West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee, this year’s Exponent Telegram Educator of the Year, is living proof that our education doesn’t stop after we receive a diploma. He has been learning for decades, and the world continues to be his classroom.
He is in his second stint as WVU president. He first took over the reins at Stewart Hall in 1981 at the tender age of 36.
“When I was here before, I was very, very young,” Gee told Lifestyles Editor Mary Wade Burnside.
“I had never been a university president before. I was trying to learn a great deal on a steep learning curve.”
But he proved to be a quick study, and he went on to lead such distinguished institutions as Brown, Vanderbilt and Ohio State.
Since his return to Morgantown, Gee has been much traveled. He has sought to meet and talk to state residents in all 55 counties. And he will be a presence in Charleston next month when the Legislature convenes, not going with “tin cup” in hand, he told us, but to bring “ideas and with the idea of being the solution to the problem.”
The ubiquitous university president is always ready with a quip and is always recognizable with his whimsical bow ties, but Gee is very serious about WVU’s mission and its obligation to not only teach, but serve, the residents of West Virginia.
“As a major research institution, our responsibility is to discover a cure for cancer and write the great American novel. As we do that, we have to tie it to the state by creating ideas, which will create jobs, which will create opportunities for people to stay with us. So research is tied to the quality of life in the state,” Gee said.
The WVU of 2014 is vastly different than the one he took over in 1981. It is a more complex institution that requires 21st century ideas and goals.
Gee recently tapped former Gov. Gaston Caperton to head the Center of Big Ideas, a group that will address such issues as rural health, energy, arts, culture and science.
He also wants to streamline the university experience by getting rid of “as much bureaucracy as we can.” Gee wants people to “thrive rather than feel petrified by bureaucracy.”
Another of Gee’s lofty goals is to improve the student retention rate and to increase the university’s enrollment from 31,000 to 40,000.
Of course, being a university president is more than just coming up with big ideas. Gee has had to deal with student riots, underage drinking and misbehaving fraternities.
Gee has made himself accessible to students and is working with them to solve the problems that often give the university a black eye. It is a daunting task, but Gee is optimistic: “I believe that many of the problems we have faced will dissipate.”
Gee has not locked himself in an ivory tower. He is likely somewhere in one of the state’s 55 counties today shaking hands and asking questions.
And so, if, in 2015, you should bump into a bespectacled gentleman with a wide grin and a gold and blue bow tie, it is only Gee, seeking to learn more about West Virginia and how to improve it. It’s all part of his continuing education.
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