In this season of gratitude, President Michael T. Benson is finding many reasons to be thankful.
Dear Faculty and Staff,
As I gather with my family this Thanksgiving, we will be counting our many blessings.
In the first few months of my tenure, I am very thankful for all the people who have supported my team and me as we lead this University into its next exciting chapters.
I am also very grateful for the opportunity to wear the “Flying WV” and work in service to the Mountain State.
And I am thankful for memory-making Mountaineer traditions.
You, your family, and friends are invited to join the entire University community as we light Woodburn Hall for the first time in more than a decade to mark the start of the holiday season.
Festivities for the Woodburn Hall Lighting begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, with live music plus cocoa and cookies. A short program with the official lighting starts at 6:30 p.m.
Please make plans to join us as we spread the holiday spirit from Woodburn Circle thanks to generous support from our community partners — Huntington Bank and Northeast Natural Energy.
Read about the history of this beloved event.
While it is a joyful season for many, I understand that this time of year can be tough on others for a multitude of reasons.
As a reminder, the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program is a free, confidential service offered to all University employees and their dependents. Find more information.
The Rack: WVU Student Food Pantry, which recently expanded its services to faculty and staff during the government shutdown, is always in need of donations. Those wanting to give ahead of Thanksgiving are encouraged to do so before Wednesday (Nov. 19) as part of the Racksgiving Food Drive.
Donations can be dropped off at the Morgan House location during regular operating hours, purchased through The Rack’s Amazon Wish List, or made monetarily.
Students who will be staying in the Morgantown area during the fall recess also have until Wednesday (Nov. 19) to request Thanksgiving meal supplies by contacting The Rack.
As the days get shorter and we move into the final weeks of 2025, there are many reasons for us to be incredibly optimistic.
We now have a clear path forward for this University. The Strategic Compass — reflecting input from across the University community — is now available and I’m asking all of you for help in putting it into action.
As we shift from strategic envisioning to operational planning, we’ll be looking to you to help us turn ideas into action by identifying strategic actions and initiatives that will position the University to be successful today and into the future.
I’m pleased to announce that we’ve received our first contribution to the innovation initiative — $50,000 from Rick Wagener — as we build up this seed funding to support ideas from faculty, staff, and students, and work toward implementation of our plan.
The Strategic Compass includes five priorities of education, discovery, health, service, and experiences that are united by six guiding principles centered on “Let’s Go!” — the University’s rallying cry.
L — Lead with pride.
E — Empower through education.
T — Transform lives.
S — Stake our claim.
G — Grow our reach.
O — Outperform our competition.
The following people have been asked to serve as leads for each priority area:
Education: Paul Kreider, interim provost;
Discovery: Ming Lei, interim vice president, Research Office; senior associate vice president, Health Sciences Center Office of Research and Graduate Education; vice dean of research, School of Medicine;
Health: Dr. Clay Marsh, chancellor and executive dean, Health Sciences;
Service: Jorge Atiles, associate vice president and dean, Division for Land-Grant Engagement, and Fabrizio D’Aloisio, vice president, Enrollment Management;
Experiences: Gary Furbee, vice president, Student Life, and Wren Baker, vice president and director, Athletics.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be focused on the development of institutional measurement and implementation plans — work that will shift to the college and unit levels in the new year. I look forward to all of us working together on this.
Here are a few additional updates:
• Thanks to the hard work of everyone across campus, we were able to report a record retention rate for the Morgantown Campus — 85.1% — during the Nov. 7 meeting of the Board of Governors. Across the WVU System, first-time freshman enrollment is up by more than 7%.
• Recently, I joined several colleagues from our campus in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. APLU works to advance the mission of public research universities and, through its advocacy arm, helps shape federal policy in support of public and land-grant universities like this one.
• I’ve also loved welcoming prospective students as they, in some cases, arrive on the Morgantown Campus by the busload from high schools that include North Marion, East Fairmont and Brooke. This past Saturday’s (Nov. 15) Discover WVU event drew hundreds of potential future Mountaineers and their families.
• Our student-athletes are doing amazing things in their respective competitions this fall. It is so fun to cheer on the gold and blue at Milan Puskar Stadium, the Hope Coliseum, Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, and wherever they may be. The first WVU team to compete in the fall season for a national championship will be our women’s cross country team this Saturday (Nov. 22) in Missouri.
• Kudos to all those who helped put on the inaugural Mountain State Cyber Summit, an event that included the announcement of WVU Cyber — bringing various types of cyber-related research and study across the WVU System under one umbrella. This University is truly leading the way in the cyber space and I was delighted to address the hundreds who attended last week.
• Finally, I had an absolute blast asking students trivia questions while traveling on the PRT to mark the people mover’s 50th anniversary. Watch the video and check out my cool “Ride of the Future” shirt.
Whether advocating for our important work alongside our peers, singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” to celebrate a win, or standing up while moving at a speed of 33 mph on a transit system that’s been running for more than five decades as a testament to the Mountaineer spirit, we’re truly going places at WVU.
Let’s Go!
Michael T. Benson
President and Professor of History
West Virginia University
The Benson Connection is a regular ENews column for faculty and staff from the University’s 27th president.