West Virginia University Institute of Technology

West Virginia University
Institute of Technology

File:West Virginia University Seal.svg
Motto	Infinite Possibilities
Established	1895
President	Carolyn Long
Academic staff	177 total (120 full time) (57 part time)
Students	1,106
Location	Montgomery, West Virginia , United States
Campus	Rural, 200 acres.
Colors	Navy blue and Gold
Nickname	Golden Bears
Mascot	Monty
Website	www.wvutech.edu
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West Virginia University Institute of Technology is a four-year college located in Montgomery, West Virginia, United States. It is the largest regional campus of West Virginia University and is governed by the WVU Board of Governors. Locals generally call the school WVU Tech, West Virginia Tech, or simply Tech.

History

The school was founded at the sub-college level Montgomery Preparatory School of WVU in 1895. In 1917 it was separated from WVU and renamed the West Virginia Trade School. Next, in 1921, it reached the junior college level as the New River State School. It became a four-year college as New River State College in 1931 and was renamed the West Virginia Institute of Technology in 1941. It began to grant degrees in engineering in 1952.

The school added a community college in 1966 and it began to grant the master's degree in engineering in 1978. It no longer awards advanced degrees.

In 1996 the college became a regional campus of West Virginia University. On July 1, 2007, WVU Tech became a full division of WVU. While several departments on campus report directly to WVU, oversight of all academic areas has remained on Tech's main campus.

WVU Tech was previously associated with the Community & Technical College at WVU Tech. As of May 2009, the two are separate institutions but share the same campus. To help differentiate the two schools, a new name of Bridgemont Community and Technical College was announced for the CTC in May 2009. Bridgemont is now merged with Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College as BridgeValley Community and Technical College.

Campus

The "Old Main" building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

The Neal D. Baisi Athletic Center was completed in 1968 and is home to the Golden Bears' basketball teams.

Revitalization

The school had been beset with declining enrollments for many years. In 2011, the state government passed the WVU Tech Revitalization Project law, in response to its declining enrollments and financial distress. As a condition of the law, an assessment was conducted over the summer of 2011 and a “revitalization report” was completed by October 2011. The report found that:

• The majority of the less than 2000 students remaining were not majoring in engineering, but in subjects also offered at other nearby state colleges.
• Eleven percent of the entire school budget was spent on maintaining sports teams.
• The majority of football scholarship athletes left the school after only a year.
• Many of the buildings had been unmaintained and were now in such a state of disrepair that replacement was needed.
• The school did not offer wi-fi, a campus recreation program, and most students found the dorms to be unacceptable.
• The school had posted a 20% decline in enrollment in a five-year period, and was currently hosting less than 50% of its peak enrollment of the 1960s.
• The graduate program had not granted any degrees in over 12 years.
• Alumni giving had declined since the "merger" with WVU, and most alumni wished for the school to return to independence.
• The school could not make payroll without loans from WVU's main campus over a three-year period.
• The football stadium's astroturf field was over 30 years old, whereas the manufacturer recommends replacement every seven to 10 years.
• Many functions were now "farmed out" to the WVU main campus staff, because of staff vacancies.

As a result of these findings, the study recommended that the school:

• Establish a co-operative (internship) component for every academic program,
• Eliminate the football program.
• Establish a science-focused teacher education program.
• Select a Campus Provost who “must command the confidence of both the Montgomery and main campuses of West Virginia University, as well as having the support of the local community and the State’s higher education and civic leadership.” (p. 31)
• And that state taxpayers spend an additional five to seven million dollars in each of the next five years.

Move to Beckley

In January 2015, WVU completed purchase of the buildings in Beckley formerly used by Mountain State University, which is about 30 miles from the Tech campus. WVU President E. Gordon Gee stated that Tech's future was "very secure" but refused to answer a question from the Charleston Daily Mail about the possibility of the school relocating.

On August 31, 2015, it was announced that President Gee had recommended that WVU Tech move from Montgomery to the former MSU campus in Beckley. The University's Board of Governors unanimously approved this recommendation at its September 1 meeting. It is expected that freshman courses will be taught at the Beckley campus beginning in Fall 2016 with the transfer of all academic programs, administrative offices and athletic teams occurring in the Fall 2017. Current students will be given the choice of completing their program either in Beckley or at the current campus in Montgomery.

Academic profile

WVU Tech offers a variety of baccalaureate degree programs in fields such as Engineering, Nursing, Printing Management, Business Management, Life Sciences, Computer Science, Health Services Administration and other subjects under two academic divisions. The Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering and Sciences grants degrees in engineering and related sciences and the College of Business, Humanities and Social Studies houses the other fields of study.

Athletics

The athletic teams are known as the Golden Bears and historically competed in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with the other small colleges in the state until 2006, when it could no longer maintain that level of competition. After a time as an independent and as a member of the Mid-South Conference within the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics it joined other NAIA independent schools of the Association of Independent Institutions. In the fall of 2015 it joined the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming and volleyball. Football was dropped as a result of the Revitalization Study after 2011.

The sports at WVU Tech have been very successful over the years. The men's basketball team has won the WVIAC and has been successful in the Mid-South Conference. They were runner-ups in the AII Tournament in 2013. They have also been to the NAIA Nationals over the years. The women's basketball team won the AII Championship in 2013 and went to the NAIA National Championships that year.

The men's soccer team won the USCAA National Championship in 2013 and 2014. They also were runner ups in the USCAA National Championship in 2012.

Notable alumni

• Chuck Banks – NFL
• Squire Parsons – Christian music soloist and baritone
• Sedale Threatt – NBA
• Calvin Wallace – NFL

External links

• Official website
• WVU Tech Athletics website