As we march through a month of rapidly changing weather conditions and toward the end of the semester, President Michael T. Benson is filled with Mountaineer spirit.
Dear Colleagues,
I wear a lot of gold and blue these days — the signature colors that signify my pride in my home here at West Virginia University where so much potential is being tapped into each day across our campuses.
As Mountaineers, we outperform our competition, evidenced most recently by the exceptional performance of the women’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament with help from dedicated fans and home court advantage for the first time in 34 years.
What a treat to see so many of you packing the Hope Coliseum and setting a record for attendance on a Saturday afternoon in March!
Find more information about today’s (March 23) sold-out second round game.
We’ve also had a great time celebrating the rifle team, winners of the NCAA Rifle National Championship for the 21st time in program history, including eight championships under Hayhurst Family Head Coach Jon Hammond.
Mountaineer Monday
To keep the momentum going, we’re launching what we’re calling “Mountaineer Monday.” I would encourage those of you on the Morgantown Campus to keep an eye out today (March 23) for Cade Kincaid, our 71st Mountaineer mascot.
Cade will visit the Downtown, Evansdale, and Health Sciences areas of campus with some fun gold and blue giveaways. We’ll be asking for input from faculty, staff, and students as we build on “Mountaineer Monday” this fall.
Day of Giving
This Wednesday (March 25), all of Mountaineer Nation will come together to support the University during the ninth Day of Giving, our annual 24-hour fundraising effort organized by the WVU Foundation. Follow along with the challenges on social media and at dayofgiving.wvu.edu to get involved and support your favorite units.
If you or someone you know is looking for a way to give more broadly, we’re putting a focus on unrestricted scholarship support through the WVU Success Scholarship Fund, which allows for flexibility in meeting the scholarship needs of our students.
Legislative Session
We are so thankful our state leaders continue to invest in higher education.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey has signed a budget that includes an additional $7.7 million for the University’s base state appropriation, along with supplemental funding of $32 million for the WVU School of Medicine and $5 million for the WVU School of Dentistry.
Read more about the state investments.
A number of University-supported bills were also approved by both the state Senate and state House of Delegates before the close of the regular legislative session on Saturday, March 14, in Charleston.
See a complete rundown from the Government Relations team in “Under the Dome.”
Here are some additional updates:
• Later this week, I will head back out on the road for the final leg of our “Welcome Home Tour” across the Mountain State.
After visiting 35 counties, 20 remain: Cabell, Calhoun, Doddridge, Fayette, Hardy, Hampshire, Marion, Mason, Monroe, Morgan, Pocahontas, Putnam, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Wayne, Webster, Wirt, Wyoming, and the University’s home county — Monongalia County, where we’ll close out the tour in an electrifying way.
We’ll visit historical sites, community centers, WVU Medicine locations, and have some fun along the way.
I’ve really enjoyed getting out into the Mountain State’s communities, meeting West Virginians, and seeing the impact this University has on lives each day.
• We’re making calls for “Mountaineer March Madness” — our concentrated recruiting effort which brings together people from across the Morgantown Campus at Blaney House for direct outreach work to admitted students.
We want admitted students to hear from us about how much we’re looking forward to seeing them this fall.
Here is a photo from a recent session.
Kyle Patrick (left) works with others to make calls to admitted students during “Mountaineer March Madness” at Blaney House. (WVU Photo/Jennifer Shephard)
This outreach work will continue during the Decide WVU Open House for admitted students and their families on Saturday, April 11. We all have roles to play in recruiting future Mountaineers.
• I appreciated the opportunity to talk with students at Mountaineer Middle School during a recent visit. After teaching a history class, we took on some of the questions from the Golden Horseshoe exam. No one cares more about their state history than West Virginians and I’ve loved learning about it firsthand these past several months.
• I’ll be returning to the University classrooms this fall with a course focused on World War I. Joining me will be Evan Portman, a graduate instructor in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Department of History. His research interests include German American, Catholic, and Pennsylvania connections to the Civil War.
Though it’s not an official reading assignment, I did give Evan a copy of my book, “Daniel Coit Gilman and the Birth of the American Research University.” Gilman was the first president of Johns Hopkins University, one of the founders of the Association of American Universities, and the father of the modern research university.
Gilman once said, “It is one of the noblest duties of a university to advance knowledge, and to diffuse it not merely among those who can attend the daily lectures — but far and wide.”
Let’s keep these “noblest duties” in mind during the closing weeks of the semester.
Let’s stay focused on working each day to build our understanding of the world and each other.
Let’s generously share what we’ve learned.
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.