When Robert Simpson was a young man growing up in Charleston, he never thought he would spend the rest of his life here.
In fact, he thought he'd end up anywhere else but here. Maybe he'd spend his life in Chicago, or maybe down somewhere in the Carolinas. It's not that he didn't like his home state, he just figured there were bigger, better and more exciting things out there for him in the world.
He's singing a different tune now.
"I think, too often, we see less than flattering things written or spoken about West Virginia, and we internalize it. I just don't believe in that. I think we have a pretty special place here with pretty special people, and I'm a very optimistic person. I just don't buy into the victim mentality."
So, in a later stage of Simpson's career, he's looking to change those perceptions.
Marshall University in June named Simpson the interim dean of its Lewis College of Business, replacing Haiyang Chen who returned to his faculty position in the college's department of finance and economics.
When Simpson took the job as interim dean, Marshall University President Jerome Gilbert told him the position would only last a year while the school searches for a full-time replacement. While Simpson holds down the fort, the school will conduct a national search for someone to permanently fill that position.
That hasn't stopped Simpson from dreaming big.
He wants to increase the school's enrollment, make sure every student walks away with a job, get a new building for the school and increase the school's relationship with the Huntington and greater tri-state community.
"We need a fresh and invigorated connection with the community. I think we can be a very positive force for economic development in the area," Simpson said. "I just thought we have a lot of opportunities we're missing."
Simpson said it's not that the school has intentionally drifted away from the community; it's just that as faculty members balance research, teaching classes and doing their service to the school, it's easy for everyone's time to get swallowed up.
Can he do it all in a year? Probably not, he admits. But when his year as interim president runs out, he won't hit the trail and never look back. He plans to stay on and volunteer for the college so he can watch it grow through the years.
"I just got to the point where I didn't want to finish my career doing the same thing I had done the whole time," he said. "I loved what I was doing, but I just got restless for another challenge."
Simpson was a bright student at Stonewall Jackson High School. He went on to study at Ohio's Miami University, at Chicago's Northwestern University and at Ohio State University. The world was a lot bigger than what he imagined it to be. Sure, West Virginia was a nice place to live for a while, but he left the state and never planned to move back.
The world wasn't exactly as he imagined it would be. It was exciting, sure, but he missed his family.
He came back to West Virginia to work as a certified public accountant in the 1970s and he's been here ever since. He founded his own firm here, in fact, and it went on to merge with Dixon Hughes Goodman. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he always assumed he'd want to someday go back to college and teach.
Just like growing up in West Virginia, Simpson wasn't in love with Marshall University at first sight. He came to the school in 2011 to teach about federal income tax. He loved the students, the classroom and all the extracurricular activities the school had going on.
Somewhere along the way, he fell in love with the school itself.
All good love affairs must come to an end, though. Simpson thought he'd leave Marshall University at the end of the spring semester in May. He had walked away from the school, ready to start another chapter of his life and spend more time with his family.
If someone asks him if he'd like to stay on full-time as dean of the college, he's tempted, but only for a few moments.
"I'm very eager to help [Marshall University] put long-term leadership in place," Simpson said.
Reach Jake Jarvis at jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-7939 or follow @NewsroomJake on Twitter.