WV Executive

Every business and organization has growing pains and West Virginia University is no exception. Recently, WVU has faced some trying times, but with the election of a new president they are ready to move ahead. Aligning perfectly with West Virginia Executive’s education issue we wanted to take this opportunity to help make the statewide introductions on behalf of the new president, Dr. James Clements. We also wanted to show appreciation for Dr. Peter Magrath and all his hard work while serving as interim president. With the collaborative vision of not only these two men but everyone involved with life on the campus, WVU is ready to begin the next chapter. We hope you enjoy meeting Dr. Clements and will show him and his family what being a Mountaineer is all about.

WVE: What do you see as the challenges facing education in general and how does that affect WVU?

JC: This is a great question because it looks at the whole picture, which I think is important. There are a lot of wonderful leaders in the education field, one being former Governor Gaston Caperton who does a great deal with education and is part of The Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education that produced a report in December 2008 that I think set the roadmap for where we need to go in higher education.

Caperton was part of the task force that was chaired by William Kirwan, the chancellor for the University System of Maryland. This report, called “Coming to Our Senses,” explains what is going on in education in general, where we stack up internationally and that we are running at a deficit. The report maps out 10 recommendations for what needs to be done to improve our future. Five of those are geared at K-12 and five are geared toward higher education.

There are some great things in the report that show that we need to rethink some of the things we are doing. For example, if you look at college graduation rates for people 25-34 years old, we are really slipping. The commission has set a goal that 55 percent of Americans should hold a post secondary credential by the year 2025. Right now it is only in the upper 30s while you have other places like Canada, Japan and Korea who are in the mid-50s. Our attainment levels are dropping, which is alarming when you think long-term. In the report they have great recommendations and I think they have nailed down some of the big issues. There is great discussion on the alarming drop-out rate and the need to focus on the best practices to prevent students from dropping out. There is also information about clarifying the admissions process and how to recruit and maintain teachers in the educational system. They are focused on things like access, affordability, financial aid and need-based aid. They have mapped out everything. There are some things we need to do and some things we need to fix.

WVE: What was the appeal that WVU and WV had for you and your family?

JC: WVU has a national reputation. It is a big-time institution with big-time academics, big-time research programs and it has big-time athletics, which I like because it helps increase the visibility of the institution. It has all the components you need to build a really great institution. You have a medical school, a law school, a hospital, a dental school, an engineering school. There are great academic programs across the board. From a university aspect, there are not many places that could have pulled me away from Towson. It was a place that I have given 20 years to, but this is a place that is so good and so special that for me it was an easy decision. Morgantown is a great place to live. I have four kids and the schools are great and the people are wonderful. My family counts and everyone has been so giving and so kind. These are really good, hard-working, honest, straightforward people. It has felt very comfortable and I appreciate the warm welcome.

WVE: In what ways have your previous experiences prepared you for the WVU presidency?

JC: I have 20 years in at Towson, and I have served in so many different roles. First as a faculty member, so I really understand what pressures there are on the faculty. For example, increased teaching load, additional students and increased expectations for research and community outreach. I have also served as a department chair. I served for six years as the vice president in two different roles. One was the vice president for economic and community outreach, which mirrors a lot of what a president does because it is a lot of external relationships, partnerships, economic development and working with the community. I also served for a couple of years as provost, which is the chief academic officer. The mix of those things makes for an interesting profile and I think that is what the search committee and the board saw in me.

WVE: What are the added pressures of coming into office after the events that led to Mike Garrison’s resignation?

JC: I think the Board of Governors made a really smart decision when they put Peter Magrath in as the interim. He is a solid person with a great background and a great reputation. He is an icon in higher education and he has dealt with a lot of the issues that were still on the table. My view coming in is that WVU has been around since 1867 and it is a wonderful institution. All institutions have bumps, all institutions have tough times when things don’t go as well as you would like, but we are focusing on the future. It is time to move forward. It is time to start talking about where we want to be in 10 or 20 years. We are going to bring people together and work and collaborate and move forward.

WVE: As president, what do you envision for the university’s future?

JC: One of the things that I need to do coming in is just to listen to people’s views. I need to understand better some of the strengths and opportunities for the future. Some of the things off the top of my head, based on my research and the people I have talked with, are ways to increase the research portfolio at the institution. There is a group called the Carnegie Foundation that classifies universities based on a variety of factors. Right now WVU is classified as high in research and we are going to try to get that up to a very high profile which can produce productivity. The state also benefits from that because you have economic development, new research and other things that benefit the state. Not to say that WVU is not doing great research, but I think increasing research is important. I would like to increase the academic profile. I think the university does very well but can do better with graduation rates and retention rates. Diversity is one of the things that I think we need to work on across the institution. Things like outreach to the community. We want to make sure that in tough economic times, when students get into the university we help them graduate. A lot of students drop out for financial reasons. We need to make sure that access and affordability are priorities.

WVE: What are you most excited about as you begin your presidency at WVU?

JC: What drives me is that I like making a difference in people’s lives. WVU is a university that means so much to the state and so much to the region and it is the kind of job where you can make a difference every single day. I like bringing people together and I like taking an institution and moving it forward like we have done at Towson. There are so many things to be excited about. It would be hard to pick just one, but if I had to, I would say it would be being able to go to bed at night and say we made a difference in one life today. That is what gets me energized.

WVE: What aspects of being president do you believe you will enjoy most?

JC: I am a people person. I love to be around people, I love to work with people, I love to bring people together and I love to connect companies and people and universities and researchers. I am very much a people-oriented person. I also really like developing a strategic vision. It is one thing that I had a chance to do at Towson that I really liked. My background is really project management, so how you take an entity from point A to point B and what the road map is to get there is fun. I am very much looking forward to meeting with a lot of people and start mapping out that vision for the future.

WVE: What do you see as your biggest transition to life in WV?

JC: I would think probably the family piece. Our son is going to be a senior in high school and I could not pull him out in his senior year, so he is going to stay back with relatives. And for me that is going to be hard because we are really close. It will be tough, but he will be coming down on the weekends for games. Luckily with all the technology with things like Facebook we can stay connected. We also have twins that are going into the 9th grade and there is a transition there, and we have a little one who will be going into 3rd grade and there is a transition there. For a family, when you move there is a transition. They are really excited, but it is going to be a transition. It is going to take some time and energy but it will go well.

WVE: What was the most important lesson you learned at Towson University that will help you succeed as WVU’s president?

JC: I have surrounded myself with really great people. I have learned and had some really great mentors. I have learned a series of things like you have to collaborate, you have to be inclusive and you need to be open and honest. You need to be accessible to others. In life you should think big. Don’t limit what you set out to do. Treat everybody with respect and value everybody as a member of your team, seeing that everybody can make a positive contribution to your team. Those are some of the things I still stick with every day.

WVE: How will you adjust to the blue and gold Mountaineer life versus black and gold Tiger life?

JC: There is so much energy here and I can feel it the moment I walk on the campus. You can see that people love the institution. We will have no problems as a family and I will have no problems as a person stepping into blue and gold and enjoying every minute of it. I will still follow the Towson black and gold as I have for 20 years but we are really excited about it. If you were in my house right now you would see my son go off to school in a WVU sweatshirt and my girls with key chains. We have the stickers on our cars. We are ready!

WVE: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know?

JC: Everyone has been so unbelievably kind to me and my family, and it really does mean a lot to me and my family. We need to be in a place where we are welcomed and where people are warm and caring, and everyone here has been. It feels really good. I am really honored to serve in this capacity. It is a big job. It is a great university. For me, I think I have the ability to make a difference. There are a lot of opportunities here and it is an honor to be able to serve in that capacity. We are really excited about it and we really can’t wait to get started.

Meet Dr. Magrath

WVE: What was the key component that helped you decide to step in as interim president?

PM: It was certainly not something I campaigned for—it came up suddenly. I visited with the Board of Governors in June of last year and I knew there were issues at WVU. I have spent most of my life in public land grant universities. I love these kinds of universities and I felt that I could be of help in straightening things out and getting things stabilized. Being asked to step in was certainly flattering. To be able to help and be of service really got my juices going.

WVE: Where or from whom did you find direction to help you lead the university in uncertain times?

PM: I did not go to anyone and say, ‘Direct me, tell me what kinds of things I should be doing if I come to WVU.’ I felt I could do it and be of help because I have a lot of experience leading large, public universities. I was relying on my past experience and my instincts to figure out the kinds of steps and actions that would be useful for WVU and the state of West Virginia.

I certainly listened to and talked with people about what the issues were and what was troubling them. I had some discussions with the Board of Governors and I also had extensive conversations with the interim chief of staff, Jay Cole, who happened to be working in the Washington offices of the College Board where I have my primary job that I will be going back to. Jay is a West Virginian and a graduate of this university and has worked with the state government. He had a perspective about some of the issues here and was helpful with general comments. I had a conversation with a person I used to work for, former Governor Gaston Caperton, who was very helpful to me. I listened to a bunch of people, and that is my personal style. I will listen to a lot of people and absorb it and then figure out what to do or what not to do.

WVE: What was your greatest concern upon taking your position?

PM: It was personal in regards to the fact that my wife is a high profile journalist with very demanding work. We live in Maryland, just outside D.C. We are about to have our 20th wedding anniversary and I did not want to be separated from her. I did not like being separated at this age and stage of our lives. It is something I had to juggle with and so did she. That was my biggest concern, but it has worked out very well.

WVE: Do you have any special plans in place to help make the transition seamless?

PM: Yes, they are underway. I am in constant and close contact with Jim Clements. We e-mail and have met face to face on a number of occasions. We will be meeting to talk and share, and I am totally committed to helping him with advice and information. He is very eager to get my advice and perspective. We have developed a very warm, friendly and totally comfortable relationship. We are both working together very closely.

WVE: What do you think is the hardest part about being the president of WVU?

PM: I would apply that to any number of universities. Being the president of a large university is not a stroll in the park. It should be fun and you should enjoy it, but it is a lot of hard work. You have to communicate with, listen to and collaborate with the government of the state, the Governor, the House and Senate. There are a lot of points of view and a lot of interests to consider from the professors, faculty, students, staff and athletics. There are lots of interests that have different perspectives. It is always a balancing act to use the resources that you have in a collaborative effort.

WVE: What will you miss most once you have transitioned back into your former position?

PM: I did not really realize how much I enjoy being a university president and how much fun it is to be involved on the ground floor with students and faculty. I have really enjoyed going back to being a president again, which I did for many years at other places, but I have another job to go back to, at the College Board, that I am excited about and pumped up about. I will miss some of the colleagues that I have worked with so closely.

WVE: What is it about Dr. Clements that you feel will most help him in this position?

PM: He is a very smart person and he has a superb reputation that he has earned with his hard work. He is highly respected by the system chancellor in Maryland. He is enthusiastic about coming here and being president. He wants to strengthen and promote the university. His wife is going to be a great help to him. He has a great personality and it helps him reach out to others. He understands the complicated work of public higher education. I am totally confident that he will do very well.

WVE: What kind of satisfaction do you have in knowing that you stepped in when WVU needed you and that you are leaving the university in a better position than when you started?

PM: One of the things I set out to do was to work with the Board of Governors to put in place a selection process to be able to choose a permanent president that would be credible internally and also in the community, and we have had a great outcome.

WVE: If you could give Dr. Clements one piece of advice, what would it be?

PM: The advice I would give him would be to enjoy himself. He will work very hard, but he also has to allow himself and his family some time. It is not always easy but make time so you can rest and relax. These are very demanding but very enjoyable and worthy jobs. Take time to take care of yourself. You will need it because you will be giving so much of yourself.