A five-year contract extension has been approved for West Virginia State University’s president.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports President Anthony L. Jenkins’ new contract goes into effect July 1 and ends in 2023. The contract was approved Friday by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. He was first hired on a two-year contract in July 2016.
A university release says additional compensation based on performance is included in the contract and will be paid by the West Virginia State University Foundation. It says Jenkins annual base salary will increase from $235,000 to $255,000.
The commission also approved a five-year contract extension on Friday for Shepherd University President Mary Hendrix. The contract extension raises her annual base salary from $271,000 to around $284,000.
Generation West Virginia’s local Eastern Panhandle chapter hosted a panel discussion at Shepherd University Thursday night with four young locals who decided to stay in West Virginia to build their careers.
Those four local business owners shared why they made the decision to remain in West Virginia. The biggest driver for all of them was the sense of community. But also, because they found opportunity here in their chosen career path.
One of the speakers, Aneesh Sompalli, graduated from Martinsburg High School in 2006 and went on to study at both West Virginia University and Shepherd. He now manages an urgent care in Jefferson County.
“You have to have some kind of training or apprenticeship, whether that’s the traditional route of school or a vocational school, but there are jobs out there for people,” he said.
Sompali argues the state needs to put more focus on education to further diversify the economy and to keep young people here.
In the statehouse, a bill to make community and technical colleges free or more affordable after meeting certain qualifications has been moving rapidly through the legislative process.
According to the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, three in-demand career paths in West Virginia that may only require a degree from a CTC are in healthcare, IT, and manufacturing fields.
Monte Cater is retiring as Shepherd University’s head football coach after 31 seasons. Shepherd became an NCAA Division II school in the mid-90s, not long after Cater began his career at the school in 1987.
“It’s been very, very rewarding, and we’ve had some success,” Cater noted.
That success includes 245 wins, 93 losses, and one tie. Cater led the Shepherd Rams to 17 conference titles and 13 postseason appearances, including a national runner-up finish in 2015. His teams had six undefeated regular seasons.
Cater attributes that success to the quality of his staff and students, but also to continuity when recruiting players.
“You go into those high schools, they’re used to seeing that familiar face, and if they’ve sent you players before, they trust ya; that continuity has made a big difference, and you get a tradition going, and players come here because we’ve had a chance to be in the hunt most years,” he said.
Cater is the all-time winningest coach in West Virginia Conference and Mountain East Conference history.
Longtime assistant coach Ernie McCook has been named Cater’s replacement. Cater says McCook has been at Shepherd for 18 years and will do well as head football coach.
Shepherd University hosted an event Monday exploring the possibility of more efficient ways for universities, industry, government, and scientific researchers to work together to combat the opioid epidemic. And a recent public opinion survey indicates West Virginians want to see the state be a leader on this issue.
The survey, conducted by Research!America in partnership with Zogby Analytics, was presented at Shepherd’s event – “West Virginia Research and Innovation: A Catalyst for Better Health and Economic Growth.”
The two-hour event focused on ways the state’s universities can partner with companies, researchers, and other professionals to effectively address the state’s overwhelming opioid crisis.
Several speakers, including Shepherd University President Mary Hendrix, pointed out how investing in education is the key to making real headway in the epidemic. She also pointed to partnerships between universities and big research companies – like the data and analytic giant Elsevier.
Brad Fenwick is the Senior Vice President for Global Strategic Alliances with Elsevier. He argues partnerships between universities and companies like his can make a big difference when dealing with complex issues like the opioid epidemic.
“Those partnerships, by having the intelligence and the time to think about those types of things, and then the support from government, and then the ability to apply that knowledge through industry, just, our experience, makes things happen, as opposed to any one of those bits of the triple helix doing it on their own,” Fenwick said.
President and CEO of Research!America Mary Woolley says the survey her nonprofit conducted found West Virginians lead the nation in wanting to see more health research – and that they think it’s a wise investment of tax dollars.
“West Virginians are even more sure that we’ve got to make more progress faster and use resources to get there,” Woolley noted, “I think that’s probably because West Virginians are living up-close and personal with very tough health challenges right now.”
Some of the research showed that 70 percent of West Virginian’s strongly agree opioids are being overprescribed and creating a barrier to combating the epidemic, and 43 percent want to see more federal funding for STEM education. 47 percent strongly support more funding for research to understand and treat addiction. But only 27 percent strongly support the use of overdose reversing drugs like Narcan.
Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito also attended the event. Both encouraged West Virginians to reach out to them and say what’s working on the federal level and what isn’t when dealing with the opioid crisis.
Author Wiley Cash is the 2017 Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence at Shepherd University. His newest novel The Last Ballad will be released October 3. Cash sat down with reporter Liz McCormick to discuss his latest work, which centers on union leader and balladeer Ella May Wiggins, who died during the Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina in 1929.
Cash received this year’s Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Award, which is presented by the West Virginia Center for the book and Shepherd University.
Cash’s first novel A Land More Kind Than Home, published in 2012, was chosen as the 2017 ‘One Book, One West Virginia’s Common Read for the State’ by the Center for the Book. Cash is also author of This Dark Road to Mercy, published in 2014.
Cash was born September 7, 1977, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He holds a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina, Asheville, an M.A. from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and a Ph.D. from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.
He is a teacher in the Mountainview Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University, and he currently serves as writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.
Cash lives with his wife and two young daughters in Wilmington, North Carolina.
If you live in the Shepherdstown area and are a fan of NPR and West Virginia Public Broadcasting, you now have a new way to listen!NPR's "Morning Edition"…
If you live in the Shepherdstown area and are a fan of NPR and West Virginia Public Broadcasting, you now have a new way to listen!
NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “Mountain Stage” can now be heard on Shepherd University’s radio station, 89.7 FM WSHC, thanks to an agreement between Shepherd and West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB).
WSHC, which serves Jefferson and Berkeley counties, is an alternative music station produced by-and-for students on weekdays and offers an eclectic lineup on weekends produced by members of the local community. General manager Mike McGough said adding “Morning Edition” to the WSHC program schedule benefits the Shepherd community.
Coverage map for WSHC 89.7 FM, which will now simulcast WVPB programming for part of the day.
“‘Morning Edition’ has grown into the nation’s leading radio news program,” McGough said. “Having the show on our campus radio station helps set a standard of excellence for the Shepherd students who comprise WSHC’s staff.”
Scott Finn, CEO and executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said the ability to simulcast some programming on WSHC helps solve the problem WVPB has reaching Eastern Panhandle listeners through the state’s mountainous terrain.
“For many years, West Virginia Public Broadcasting and Shepherd University have partnered to bring Eastern Panhandle news to the rest of the state, and vice versa, through a bureau hosted by Shepherd that is now run by alumna Liz McCormick,” Finn said.
“Now, with WSHC 89.7’s agreement to simulcast ‘Morning Edition’ and ‘West Virginia Morning,’ more people will be able to hear Liz’s excellent reporting on the Eastern Panhandle, as well as many other excellent shows,” Finn said.
The simulcast schedule, which includes a mix of programs produced nationally and locally, will run Monday through Friday from 6-9 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 6-10 a.m. and 8 p.m.-midnight. Shows that will be broadcast are:
Monday-Friday
NPR’s “Morning Edition,” 6-9 a.m.
WVPB’s “West Virginia Morning,” 7:41 a.m.
Saturday
“Living on Earth,” 6 a.m.
“People’s Pharmacy,” 7 a.m.
NPR’s “Weekend Edition,” 8-10 a.m.
WVPB’s “Mountain Stage,” 8 p.m.
WVPB’s “A Change of Tune” with Joni Deutsch, 10 p.m.
