Fairmont State University Story Archives - Page 2 of 5

Park On Fairmont State Campus Receives National Recognition

The National Wildlife Federation recently certified Falcon Park at Fairmont State University as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.

The National Wildlife Federation recently certified Falcon Park at Fairmont State University as a Certified Wildlife Habitat for providing habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife using sustainable practices.

A 7.9-acre green space established in 2021, the Falcon Park project is an ongoing effort led by Assistant Professor of Outdoor Recreation Jan Kiger.

“For my courses, I teach everything outdoors,” she said. “In that process, I connected the idea to another class that I teach, the foundation outdoor recreation class, and every module that we went through in the class, we kind of looked at the idea of a park on campus.”

Kiger said with more than a mile of trails, campfire areas and a yurt, the space is a boon for her program, but also for architecture, forensics and the broader community’s mental health.

“Just providing a green space that’s accessible, safe and just, you don’t even feel like you’re on a college campus when you’re in the woods,” Kiger said. “I’m hoping that more people will come to the park and have that kind of experience and become stewards of the outdoors. We accept volunteers from all aspects of the community.”

Kiger said she is working on expanding the park’s trail system to include a rope guided sensory trail for people with blindness or low vision.

State Board Of Ed Updated On Foster Care Program, Berkeley County State Of Emergency

50 students in foster care are expected to begin dual enrollment classes at Fairmont State University (FSU) in the coming weeks, under a new program designed to address academic deficiencies and other needs.

Fifty students in foster care are expected to begin dual enrollment classes at Fairmont State University (FSU) in the coming weeks, under a new program designed to address academic deficiencies and other needs.

Announced in March, the Middle College at FSU will offer free dual enrollment for all West Virginia juniors and seniors in foster care.

The West Virginia Board of Education heard at its monthly meeting Wednesday that the college is prepared in the coming weeks to welcome the program’s first 50 students to campus.

The Middle College Program is the culmination of a partnership between FSU, Marion County Schools, KVC West Virginia and the West Virginia Schools of Diversion and Transition.

Enrolled students will reside at FSU and, over two years, will earn their high school diplomas. Additionally, each will exit Middle College with 60 college credit hours for the completion of an associate degree. Students may then pursue pathways to employment, enlistment or education with the skills and confidence of the general school population.

Diana Phillips, provost of FSU, thanked the board for their support of the program. She said students will live on campus full time.

“They will be living on our campus 365 days out of the year,” Phillips said “We have a residence hall that is dedicated just to the Middle College population. It will be staffed with counselors and the dean of the Middle College will be resident in that residence hall. Students will be in a safe, stable environment, their basic needs will be taken care of and they’ll be able to focus on their education, which we know is the most important thing.”

Donna Heston, superintendent of Marion County Schools, said the county has dealt with the logistics of having high school students on a college campus before. She said part of the appeal of the Middle College’s structure is the shared responsibility of support across program partners.

“The other thing that was appealing with this pilot is that there are supports in place, supports that are not falling upon the school system to provide for mental health needs,” Heston said. “The expertise is there for it. Also there are supports there with instruction. We did not have to add any staff to do this.”

Heston said the interview process has revealed concerns and challenges unique to the foster care system.

“The stories are challenging that these students bring to the table in the foster care program,” she said. “They are advocating for themselves. They are bringing strong potential to this program. It also helps us realize the supports that some students are not receiving and are not able to advocate for themselves. That gives us an opportunity to involve our alternative education program and hear their voice that they’ve been experiencing for years. We’re blessed to have this opportunity.”

Nonprofit child welfare organization and program partner KVC West Virginia says they are already onboarding mental health professionals and tutors who will work with students on campus.

Martinsburg North Middle School Update

The board approved the Corrective Action Plan for a Berkeley County Middle School during its June meeting today.

The board placed Martinsburg North Middle School under a State of Emergency last month after a Targeted School Environment Assessment (TSEA) conducted by the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) identified conditions that threaten a safe and productive learning environment for children. The proposed plan will assist county leaders in addressing areas that led to the State of Emergency.

In April a WVDE team visited the middle school to conduct the TSEA. The assessment was prompted by behavior data reported in the West Virginia Education Information System (WVEIS) and achievement scores which continued to lag significantly below state averages (among other issues).

Among the plan requirements, county and school leadership will:

Develop a multi-tiered discipline plan with appropriate supports and interventions
Set clear and consistent processes for supporting and managing student behaviors
Examine and maximize instructional time for improved student outcomes
Provide professional learning to improve instruction
Provide a mentor for instructional leadership

Paul Hardesty, president of the board, said the superintendent of Berkeley County was set up for failure when he was given a one-year contract. Hardesty said it is not an isolated incident, with 19 new superintendents last year across the state, many also on one-year contracts

”Any county that gives somebody a one-year contract, you’ve set that person up for complete failure. There is no way he can win. There’s no way he can succeed,” he said. “You have set him up for failure the day you hired him. If you give someone a two-year contract, you probably gave him a 50-50 shot at succeeding. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the CEO you’re hiring for a multi-million-dollar corporation. You give him one year, he got to know the lay of the land. He can’t put his stuff in place. They’ve done this gentleman a terrible injustice.”

Superintendent Evaluation

The board also evaluated the job performance of Superintendent of Schools Michele L. Blatt as, “outstanding in all areas of the evaluation.” The board evaluated the superintendent annually; Blatt was appointed to the position in June 2023.

New President Officially Sworn In At Fairmont State, Weighs In On Goals And Campus Carry

Fairmont State University inaugurated its new president Thursday. Mike Davis has held the position since last July, but he was formally invested as president Thursday evening, formally conferring the authority and symbols of the office to him.

Fairmont State University inaugurated its new president Thursday.

Mike Davis has held the position since last July, but he was formally invested as president Thursday evening, formally conferring the authority and symbols of the office to him.

Fairmont State University President Mike Davis.

*Photo Courtesy of Fairmont State University*

“It’s interesting that we do inaugurations after the President has been at a place for a particular amount of time, partially so they can get a sense of what the campus and the community in the state are like,” he said. “It’s pretty typical, but it’s actually interesting. This is the one year anniversary of my first round interview here at Fairmont State.”

Davis said he has spent the past nine months getting to know the university’s campus and staff. He is now leading the creation of a 10-year strategic plan for the university, set to be released in fall 2024.

“I think there’s different models of being a university president and mine is very much relying on the expertise of the people who work on my campus,” Davis said. “The past nine months have been figuring out where that expertise lies on campus, where people may not have been empowered in the past to utilize their expertise. And then what are gaps where we might have to hire some people or help people develop on our campus?”

He notes programs like aviation, surveying, nursing and education — where academics meet real world experience — as opportunities for growth and improvement.

“That’s what we’re going to look at more of, how do we create more of those hands-on opportunities for our students because our faculty are already great at the academic pieces, and they’re very good at the hands-on pieces,” Davis said. “We’re gonna find ways to augment those sorts of opportunities for our students.”

Davis comes into the leadership role just as the state’s campus carry law takes effect this summer. He said the short timespan for implementation, compounded by his new ascendance to leadership, makes the process frustrating, but that the university is moving forward.

“Part of how we enact this is not just what we do, but how we talk about it,” Davis said. “It was the most common question I got during my interview, ‘What do you think about campus carry?’ It’s the law, we’re gonna follow the law. I actually don’t think it materially will change many of the things we’re doing on campus. But I think how we talk to each other about it, how we treat each other, if you want to carry a firearm on campus, you’re now legally allowed to, but if people feel unsafe about that, let’s not rub it in their face, let’s not make them feel more unsafe than they do.”

Davis said there are days he still cannot believe he has the opportunity to lead a university, and Thursday’s ceremony is an opportunity to celebrate.

“It’s definitely a humbling experience to get to stand up there today and talk about who we are, who we’re going to be and how people have helped me get to where I am.”

Fairmont State University Announces Free Dual Enrollment For Students In Foster Care

The Middle College at Fairmont State will offer free dual enrollment for all West Virginia juniors and seniors in foster care.

A new program at Fairmont State University will focus on helping students in foster care.

The Middle College at Fairmont State will offer free dual enrollment for all West Virginia juniors and seniors in foster care.

Gov. Jim Justice was joined by several stakeholders in Charleston Thursday morning to announce the program.

“Our foster children have been dealt enough bad hands, enough tough stuff,” he said “Now, we can say to them, ‘You come, come one and all.’ Not only do you come but we’re going to begin educating you even before you’re maybe old enough…Not only that, we’re gonna do it for free. How’s it get any better?”

Diana Phillips, provost of Fairmont State, said the program will be made possible through a broad reaching partnership between her university, the Department of Education, the Department of Human Services and the nonprofit child welfare organization KVC West Virginia.

“It takes all of us coming together to support these students and to create an initiative like this in the state of West Virginia, the first of its kind in the United States and that deserves all of the support and all of the initiative, all of the hard work that people are bringing to bear for this,” Phillips said.

Students in the program will be able to earn an associate degree while finishing high school and go on to complete their bachelor’s degree in two years. Philips said the program has been in the works since she met with Brent Lemon, KVC’s president, two years ago.

“We have been working on this together with Fairmont State for two years, but it’s been wrapped up here for about eight years now,” Lemon said, pointing to his head. “I can’t even verbalize how happy I am to see this day come.”

FSU Receives Federal Funds For Aviation Program

The Aviation Center for Excellence at Fairmont State University will receive $270,000 from the Department of Education to purchase equipment.

The funds were acquired via a Congressionally Directed Spending request by Senator Joe Manchin through the Fiscal Year 2023 funding bill.

Fairmont State offers a variety of aviation related bachelor’s degrees and is West Virginia’s only Part 141 FAA certified school offering programs in Aviation Administration & Professional Flight.

In recent years schools around the state, including Marshall and Shepherd Universities, have created more aviation programs in response to a workforce shortage in the aviation industry.

In 2020, 3,600 West Virginians were employed in the aviation industry with an average salary of $78,000.

Fairmont State BOG Votes To End President’s Contract Early

Just one day after Fairmont State University President Mirta Martin announced she would not renew her contract with the school at the end of the year, the school’s board of governors met and voted to end it even earlier.

Updated on Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 12:30 p.m.

Fairmont State University’s Board of Governors (BOG) voted Wednesday afternoon to end its contract with President Mirta Martin – months earlier than what was first announced by the university president.

Just one day after Martin announced she would not renew her contract with the school at the end of the year, the school’s board of governors met and voted to end it even earlier.

Martin’s contract will now end on July 18, rather than Dec. 28, which was when her contract was initially set to end.

The vote by the board was not unanimous, according to a news release. Staff representative Jon Dodds and student representative Maiya Bennett voted against ending Martin’s contract.

Fairmont’s BOG Chairman David Goldberg abstained from the vote.

“Fairmont State University has a longstanding history of strong and transformative leadership,” Goldberg said. “Each of our 26 presidents has left a unique and distinct mark on the Falcon family and President Martin is no different. Through her passionate and energetic leadership, Dr. Martin achieved all of the goals set before her by the board.”

The board also voted to transfer all presidential powers and responsibilities to current Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dianna Phillips. The BOG said it will immediately launch a national presidential search.

Martin served as president of the university for almost five years and said she began to consider her decision to leave over the winter holiday. She said while the choice “was a tough and emotional decision to make,” she thinks it’s the right one for her and the university.

“I am so incredibly blessed to have already served in this role for nearly five years. During this time, Fairmont has become my home, and the Falcon family, my family,” Martin said in a campus-wide email on Tuesday. “It is an honor and an absolute privilege to serve all of you. It is also my honor to serve this institution and the state of West Virginia as your president, as president of the Council of Presidents, and as president of the Board of the Mountain East Conference.”

While Martin has received some criticism for her leadership on social media, the school’s board praised work completed while under her leadership.

“[Fairmont State University] has returned to a strong financial position,” Goldberg said. “More than 36 certificate, major, minor or concentrations at the undergraduate and graduate levels have been created and enrollment is trending up for the fall semester. As we look ahead to the future, the board stands ready to ensure a continuity of leadership and support for our students, faculty and staff.”

Original Post by the Associated Press:

Fairmont State University President Mirta Martin plans to step down from her position later this year.

Martin, who was named president in 2018, said in a letter Tuesday that she won’t seek an extension of her contract when it ends in December, news outlets reported.

She told WV News that she made the decision recently after months of reflection and conversations with family. She said she felt she had “achieved the goals that were set for me when I arrived and that I set for the university.”

Financial stability and sustainability have been restored, the school has successfully emerged from the coronavirus pandemic and it has stronger ties to the community, Martin said.

“I’ve acted in the best interest of our students and this institution always, and we’ve established programs of distinction that have made us a destination,” she said.

Martin said she would help make a smooth transfer to the next president.

Fairmont State University Board of Governors Chair David Goldberg thanked Martin for her service and said the panel would meet to review her letter and decide on next steps.