By Adam Black
West Virginia’s history is steeped in its wealth of natural resources. As the natural and political landscapes continue to change, the state’s colleges and universities continue tailoring education to potential careers surrounding these opportunities.
Glenville State College (GSC) is now offering a new concentration in energy and land management through its Land Resources Department as part of the natural resource management major at GSC.
The program teaches legal issues in the energy and land management industry; analytical skills to perform a certified title search under the supervision of a licensed attorney; assessment of zoning restrictions; permit preparation involving energy and land use development and communication skills needed to negotiate leases, deeds, unitization and pooling agreements, right of way agreements, joint operating agreements and other documents regularly utilized in the course of business in the energy and land management industry.
The baccalaureate degree in natural resource management was developed around the general education baccalaureate degree component, a natural resource management core, seven major concentration areas and a block elective component. The seven degree concentrations are applied science, business management, criminal justice, environmental science, forest technology, energy and land management and land surveying technology.
The Department of Land Resources prides itself on a hands-on approach to learning. Students are provided a learning experience that duplicates real-world applications as closely as possible. On any given day, students in these concentrations can be found felling a tree, surveying a road line or performing air, water and soil testing.
The hands-on approach is exemplified in the energy and land management program through deed research at the Gilmer County courthouse. Students in the land titles and abstracting class are required to complete a full title packet for a parcel of land, which includes the gathering the history of surface and mineral ownership and coal, oil and gas leases; determining royalty and working interest owners; identifying liens and right-of-ways and mapping the parcel in geographic information system software.
The energy and land management concentration is designed for those students interested in working in land use development, management and planning. Graduates of this program find a variety of career opportunities with federal government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Bureau of Land Management. At the state level, graduates qualify for opportunities with the Department of Environmental Protection and Division of Highways. Additionally, graduates will be prepared for private industry positions, including, but not limited to, title abstractor, right-of-way agent, realty specialist and oil and gas land man.
Examples of courses in the new concentration area include principles of energy and land management, land titles and abstracting, natural resource permitting, geographical information system, energy resource law and business law, among others.
About the Author
Adam Black is an assistant professor of land surveying at Glenville State College (GSC), where he has worked since 2013. He is a graduate of Marshall University and the Appalachian School of Law. Black is a member of the American Association of Professional Landmen, and in addition to actively participating in various campus committees, he also serves as an advisor to GSC’s student government association. He resides in St. Albans, WV.
