New Fairmont State University president ready to tackle higher education challenges head-on, increase community outreach

“I knew when I saw the job announcement that Fairmont State was a special place, but over the last eight months, I’ve really gotten to see it,” Davis said. “I knew there was a lot of potential here and that it would just take people to have some hope and to dream about the future.”

Davis said his plans for the university are going faster than expected, and he believes that one of the best aspects he brings to the table is his passion for defending higher education.

“For too long, higher education was on its heels,” Davis said. “We were trying to be everything for everybody. We were trying to react to every trend instead of saying, ‘What makes Fairmont State Fairmont State? Let’s defend that and figure out how to integrate all of the pieces that make it important.’ ...

“It’s really important to listen to the Legislature and figure out what businesses in the area want, but it can’t be at the expense of who we are.”

Davis said the biggest challenge facing Fairmont State right now is enrollment decline, noting that while Fairmont State is far from the only institution in the country facing such an issue, it’s still a thing he believes can be addressed and improved on a local level.

“There are a lot challenges, especially in West Virginia, where fewer students are going to college,” Davis said. “Fighting that battle is a two-front war. There is competition among universities to get the students who are going to college, but the bigger issue facing the state right now is that we’re not offering college as an opportunity for every student. ...

“High schools will bring their students (for tours), but they only bring the students who say they’re going to college. College is not for everyone, but everyone should have that opportunity, and that’s the biggest challenge. How do we get higher education as an opportunity in front of more high school students?”

Davis added that another challenge facing Fairmont State is its role in the ever-changing world of what regional universities are and represent. He said that the “golden age” of regional universities is coming, noting that bigger universities may have gotten too big and smaller private colleges may have gotten too expensive, and Fairmont State can capitalize on that.

“We have enough state support to make sure we’re going to survive, and when people are looking for connection and the personalized piece, they’re going to look towards the university,” Davis said. “I want to make sure that Fairmont State is leading that pack in the state.”

The third challenge facing Davis, he said, is battling on-campus complacency. He explained that things that have been afforded to Fairmont State and similar four-year universities big and small can sometimes be taken for granted, and he hopes to instead create a culture on campus of making sure that, year after year, Fairmont State is the best it can be.

“It’s years of assuming that people will show up and years of assuming that state money will stay at the same level,” Davis said. “I think higher education has been lulled into this false sense of security. For 100 years, we could build new universities and set enrollment targets, and we had no problem finding students. ... You could find the students you needed year after year, and very few institutions shifted in 2008 when there started to be this decrease in students going to college. Now there’s an enrollment cliff, and we didn’t adapt. ...

“Now, we’re playing catch-up. It’s decades of complacency, partially because we were successful and then didn’t know how to address it. Now we’ve got to run 100 miles per hour, and that’s the part that I don’t think every institution is ready to do.”

However, Davis believes that Fairmont State is ready for that race, having the staff and resources to set it apart from other four-year institutions and showcase its strengths to potential students.

Davis wants to change the campus culture and keep students in Fairmont instead of traveling to Morgantown or Clarksburg for recreation, and that’s reflected in a large increase in on-campus events and activities to keep the students engaged with campus life.

“Even our local students are now looking to live on campus because they see what’s going on, and that’s a total 360 from what was happening for decades here,” Davis said.

With only a couple of months left of the 2023-24 academic year, Davis said he’s looking forward to having a hand in putting together upcoming orientation events and the academic calendar for the first time while putting the spotlight on the faculty and staff who will help expand Fairmont State’s reach and power.

“It’s time to get to work,” Davis said. “As we come out of the strategic planning process and start the implementation phase next year, you’re going to see a lot of things happen pretty quickly, and I hope that people feel like they had the opportunity to participate in that process and that it doesn’t feel like I’m driving it. ...

“I need everybody to be on board and on the same team, and that means I have to be a good teammate, not just a leader.”

Although he’s aware of the challenges facing the university, Davis said he has a lot of optimism for the future, noting that the university’s Day of Giving event in February raised over $530,000 for the institution’s various programming.

The support is there, Davis said, and it’s Fairmont State’s job to seize the opportunity.

“We’re planning to spend and invest some of our resources, and that’s one of the big changes,” Davis said. “We’re going to stop thinking of those as expenditures and start thinking of them as investments. When you invest the limited resources universities have, you’ve got to be more serious about it and get your hands dirty. ...

“We’re still going to have a lot of fun on this campus. People should love where they go to school and work. People are doing what they love, and I’ve got to take that as seriously as the things I love.”