking, course offerings, off-campus housing, food, safety, advising, and much more. The students made excellent, thoughtful suggestions, many of which we are considering.

But the real eye-opener for me was in the sharing of their memorable moments at WVU. Student after student, they revealed their pride in WVU, their satisfaction with the education received, their sense that we really do care about them. Out-of-state students offered to help recruit others, wanting to break the stereotypes out there about our state. They patted us on the back for keeping up with technology and for our building program, urging us to keep the pressure on. Several freshmen applauded the sense of community they felt here and the extras like FallFest. They talked about their exceptional professors who were transcending traditional boundaries to strengthen and encourage their intellectual development. Some referred to our research excellence and how fortunate they were to be part of this type of learning environment. Some looked forward to new facilities and programs. I was overwhelmed by their passion. You should know?each one of you in this room?that we have much to cheer about.

Truly, West Virginia University is a student-centered learning community meeting the changing needs of West Virginia and the nation through teaching, research, service, and technology.

The breadth and depth and quality of our work have fostered a spirit which has let to many notable achievements, all of which have grown from our commitment to serve our state and nation.

I have said before that greatness derives from a relative difference, a uniqueness, compared to one?s peers. In enrollment, budget, expansiveness of mission, and capital investment, WVU is the largest higher education institution in West Virginia. But size is not what makes WVU great. Smaller institutions in West Virginia and beyond may also achieve the stature that comes with greatness.

WVU?s greatness is the result of believing in ourselves?and working hard, with unity of purpose, to achieve our goals through quality work and programming. Indeed, many hard-working people have brought WVU to its present level of excellence. I am personally grateful to everyone who has brought us to this point, and I know that the people of West Virginia share this gratitude.

We must never stop expanding and strengthening this fabric of greatness we are weaving. Learning, questioning, creating, fixing, helping, caring?these are threads in our fabric of greatness.

The commitment to excellence and success must continue to guide our every action.

We must cultivate every square inch of our potential.

We must remember that we are unique, and that this is a source of our strength. We must do all things in balance, so that we excel in every area of our mission. For this, too, is a source of strength.

We must do these things to ensure that in the 21st century, West Virginia University will become increasingly an institution of national prominence. By reaching our potential, we will become unquestionably, the University Where Greatness is Learned.