West Virginia University’s Board of Governors, meeting by conference call Thursday (Jan. 12), approved a new Ph.D. in public health sciences and heard an update on higher education issues from Wednesday night’s State of the State address.
The panel also lauded the Mountaineers’Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia and the bowl’s off-the-field success as a result of the University’s popular Mountaineer Fan Center and other outreach activities.
The multidisciplinary public health Ph.D. program builds on an existing master’s degree program and will aid disease prevention in West Virginia and throughout the nation, said Vice President for Health Sciences Bob D’Alessandri.
Slated for fall 2006, the program has been approved by the Health Sciences Center , the Graduate Council and Provost’s Office.
Dave Miller, assistant to the president for legislative affairs, reported on legislative issues previewed in Gov. Joe Manchin’s State of the State address last night, noting that the $4 billion budget appears to be flat, with no apparent reductions to higher education.
The speech also tied higher education to economic development, in particular energy and coal research, and pointed to new initiatives in health care access.
President David C. Hardesty Jr., in his report to the board, said WVU ’s Sugar Bowl win over Georgia was significant for the Big East’s BCS standing and also in terms of fan and donor support as well as national media attention.
Over 17,000 people visited our Fan Center at the bowl, and as many as 30,000 fans were in attendance at the game,Hardesty said. This type of following makes WVU attractive to a bowl committee and plays a factor in being invited, he added.
The popular Fan Center , set up at the Atlanta Marriott, featured academicsthis year the forensic identification degree program which captured CNN ’s attention for a five- to six-minute national news segmentas well as Mountaineer Parents Club, Alumni Association and WVU Foundation activities, in addition to athletic accomplishments, he said.
The next meeting of the BOG will be in Morgantown Feb. 9-10.