WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. — In November, Dr. Stephen Greiner announced his plans to retire from his position as President at West Liberty University at the end of the spring semester in an easy transition.
That’s not the case anymore.
Given the restrictions put into place by the COVID-19 pandemic, West Liberty University announced the suspension of its presidential search and further announced Greiner has agreed to stay on board a few months longer.
Greiner told MetroNews he didn’t want to leave West Liberty hanging given the fluidity of the situation with the virus.
“The search committee felt that they would like to be able to interview the candidates in person. Of course with the various travel restrictions and group meeting restrictions, this was not a good time to invite candidates to campus,” he said.
“They also chose not to do so by teleconference, simply because they wanted to allow everybody to interact with the candidates.”
Greiner had been set to leave at the end of June after four years on the hilltop but will now leave in September. The Weirton native, who has served 19 consecutive years as a college or university president, will continue with his involvement in the search as an advisor to the search committee.
Candidate visits were already delayed once on March 16 due to COVID-19 concerns.
The four candidates in the running include:
- Dr. Robert Colvin has spent 21 years in higher education as a faculty member and administrator. He is vice provost for undergraduate education at Christopher Newport University, in Newport News, Va.
- Dr. Brian Crawford, an internal candidate, has worked at WLU for more than 20 years and serves as provost. He previously was acting president for three months in 2014 and is the former dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
- Dr. Joe Delap is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Athens State University in Alabama and a tenured professor.
- Dr. David Haney is a higher education consultant and former president of Centenary University in Hackettstown, N.J. Prior to that, he was a vice president and dean at Emory & Henry College, Emory, Va.
After the candidates visit campus and meet with alumni, staff, students and faculty, the search committee with evaluate the campus interviews and offer their suggestions to the Board of Governors, which makes the final selection, according to the school.
The announcement on the final selection of West Liberty’s 37th president is tentatively expected at the end of August in time for the fall semester.
As for the current spring semester, West Liberty is continuing all courses online. All in-seat classes were postponed until at least April 6 earlier this month. Greiner said the institution will determine within the next day or two how much longer the school will extend that period, knowing that they will.
As for West Liberty’s spring commencement, which many institutions around the state have postponed, a decision is expected at the school’s next board meeting in April.
“This is not the way I imagined going out. With a situation like this,” Greiner told MetroNews. “But one of the things I’ve always appreciated since being here at West Liberty is the support team that we have here.
“It is a team effort. I may be leading the team but without the team members and working together, we wouldn’t be able to handle the things the way we’ve been handling and in which the speed we’ve been handling it.”