Although the presidents of Bluefield State College and Concord University have agreed to collaborate with West Virginia University to serve students, they still have concerns about the planned move of the WVU Institute of Technology.
"They say it's only 40 miles," Concord University President Kendra Boggess said of the distance from Montgomery to Beckley. "But it's 40 miles closer to us."
In a voice vote Friday with no nays heard, members of the state Higher Education Policy Commission agreed to let WVU offer programs in Beckley that duplicate or appear to duplicate some of those already offered in the area by Bluefield and Concord. Those schools currently provide classes at the Erma Byrd Higher Education Center in the nearby community of Beaver.
The vote - one of several at the HEPC meeting, including approvals of the new presidents of Marshall, Shepherd and West Liberty universities - enables HEPC Chancellor Paul Hill to let WVU offer classes in Beckley, something he said he plans to approve.
The only HEPC members absent Friday were Butch Pennington and Michael Martirano, the state superintendent of K-12 schools. The 10-member board has one vacancy, HEPC spokeswoman Jessica Tice said.
After offering early this year to buy the former Mountain State University campus in Beckley, WVU finalized its $8 million purchase in June. In September, WVU officials approved moving the WVU Tech campus from Montgomery, where it's been for more than 120 years. The September vote confirmed the fears of many Montgomery residents who didn't want to see their college leave, but also fueled concerns among other colleges already struggling with enrollment in Southern West Virginia.
The new campus, according to HEPC documents, would be called WVU at Beckley, Home of the Institute of Technology. It plans to start offering a limited number of courses next fall and a "full catalog" in 2017.
Boggess, who said Concord has 2,500 students and Bluefield has 1,500, noted that WVU at Beckley's 3,000-student enrollment goal - including on-campus and online pupils - is above the current 1,200 enrollment in Montgomery. She wondered how WVU can do that without taking students from other schools in the area.
WVU Provost Joyce McConnell said the Beckley campus will aim for a 50/50 split of in-state and out-of-state students, just like the main campus in Morgantown.
Bluefield State College President Marsha Krotseng expressed concerns to the HEPC about the scarcity of slots in area hospitals for nursing students to do the clinical work required for graduation. She also noted an overlap in engineering courses between her school and WVU Tech.
Regardless of those issues, Krotseng said, the three institutions came to a collaboration agreement this week.
"As West Virginia University relocates the Institute of Technology campus from Montgomery to Beckley, it is understood the faculty, staff, and administration at West Virginia University respect the history, uniqueness, autonomy, and integrity of academic programs at Bluefield State College and Concord University," the agreement reads.
The agreement, which Boggess called a "beginning point," says details are still being refined, but the discussion will include allowing Bluefield and Concord students to use WVU's Beckley campus library, and allowing the schools to share faculty members to teach courses.
Regarding possibly duplicative programs, the agreement also states WVU has said it will keep the focus of its Beckley criminal justice program on forensics and its computer science program on engineering, among other requirements. It also says WVU plans to continue putting most of its clinical placements from the Tech campus in the Charleston area. It says additional discussions, and possibly an external review, are needed regarding the overlap between the engineering programs of Tech and Bluefield.
Also Friday, the HEPC approved, in voice votes with no nays, hiring Jerome Gilbert as Marshall University's president, Mary Hendrix as Shepherd's president and Stephen Greiner as West Liberty's president. The boards of governors of each institution previously approved their hires.
Tice said Hill hadn't yet given his required signature on any of the contracts as of late Friday afternoon, but said the commission had reviewed the documents - which would grant Gilbert $430,000 a year and Greiner a $215,000 annual base salary. Shepherd didn't provide Hendrix's contract Friday, noting it hadn't been finalized.
The HEPC also approved a two-year contract extension for Hill himself. He is expected to maintain his roughly $227,000 annual salary.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1254, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.