EDITOR’S NOTE: LTTEs regarding WVU Academic Transformation
From now until Aug. 31, we will open letters to the editor to WVU alumni and current and former staff and faculty, including those who live out of state, for any who would like to comment on WVU’s Academic Transformation. EMAIL submissions to opinion@dominionpost.com. MAIL submissions to: The Dominion Post, 1251 Earl L. Core Road, Morgantown, WV 26505. INCLUDE your name, hometown and phone number for confirmation. Letters should not exceed 300 words. Out-of-state alumni should include their graduation year and degree. Staff/faculty should include their position and years of service.
‘Access to education is an essential right’
We are writing on behalf of ourselves and 24 other endowed and distinguished professors in opposition to the draconian cuts proposed for critical academic programs.
Access to public education is an essential right for all West Virginians and the measures proposed at WVU would impoverish our students and our state.
We urge the Board of Governors, state government and university administration, in collaboration with students and faculty, to find alternatives that do not betray our land-grant mission.
Erik Herron
Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Political Science (2014-2023)
Morgantown
Maura McLaughlin
Eberly Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy (2006-2023)
Morgantown
Cutting public admin devalues public service
As a sixth-generation West Virginian, my identity is rooted in conflict with my Appalachian culture.
Growing up, I often found my desire for academic growth challenged by the isolation by which the state’s southern coalfields are defined. My lived experiences shaped my passion for public service and the pursuance of a career where I could remain in West Virginia and use my education to help the state adequately prepare for a more equitable future absent of the degrees of suffering that decades of political absenteeism and sociocultural marginalization have wrought.
My access to the Master of Public Administration program at West Virginia University proved vital to realizing this goal. The faculty’s mentorship was invaluable to shaping my identity as a public servant and providing me with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate a challenging contemporary workforce.
Through its academic transformation and the severance of this degree path, WVU is sending a clear message that public service careers are no longer relevant in our society. Rather than providing an outlet to resources for our state’s future community and political leaders, aspirants will now be forced to look elsewhere for these opportunities.
The loss of this pipeline for local government and nonprofit careers throughout West Virginia and Appalachia cannot be understated, and its impact will not end at WVU. Community and economic development cannot occur here in the absence of an educated and diverse workforce.
This decision is political, in that a public institution is cloaking the fiscal mismanagement of its administrators as “evidence” of the fact that Appalachians are disengaged from the humanities and have no interest in pursuing careers based in community engagement and development.
The absence of this program will cut access to vital resources that benefit the development of a healthy civic life, which is often viewed as the idealized cornerstone of American identity.
Instead, this decision continues a legacy of social, cultural and political marginalization and sends a message to the residents of this state that our communities are not worth the continued academic investment.
Seth Cardwell
Master of Public Administration (2023)
Morgantown
Losing WLLL will impact school language teaching
After 40 years in a foreign language classroom and a master’s plus 40 hours in the World Languages program at WVU, I can tell you that I am taking it very personally that the university wishes to close this program.
International understanding is key to what is going on in our world today and that is fostered and nurtured in the course of study WVU plans on discontinuing.
Languages and cultural understanding are connected to world peace and education that trickles down to our schools.
How will future teachers be trained for language positions when interaction will be relegated to computer programs? The core of foreign language education is communication, especially when you are teaching listening, speaking, reading, writing and learning about culture.
This decision, in my opinion, will have a negative effect on high school programs and will eventually diminish languages in our schools.
Is it really worth it to be involved in such an unacademic endeavor, especially as a flagship university?
Diane Wickland
B.A. in French and Spanish (1969)
M.A. in French and Spanish (1975)
Graduate assistant, Foreign Languages Department (1970-72)
Morgantown
