Dr. L. Christopher Plein, assistant dean of the School for Applied Social Sciences in West Virginia Universitys Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, has been named to the Board of Directors of AccessWV.

Dr. Plein was appointed to the board by former Gov. Bob Wise and participated in several months of planning sessions before the AccessWV program was officially announced July 25 by Gov. Joe Manchin III . His term will extend through 2010.

AccessWV is a state-sponsored insurance program that will provide medical coverage for the state’s uninsured residents who are unable to get private insurance because they suffer from chronic illnesses. More than 30 states across the nation have already adopted similar plans.

Dr. Plein is a member of WVU ’s Welfare Reform Task Force and a co-author of Welfare Reform in West Virginia, the nationally-recognized report of the task force’s initial research findings, a book published by the WVU Press in 2004.

He was recently featured in a Washington Post article on the effects of federal welfare reform legislation in rural states.