BECKLEY, W.Va. — Around 200 students will walk across the stage at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center Saturday, a first for the school.
The university moved from Montgomery to the former Mountain State University campus in Beckley before their fall 2017 semester.
Director of University Relations Jen Wood Cunningham said in a previous interview with MetroNews affiliate WJLS the move was tedious, but they had a lot of help.
“I think because we were in the midst of it that we didn’t really think about all of the pieces that went into making that successful. One of the big parts of that was not only the community support but students, faculty and staff making that move so smoothly.”
Cunningham added the school waited until after their final semester ended on the Montgomery campus before beginning to move. This way, the education process was not interrupted and the student experience was not altered.
“We have grown and done a lot in our first year (in Beckley), but there is a lot still yet for us to do. The most important thing is that we’ve been serving students and continuing the services that we’ve provided all along, but adding some of those services. There are some things that we’re able to do in Beckley that we weren’t able to do in Montgomery.”
Just in the first year on the Beckley campus, WVU Tech has added two degree programs; construction management and outdoor recreation management.
“It’s giving students an opportunity to go and to work and be innovative for other employers or for them to be innovative entrepeneurs,” said Cunningham. “We want our state and our community to be the best that it can be and our young people are a really big part of that.”
The ceremony will begin at 10 Saturday morning at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.