Skip to main content
WVU Home

Updates From 

West Virginia
“Almost Heaven” West Virginia, known for the picturesque Shenandoah River and breathtaking Blue Ridge Mountains, hides a treasure in its hills: West Virginia University.  The state’s flagship, land grant institution of higher education is also a Research I university that is Carnegie-ranked as practicing the “highest research activity.” West Virginia University’s achievements and aspirations are even more impressive because of the impetus that drives them: to provide high-quality education and healthcare and ensure prosperity for the people of West Virginia. Whether as national leaders in women’s soccer or leading the fight against obesity, diabetes, poor dental health and opioid addiction, WVU is going first.  At our lunch-time panel, three university leaders will share some recent triumphs and their visions for the future. Join us to hear from WVU Tech Campus President Carolyn Long on surpassing expectations with our transition to the new Beckley campus; Associate Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Shane Lyons on reaching the women’s soccer College Cup with Olympic athletes and supporting the tenth Division 1 men’s basketball coach ever to surpass 800 wins; and Vice President and Executive Dean for Health Sciences Clay Marsh on expanding the Health Sciences Center Campus with $3 million dollars for lab and research office construction.

Caolyn Long's BIO

Carolyn Long is the Campus President of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology (“WVU Tech”). In this role she currently leads two regional campuses of WVU: one in Montgomery, West Virginia and the other in Beckley. She is also overseeing the move of the WVU Tech to the beautiful Beckley campus, which will be effected fully next fall. Before stepping into her current role, Ms. Long served as the first female Chair of the WVU Board of Governors from 2008-2011. Under her leadership, and with the assistance of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, WVU and the state legislature, WVU Tech has made tremendous progress, including a more-than 10 percent enrollment increase. An educator at heart, Long has spent nearly 40 years as a teacher and administrator in West Virginia public schools. She began her career as a fifth grade teacher at Big Chimney Elementary School in Charleston then accepted a position as a Title I Teacher at Little Birch Elementary, where she eventually became the principal. In 2001, she became the first female superintendent of Braxton County Schools. During her eight-year tenure she balanced the school system’s budget and received more than $12 million in grants from the federal Small Business Administration. 

Carolyn Long

Carolyn Long

Campus President, Institute of Technology

Plenary Session 2: 12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.