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This October, the Adaptive Climbers Festival will gather in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for the fifth year. In 2023, Folkways Reporter Emily Chen-Newton covered the event for Inside Appalachia. Since then, the Adaptive Climbers Festival has grown. Organizers say they’re nearly at capacity, with 300 climbers, caregivers and volunteers. Ahead of the festival, the campground has made accessibility improvements. Volunteers with the ACF have also been sprucing up the trails.
Beverly Wendland will officially join the university's leadership team on July 1.Chris Schulz/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia University is starting off the year by filling a key administrative role.
WVU President Michael Benson announced Thursday Beverly Wendland will serve as the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.
The university’s provost administers all academic affairs, providing oversight for deans, academic programs, student support services, curriculum development, faculty engagement and recruitment, academic budgets, institutional data and accreditation.
Wendland previously served as provost at Washington University in St. Louis, and was the Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University before that.
Beverly Wendland, Provost, at Washington University in St. Louis.
“Beverly is a nationally recognized cell biologist who has served as a faculty member, department chair, dean, and provost during her extensive career, which has also included direct work with large academic medical centers,” Benson said in a press release. “She will bring a scientific mindset to the role of provost and vice president for academic affairs that will complement my work as an historian. This balance will ensure all academic disciplines — from STEM to the arts — are prioritized at the highest levels of leadership as we drive the academic mission of West Virginia University into a new and impactful era.”
Before becoming an administrator, Wendland was a member of the Johns Hopkins faculty for more than 15 years researching the effect of molecular mechanisms on health issues such as heart disease and cancer.
“Serving as provost at West Virginia University is a very meaningful opportunity to help advance a land-grant research institution at a pivotal moment in its historical arc,” Wendland said. “I look forward to partnering with faculty, staff and students to build on the strengths of WVU, support academic excellence across disciplines, and extend the university’s impact for West Virginia and the communities it serves.”
She will officially join Benson’s leadership team on July 1.
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