On the third floor of Reynolds Hall at West Virginia University, real-world challenges are the curriculum.
The problems arriving in the room are pressing and practical. A small business owner trying to stitch together three systems just to send an invoice. A nonprofit leader buried in operations with little time left for the mission. A state office racing a federal deadline and trying to get it right.
Students in Data Driven WV aren’t working through classroom hypotheticals. They’re solving complex problems, the kind most organizations don’t have the time, staff or resources to solve on their own.
“The work we’re doing is what real jobs out there are made of,” said Joshua Meadows, executive director of Data Driven WV and service assistant professor in the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics. “I never want a student to have the knowledge and the skills and still struggle to land a job. I want them to have experiences they can talk about. Those are the kinds of experiences we’re creating with students every single day.”
That idea powers Data Driven WV, an outreach center housed in the Chambers College that’s part consulting arm, part talent pipeline.
Students, guided by faculty and staff, take on applied analytics and technology projects for partners across the state and beyond and they leave the program with more than a line on a resume. They leave with real experience and stories — the kind that actually hold up in an interview.