West Virginia Universitys Eberly College of Arts and Sciences has announced the appointments of Robert Blobaum as chair of the Department of History and Carol Hando as the coordinator of the Regents Bachelor of Arts program. Both individuals have worked at WVU for a minimum of 20 years and have been instrumental in the Colleges success.
Blobaum, the Eberly Family Professor of history, received his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in 1981. He joined the WVU faculty in 1984. He teaches in the fields of modern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and Imperial Russia; his research interest is early 20th century Poland, social and political.
“The main goal I would like to accomplish as chair is to meet the challenges of the restructuring that we are undertaking in history,”Blobaum said.”The Universitys master plan includes a very aggressive growth strategy, new entrepreneurial activities, major research grants and more enrollment in our summer school program.”
Carol Hando, a native of Morgantown, graduated from Morgantown High School in 1962 and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at WVU . In 1981, she joined the WVU staff as a secretary in the Department of Biology. For the past nine years, she has worked in the Office of the Dean as an academic advisor.
“As coordinator, I would like to increase the RBA programs visibility across the state,”Hando said.”This would include creating more recruiting events, generating numerous workshops and extending the programs office hours so that students who work are able to come in a the end of the day.”
The RBA program is an innovative bachelors degree designed for adult students. Credit for selected work and life experiences that can be equated with college courses can count toward the degree. The program aims to provide a comprehensive general education without the requirement of a major. Students plan a course of study that best fits their own needs.
“I am very pleased that these two outstanding individuals and strong mentors were appointed to these important positions,”said Rudolph Almasy, interim dean of the College.”The strength of the internal candidates we had for both of these positions speaks well of the overall depth of the Colleges faculty and staff.”