dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – Sen. Shelley Moore Capito joined with leaders and staff of WVU Health Sciences and the School of Dentistry Tuesday morning to celebrate the start of the school’s expansion and renovation project.
“All of this, I think, will be very exciting for young students beginning a journey of a career to not just help their families and educate themselves, but to help the community and have a life of service too,” Capito said. “So I’m very, very pleased for what I see and hopefully we will continue to do this.”
Capito secured a $12.6 million Congressionally Directed Spending earmark for the project. Construction of Phase 1 began early this month.
Dental school Dean Stephen Pachuta noted that the school hasn’t been updated since 1955. The project will not only modernize the space, but return services back to the Health Sciences campus.
Phase 1 will modernize and integrate the pediatric dentistry and orthodontics clinics, faculty group practice and the Dr. W. Robert Biddington Center for Dental Innovation, which are now at Suncrest Towne Centre. Phase one also includes upgrades to sanitary, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, mechanical and electrical systems. This work is expected to be completed before the start of the Fall 2026 semester.
Pachuta opened the ceremony, telling Capito, “Your unwavering support and commitment to the people of West Virginia, our university, and our School of Dentistry is making today possible. Your leadership is making a significant and positive impact to the lives of our West Virginians.”
The design phase was underway for three years, he said, leading up to the start of construction. “This was no easy task working with a facility like this, that was constructed in 1955.”
Pachuta said 83% of the dentists practicing in the state are WVU dental school grads. “Dentistry and dental education is in a rapid state of growth and change. Staying current with this change ensures relevance. … As the state’s flagship land grant university and the only dental school in West Virginia, the WVU School of Dentistry is committed to providing excellence in education and high-quality patient care.”
Clay Marsh, chancellor and executive dean of WVU Health Sciences, quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What stands before you and what stands behind you pales to what stands inside of you.”
He said, “And as a team, I’m so proud of the progress we’ve made. … We need to have more dentists in the state. We are about 12 percentage points behind the national average. And we need to distribute more dentists in rural parts of our state, which is the next real job, I think, that we have to do. But we’ve made progress, and that’s really very positive.”
During a brief press gathering before she took a tour of the facility, Capito offered one final thought. “Students want to come to a place that has the best technology, and that has the highest quality education. But you’ve got to have a good facility for it, and that’s what this is about today.”
