Governor Appoints New Members To WVU Board Of Governors

Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed Charles Wilfong and Terry Hauser to serve on West Virginia University’s Board of Governors, Tuesday. 

Wilfong and Hauser both operate livestock farms and have years of experience in the agricultural industry. Wilfong has served as president of the West Virginia Farm Bureau since 1997, while Hauser has been an agricultural educator at Preston High School since 2020.

Their appointment fulfills a new requirement that the state’s land-grant universities have one board member with a background in agricultural sciences. 

House Bill 3279 modified the structure of the boards of governors at the state’s public universities in several ways, drawing attention for its removal of voting rights for staff and student members of the boards.

Del. Clay Riley, R-Harrison, a co-sponsor of the bill, said during the regular legislative session the bill’s primary aim is to expand the size of the boards of West Virginia University and West Virginia State University, the state’s land grant universities. 

The bill also removed a board position for the chair of the Institutional Board of Visitors for the WVU Institute of Technology, a position held by Paul Mattox.

Morrisey reappointed Mattox – the longest-serving Transportation Secretary and Highways Commissioner in state history – to a new seat on the WVU Board of Governors.