Community Bulletin
Women's health care is available close to home at four central West Virginia clinics through Vandalia Health — the not-for-profit founded by the Davis family more than a century ago, whose Foundation still funds local scholarships and programs. Read more →
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Bringing together Mountaineer history, family and possibility, West Virginia University President Michael T. Benson called on the university community to “show why WVU matters” following his formal investiture as the 27th president of West Virginia’s flagship, land-grant, R1 higher education institution.
“Today, we mark our fresh start at West Virginia University as our work begins, in earnest, to become the model for the new public American research university,” Benson said during his Oct. 15 inauguration ceremony at the Canady Creative Arts Center, which coincided with Homecoming.
“We must be bold. Now is not the time to shrink our ambitions. Instead, we must allow our ambitions to reflect our true capabilities.”
Joining Benson, his wife, Debi, three of his five children and other relatives, along with university students, faculty and staff, were West Virginia elected officials, WVU Board of Governors members, university leaders, representatives from other universities and colleges (including Johns Hopkins University), former WVU President David Hardesty and former WVU First Lady Susan Hardesty; and Benson’s predecessor, former WVU President Gordon Gee and former WVU First Lady Laurie Erickson.
“In Michael T. Benson, we have found a University chief executive officer who brings vital experience, energy, accessibility, and authenticity to the role at a pivotal time in our history,” said Robert “Rusty” Hutson Jr., chair of the WVU Board of Governors.
“With grit, determination, and skill, we’re counting on you to win for West Virginia,” he told Benson.
Joining Hutson, Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Chief Justice C. Haley Bunn, a two-time university graduate, presided over the formal installation.
“President Benson, to you and your team — working in close collaboration with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters here in West Virginia and around the world — we entrust to you the building of the future of West Virginia University,” Bunn said.
The ceremony was held more than a year after Benson’s start date.
“I wanted to ensure that, when we marked this occasion, we had a clear understanding of where we are, guided by a vision of where we are going with institutional ambition, energy, and action,” Benson, a professor in the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Department of History, said.
“Roads move people. Power grids move energy. Broadband moves information. West Virginia University — as a research university — moves knowledge, talent, technology, and opportunity.”
Adam James, a three-time WVU graduate and construction manager for WVU Planning, Design and Construction who won a WVU Impact Award for his work on the Woodburn Lighting project, said both he and Benson are builders.
“At Woodburn Hall, he saw what restoring a tradition could mean for generations of Mountaineers and trusted people across the University and community to make it happen,” James said while speaking as a representative of university staff.
“That is the future I hope we keep building: a WVU where students from anywhere find both an open door and the support to succeed; where staff have the trust and opportunity to contribute their ideas; and where our traditions make room for the next generation.”
Maura McLaughlin, Eberly Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, chair of the Eberly College Department of Physics and Astronomy and the first university researcher to be selected for the National Academy of Sciences, highlighted Benson’s emphasis on academic discovery.
“There is tremendous value, and in my experience tremendous joy, in knowledge for knowledge’s sake. A great university should be a place where discoveries are made, where ideas are born, and where our students learn that they can be the people who make them,” McLaughlin said while speaking as a faculty representative.
“That’s the future that really excites me, and I think we have all the ingredients we need. We have extraordinary faculty and staff. We have amazing students. We have a state that needs us and a mission worth believing in. And now we have leadership that can help us see both the forest and the trees and chart a path through them.”
Colin Street, a senior majoring in political science, environmental and energy resource management and multidisciplinary studies, Student Government Association president and Udall Scholar from Morgantown, spoke as the student representative.
“Over the past year, I’ve learned a lot from President Benson and the team tasked with leading WVU through the era of change we face today. They know the path ahead will be full of twists and turns, but they bring a level of cohesiveness and competency we will undoubtedly need to navigate the moment ahead,” Street said.
“They understand that WVU isn’t just any university. It’s the provider of life-changing healthcare, the home of traditions that bind generations of families together, and the steward of a promise that lends hope and opportunity to a place that needs it most.”
In his first year, Benson oversaw the development of the Strategic Compass, an established framework to guide the university’s direction, priorities and decisions. Ceremony attendees included representatives from each of the five priority areas: Education, Discovery, Health, Service and Experiences.
For Education, school officials from Monongalia and Kanawha counties were on hand to highlight WVU Express, a new direct admissions program. Students and faculty with the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics Applied AI and Data Analytics program represented Discovery. For Health, Cooper Sampson, the Suncrest Middle School student and WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s patient who helped light the Water Tower to close Benson’s 55-county “Welcome Home Tour,” attended. Representatives from Lewis County Schools and WVU Jackson’s Mill served as examples for Service, with the site now providing temporary educational space for students from Robert L. Bland Middle School following flooding. And Experiences were exemplified by students and staff with Adventure WV.
Benson also announced plans for a Mountaineer mascot sculpture that will be placed in front of the Canady Creative Arts Center. Jeff Fetty, a sculptor based in Roane County, is the artist for the project. Funding support is being provided by the state’s natural gas industry, led by Mike John, a WVU alum who is the founder, president and CEO of Northeast Natural Energy.
Now in his 25th year as a university president, Benson is focused on the future.
“By the time my tenure as president ends, my goal is to see West Virginia University serving as a model of a successful modern public research university — a University built on trust, our land-grant mission, human learning, place, regional relevance, and wide-ranging research, an institution which makes a positive impact in the lives of West Virginians every single day,” Benson said.
“Our fresh start is today. The work to take West Virginia University to places it’s never been before begins right now.”
Watch the inauguration, including Benson’s address, at the Canady Creative Arts Center.
