West Virginia University Institute of Technology (WVU Tech, WVIT, WVU Beckley, or West Virginia Tech) is a

public college A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

Beckley, West Virginia Beckley is a city in and the county seat of Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. It was founded on April 4, 1838. This city is the home of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology or West Virginia University, Beckley Campus. ...

. It is a divisional campus of

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

History

The college was founded in 1895 in

Montgomery, West Virginia Montgomery is a city in West Virginia, along the Kanawha River. Most of the city is in Fayette County, with the remainder in Kanawha County. The population was 1,280 at the 2020 census. From 1876 to 1890, the town was called Coal Valley Post Of ...

as the sub-collegiate Montgomery Preparatory School for West Virginia University. In 1917, it was separated from WVU and renamed the West Virginia Trade School. Next, in 1921, it reached the

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in ...

level as the New River State School. It became a four-year college as New River State College in 1931 and was renamed the West Virginia Institute of Technology in 1941. It began to grant

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

degrees in 1952. West Virginia Tech added a

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior s ...

in 1966. It began granting the

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in engineering in 1978, but no longer offers graduate degrees. WVU Tech's community college component was separated from WVU Tech in 2004 and WVU Tech is now part of

. The school became a regional campus of West Virginia University in 1996, leading to its present name. It later became an integrated division of WVU in July 2007. While several support departments on campus report directly to WVU, local oversight of academic programs remains on the WVU Tech campus.

2011 revitalization efforts

The school had been beset with declining enrollments for many years. In 2011, the state government passed the WVU Tech Revitalization Project law, in response to its declining enrollments and financial distress. As a condition of the law, an assessment was conducted over the summer of 2011 and a “revitalization report” was completed by October 2011. The report identified a number of specific actions that needed to be taken, culminating in a revitalization of the university's administrative staff, and ultimately a move of the entire campus to the larger city of Beckley, West Virginia (see next section).

2015 move to Beckley

In January 2015, WVU completed purchase of the buildings in Beckley formerly used by

Mountain State University Mountain State University (MSU) was a private university in Beckley, West Virginia. It closed in 2013. It was formerly named Beckley College and then The College of West Virginia. Its Beckley campus is now occupied by West Virginia University ...

, which is about 30 miles from the Montgomery campus. WVU President

E. Gordon Gee Elwood Gordon Gee (born February 2, 1944), known as E. Gordon Gee, is an American academic. As of 2020, he was serving his second term as President of West Virginia University; his first term was from 1981 to 1985. Gee has held more university pr ...

stated that Tech's future was "very secure" but refused to answer a question from the

Charleston Daily Mail The ''Charleston Daily Mail'' was a newspaper based in Charleston, West Virginia. On July 20, 2015, it merged with the ''Charleston Gazette'' to form the ''Charleston Gazette-Mail''. Publishing history The ''Daily Mail'' was founded in 1914 b ...

about the possibility of the school relocating. On August 31, 2015, it was announced that Gee had recommended that WVU Tech move from Montgomery to the former MSU campus in Beckley, a larger and more accessible city. The university's Board of Governors unanimously approved this recommendation at its September 1 meeting. For the 2016–2017 academic years, freshman courses were taught at the Beckley campus, and all other courses remained in Montgomery. Summer classes in 2017 were mostly held online with all academic programs, administrative offices and athletic teams moving to Beckley in the Fall 2017. Since the move, enrollment has increased from 1,106 students in 2017 to 1,622 in Spring of 2019, and the university has been ranked the best return-on-investment in the state of West Virginia.

Former Montgomery campus

The "

Old Main Old Main is a term often applied to the original building present on college or university campuses in the United States. The building serves today as home to administrative offices, such as the president or provost, but in its early inception may ...

" building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1980. The Neal D. Baisi Athletic Center was completed in 1968 and was home to the Golden Bears' basketball teams. On April 21, 2017, it was announced that the buildings on the Fayette County side of the Montgomery campus would be lease-purchased by KVC Health Systems, a foster care and adoption services provider, for conversion into a proposed "transitional college for persons aging out of foster care", while the buildings on the Kanawha County side would be transferred to BridgeValley Community & Technical College. The only exceptions are the "Tech Marina" (a boat dock) and the David S. Long Alumni Center, which were transferred to the city of Montgomery, and the HiRise Residence Hall, which was demolished on June 4, 2017. However, the KVC effort was abandoned in 2019 and the buildings are currently listed as surplus property and unused.

Academics

WVU Tech offers baccalaureate degree programs in 32 majors spread between two academic divisions (the Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering and Sciences & the College of Business, Humanities and Social Studies).

Athletics

The West Virginia Tech (WVU Tech) athletic teams are called the Golden Bears. The university is a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA), primarily competing in the

River States Conference The River States Conference (RSC), formerly known as the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC), is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Although it was historica ...

(RSC; formerly known as the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) until after the 2015–16 school year) since the 2015–16 academic year. The Golden Bears previously competed as an NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from 2012–13 to 2014–15; and in the

Mid-South Conference The Mid-South Conference (MSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member institutions are located in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. The league is headquartered in Lo ...

(MSC) from 2006–07 to 2011–12. VWU Tech historically competed in the

West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) was a collegiate athletic conference which historically operated exclusively in the state of West Virginia, but briefly had one Kentucky member in its early years, and expanded into Pe ...

(WVIAC), which is currently affiliated with the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

ranks, with the other small colleges in the state from its inception in 1924–25 until the end of the 2005–06 school year, when it could no longer maintain that level of competition. They also competed as a member of the

United States Collegiate Athletic Association The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/ junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 natio ...

(USCAA) from 2012–13 to 2015–16. WVU Tech competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming, track & field and volleyball; and co-ed sports include cheerleading and eSports. Former sports were football, which it was dropped as a result of the Revitalization Study after 2011.

Accomplishments

The sports at WVU Tech have been very successful over the years. The men's basketball team has won the WVIAC and has been successful in the Mid-South Conference. They were runners-up in the AII Tournament in 2013. They have also been to the NAIA Nationals over the years. The women's basketball team won the AII Championship in 2013 and went to the NAIA National Championships that year. The men's soccer team won the USCAA National Championship in 2013 and 2014. They also were runners-up in the USCAA National Championship in 2012.

Notable alumni

* Chuck Banks – football player * Charles E. Bayless - business man and educational administrator * Squire Parsons –

Christian music Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely aroun ...

soloist and baritone * Sedale Threatt – basketball player *Steven Smith – NAIA national champion * Calvin Wallace – football player * Mike Barrett – basketball player * Paulo Dias Ignacio Jr. (swimming) - NAIA National Champion (Men's 100y Breaststroke 2020)

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{authority control 1895 establishments in West Virginia Beckley, West Virginia Education in Fayette County, West Virginia Educational institutions established in 1895 Engineering universities and colleges in West Virginia USCAA member institutions Public universities and colleges in West Virginia West Virginia University River States Conference Education in Kanawha County, West Virginia Education in Raleigh County, West Virginia