In these last days of September, President Michael T. Benson is adding to his growing list of campus visits as we race to the semester’s midpoint.
Dear Colleagues,
Happy Mountaineer Monday! I’m wearing gold and blue today to show my Mountaineer pride and I hope you’re doing the same.
Mountaineer Monday is one of my favorite reminders that our pride is strongest when we share it together.
This fall, we’ll be creating a few special Mountaineer Monday moments across campus designed to celebrate our community, recognize the people who make WVU special, and create new opportunities to connect with one another.
Keep an eye out. You may see Mountaineer Monday showing up in some unexpected ways this semester.
As I said in our State of the University address, we are energized.
This week, we’ll welcome U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Audrey Robertson to campus .
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Beverly Wendland and two of our mining engineering students joined Assistant Secretary Robertson and President Donald Trump in Washington earlier this year to discuss ways to help the nation address shortages in the mining and critical minerals workforce.
Provost Wendland extended an invitation for the Assistant Secretary to visit following that event, and it was quickly accepted.
Wednesday, Sept. 30, is the deadline for applications for proposals for seed funding available through the Johns Hopkins University-WVU Research Collaborative.
Proposals from any field are being considered, but we’re especially encouraging submissions for research projects aligned with institutional strengths across both schools, such as neuroscience and population health research.
Already, we’ve admitted hundreds of students through WVU Express, a pilot program offering direct admissions decisions to qualifying high school seniors in Monongalia County and Kanawha County.
The program eliminates traditional application and application fee requirements for eligible students. Acceptance offers are made through school counselors following evaluations of student academic achievement.
Our goal is to eventually roll out WVU Express to other Mountain State counties.
Here are some additional notes:
• We’ll come together as a University community to look to the future during the Oct. 15 inauguration ceremony at the Canady Creative Arts Center. Our faculty, staff, and students will be represented at the event with a focus on what’s next for West Virginia University. Watch the livestream.
• Thank you to the Department of Forensic and Investigative Science which hosted a tour for members of the Board of Governors and University leadership, showcasing what makes the program a world leader.
• Speaking to the caliber of the work we’re doing each day, WVU is the recipient of two recently announced POWER grants focused on education.
The first is a $1.6 million award for a three-year project from the College of Applied Human Sciences, West Virginia Public Education Collaborative, and the WVU Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative to integrate three complementary pathways to recruit, prepare, place, and retain teachers in schools and communities across West Virginia.
The second is a $2.6 million award to launch the STEAM Innovation Alliance. Led by the PEC’s Technical Assistance Center and WVU Extension, the Alliance will bring middle and high school educators and students, entrepreneurship experts, and community partners together to create new opportunities to connect science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics with entrepreneurship and real-world problem-solving.
• With support from a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award, physicist Subhasish Mandal in the Eberly College will develop computer tools for designing the quantum materials that will be required to build quantum computers and other advanced technologies.
• Earlier this month, I had the honor of introducing U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito during the World Medical Innovation Forum in Boston for a discussion about medical innovation. Sen. Capito has been a stalwart supporter and partner in creating a brighter and healthier future for West Virginia and the nation.
• I appreciated the opportunity to be part of “America’s Rural Future,” an event hosted by the Reed School of Media and Communications. Local journalism is essential to helping communities understand themselves. Our students today are the newsroom staff members of tomorrow.
• I joined the many well-wishers who gathered at the Visitors Center to celebrate Ann Bailey Berry who is now a retiree after 26 years of dedicated service to the University. The roomful of friends, family, and colleagues from across campus and the Mountain State served as a testament to her commitment, positivity, and kindness.
During our “Welcome Home Tour,” I saw Ann’s personal connections with so many people. She is driven by relationships in a way that should serve as inspiration to us all.
It was Marcel Proust who said, “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Let’s invest in our relationships with one another.
Let’s lead with kindness.
Let’s blossom and grow.
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.