Jason Staples has always been known for his intellectual curiosity. Growing up in Murfreesboro, Tenn., he devoured books for breakfast and was never afraid to raise his hand during class discussion time.
That drive carried him to college, where he earned undergraduate and masters degrees in education and Biblical studies, and when he started thinking about a Ph.D.he had decided early he would be the first in his family to strive for a doctorateWest Virginia University gave him the perfect avenue.
He made his first visit here two years ago during WVU s annual Colloquium for Aspiring Minority Doctoral Candidates, and he never left.
Today, the 29-year-old is a doctoral student in education leadership who counsels undergraduate students while promoting racial tolerance and awareness on campus and in the community.
WVU s eighth annual colloquium runs Sunday through Tuesday (Sept. 14-16) on the Downtown Campus, and Staples is encouraging prospective Ph.D. students to give the University and its doctoral offerings a good looklike he did.
Some 40 students from Ohio to Ghana are expected for the gathering. The program includes a mix of doctoral candidates and WVU administrators. Interim Provost E. Jane Martinwho is establishing a diversity task force to showcase the multicultural side of the University and heavily promoting WVU s international outreachwill make opening remarks from 9-9:30 a.m. Monday in the Mountainlair.
Interim President C. Peter Magrath will follow with a greeting at 1:30 p.m. before sitting in on the poster presentation,Fostering Scholarship,with a host of WVU doctoral students.
And there are other meet-and-greet sessions (formal and informal) as candidates get to know the professors and researchers who could well become their mentors in the very near future.
It didnt take Staples long to be sold on WVU , as he remembers.
When you come to WVU , you going to be really surprised at all the degree offerings, and youre going to be amazed at the diversity,he said.Youve got all 50 states and a hundred countries represented here. You go down High Street, and if you hit it right, youll hear five different languages on one block.
Factor in the universal languages of learning and discovery, he said, and youve got a place you can make your own.
You get the education, the classroom quality, but you get quality of life,he said.I tell everybody Im a Mountaineer when I go home to Tennessee.
And thats a selling point, too, Jennifer McIntosh said. The Jamaica native who is WVU s executive officer for Social Justiceshe oversees the Presidents Office for Social Justice, the organization that annually hosts the colloquiumhad a similar reaction when she first set first on campus a decade ago to begin her job.
The thing is, this is a very welcoming place,she said.Youre going to get a great education here. Youre going to get a Ph.D. here.
Forty-six doctoral offerings from counseling psychology to cancer cell biology and all points in between make it hard not to, McIntosh said.
And you just get a great sense of community being on campus and in Morgantown,she said.
Staples most definitely agrees, and thanks both the colloquium and the campus for the experience. Thats why he works just as hard outside of the classroom. He wants, he said simply, to give something back.
And thats a big reason why hes an active participant in the UniversitysOneWVUcampaign ( http://onewvu.wvu.edu/ ), which celebrates WVU s unique multicultural vibe while decrying racial intolerance.
I came to WVU through the Minority Doctoral Colloquium, and I found out there are good people everywhere you go,Staples said.I was given the opportunity to grow, and I want to repay that debt. This place stays with you, you know?