Parkersburg, W.Va. (March 31, 2022) – Transgender Day of Visibility is an international event to recognize the accomplishments and resiliency of the transgender community. Today, WVU Parkersburg student Coleen Nicoles presents three original works expressing her transgender journey. View her readings now at https://youtu.be/_h6jAJHOn4s.

Parkersburg, W.Va. (March 30, 2022) – West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s Fine Arts Committee and Art Club are hosting a Poorhouse Cemetery clean up. Participants will meet at the Poorhouse Cemetery to pick up trash, straighten existing crosses, plant new crosses, and spruce up veteran graves to celebrate Memorial Day. 

The event will take place on Saturday, April 9, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the cemetery on the main campus. The committee recommends that participants bring their tools for cutting back branches and working around fencing and trees.

The Fine Arts Committee and Art Club’s mission is to not only promote the arts and provide opportunities to explore the arts but also to promote community service. Although the pandemic has slowed past community service opportunities, the committee is looking forward to this year with its April clean-up.

“The Art Club did a little sprucing up [of the cemetery] in the fall, but we decided that if the world opened up again this April, we would plant some new crosses and spruce things up for Memorial Day,” said Fine Arts Committee member Dr. Sandra Kolankiewicz. “We are hoping life will stay open and that we can host all our usual events: the art show, reading, clean up, and for the first week in October, our Poorhouse Week.” 

Poorhouse Week celebrates the release of The Poorhouse Rag, the college’s annual literary magazine. Named after the Poorhouse Cemetery, the magazine publishes prose, poetry, children’s literature and artwork addressing themes of social justice. WVU Parkersburg also celebrates Poorhouse Week, remembering the Poorhouse of Wood County which once stood on college grounds.

The committee is currently accepting magazine submissions from WVU Parkersburg students, faculty, staff, alumni and their families. All entries will be considered for $50 genre prizes.

There is no fee to enter, and the deadline to submit is June 1, 2022. For submission guidelines, visit wvup.edu/poorhouserag.

Parkersburg, W.Va. (March 28, 2022) – Singing, dancing and art – WVUP’s Got Talent virtual variety show will take place on Thursday, April 7, at 6 p.m., on the college’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Six performers and seven fine arts contestants will present their talents to a panel of student judges for the chance to win a first-place trophy and $100 cash prize.

Audience members will have the opportunity to cast a People’s Choice Vote during the evening to show support for their favorite contestant. The winner of the People’s Choice will receive a $50 Barnes and Noble gift card.

WVUP’s Got Talent contestants, and their talents, include:

• Sarah Bowie, photography
• Morgan Cale, singing
• Julie Coberly, photography
• Christina Longfellow, playing piano
• Kimberly Matheny, drawing
• Autumn McKenna, drawing
• Michelle Ray, singer
• Kat Smarr, photography
• Savanah Snider, dancing
• Savanna Stopler, singing and photography
• Matt VanFossen, singing
• Joseph Whipkey, drawing

To watch the WVUP’s Got Talent show, visit wvup.edu/live or youtube.com/wvuparkersburg. Learn more about the WVUP’s Got Talent show and meet the performers at wvup.edu/talent.

Parkersburg, W.Va. (March 21, 2022) – West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s Sigma Omega chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) was recently honored at the PTK Ohio Region Awards Convention on March 5, 2022. Sigma Omega was presented with numerous individual and chapter-wide awards during the ceremony. 

These chapter honors included achieving four-star status for the 2021-2022 academic year as well as the Catch a Shining Star Award for its Adopt-A-Highway college project. The chapter’s Adopt-A-Highway program was also recognized as the second runner-up in the region for overall college projects.  

Chapter member Allison Ezell was recognized for serving as the 2021-2022 Ohio Regional PTK president. Andrew Walker, Sigma Omega Chapter co-advisor, was given the Milestone award for his five years of service to the organization.  

“I am so very proud of this group and its sustained accomplishments,” said Marie Butler, WVU Parkersburg Sigma Omega Chapter co-advisor. “While we have been challenged by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this group has endured and continues to set and achieve its goals.”  

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society that recognizes the academic achievements of college students. The society is represented in nearly 1,300 community colleges across 11 nations. Phi Theta Kappa also helps students grow as scholars and leaders through skill development, scholarship, and more. 

Membership to Phi Theta Kappa is by invitation only and extended to students meeting specific eligibility criteria. To be eligible for membership, currently enrolled students must have a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average and complete at least 12 credit hours of associate degree coursework. 

For more information about WVU Parkersburg’s Sigma Omega Chapter, contact Marie Butler (mbutler1@wvup.edu) or Andrew Walker (wwalker1@wvup.edu).

Parkersburg, W.Va. (March 15, 2022) – WVU Parkersburg Elementary Education student Hayley Hufford is heading to the Happiest Place on Earth to be a part of the Disney College Program.

The Disney College Program is a paid internship operated by The Walt Disney Company, allowing students to become a part of Disney’s unique culture and earn college credit at Disney parks and resorts through a combination of on-the-job experience, job shadowing and seminars.

Hufford’s program will run from July 2022 to February 2023. While she has not been assigned an official role, she hopes to be a cast member at the Haunted Mansion ride or merchandise store.

“I am very excited and proud of myself for getting accepted,” Hufford said. “I have dreamt about going for years now. My grandma has always made sure the family had a love for Disney. My first unofficial trip to Walt Disney World was at eight months old, and as I am older, we go every two to three years.”

 

 

The Disney College Program will provide Hufford a valuable opportunity to gain hands-on experience, meet people from across the world and participate in personal and career development.

“I am hoping to improve my people skills,” Hufford said. “I am also hoping to learn more about other cultures. The Walt Disney Company hires many individuals from different countries. This is one of the best things about Disney – the way the company promotes inclusion and offers opportunities for us to learn the correct way to celebrate other countries and cultures.”

Hufford is a freshman in the WVU Parkersburg Elementary Education program with plans to graduate from the college in 2027 with her bachelor’s degree. After graduation, she hopes to teach second or third grade.

Dr. David Lancaster, WVU Parkersburg Division of Education dean, made sure Hufford knew the entire division is supportive of her pathway decision.

“Our division is proud to have a student offered this wonderful opportunity, thanks to the Disney College Program,” said Dr. Lancaster. “We wish Hayley the very best as she begins this exciting journey.”

For more information on the WVU Parkersburg Elementary Education program, visit wvup.edu/education.

Parkersburg, W.Va. (March 2, 2022) – West Virginia University at Parkersburg Board of Governors will meet Tuesday, March 8, 2022. The meeting will take place at 3:15 p.m. in the College Activities Center (Room 1536). Due to COVID-19, a virtual option to attend is also available.

For further details and instructions on how to attend the meeting, please contact brady.whipkey@wvup.edu.

Visit wvup.edu/about/board-of-governors/agendas/ to view the complete agenda.

Parkersburg, W.Va. (March 1, 2022) – WVU Parkersburg is excited to announce that the West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WVSBDC) has relocated its regional center to WVUP on Market in Downtown Parkersburg.

“This partnership with WVU Parkersburg and the WV Small Business Development Center illustrates our commitment to support the community’s economic development and foster entrepreneurship in the Mid-Ohio Valley,” said WVU Parkersburg President Dr. Chris Gilmer. “Having the SBDC downtown will increase accessibility to their coach, workshops and training programs.”

The WVSBDC is a statewide network that provides tools, training and connections for successfully starting and growing a small business. It plays a vital role in West Virginia’s economic development initiatives by:

• Assisting entrepreneurs in every stage of the business cycle, from prospective entrepreneurs to mature businesses looking for growth opportunities and more.
• Working with firms in all industry sectors.
• Being a member of a nationwide network of Small Business Development Centers that share resources in our mission to start and grow small businesses.
• Following the Baldridge Principles of performance excellence in achieving accreditation by America’s SBDC, as required by Congressional mandate. These principles include managing for innovation, entrepreneurship, customer-driven excellence, integrity, visionary leadership, creating value, agility, societal responsibility and a focus on the future.

Marsa Myers, WVSBDC coach, serves the Mid-Ohio Valley and will be available to help the small businesses downtown and across the seven-county region, from her offices at WVUP on Market, 414 Market Street, Parkersburg, W.Va. She can be reached at marsa.c.myers@wv.gov.

Parkersburg, W.Va. (Feb. 24, 2022) – As WVU Parkersburg’s literary magazine, The Poorhouse Rag serves as a written review for artists and writers to submit poetry, flash fiction, fiction, creative nonfiction, children’s stories and artwork. Artists and writers can use their voices to bring awareness to the broad and varied themes and topics of social justice.

This year, The Poorhouse Rag is asking for submitted pieces to address the college’s emphasis on social justice for all, including, but not limited to, race, poverty, religion, gender, age, social status, sexuality, disability, economics, and any topic the writer or artist wishes to speak up about.

The Poorhouse Rag is led by the WVU Parkersburg Editorial Collective, including Dr. Sandra Kolankiewicz, Dr. Lauri Reidmiller, Danielle Kelly, Joyce Stover, Dr. Alicia Matheny Beeson, and Dr. Woody Wilson. The Editorial Collective selects the pieces featured in the magazine; however, the goal is to transition into a student-led process.

“Students have the opportunity to practice getting a manuscript or artwork ready for submission, of knowing an editor has read or seen their work, and of seeing their efforts in print with other authors or, if they are visual artists, in a real show,” Dr. Kolankiewicz said. “Family members and friends are so proud of their published friends and family members too! Also, authors realize they are part of a community– and can come together in artistic expression.”

All works will be considered for a $50 prize in each genre as well as the Foundation Prize for best cover art, and the President’s Prize for best overall art or literary work.

“It was quite an honor and privilege to win the Foundation Prize last year,” said WVU Parkersburg alumni Kimberly Matheny. “I was congratulated over and over by Dr. Reidmiller and my fellow art students. They made me feel so proud to represent the college on the behalf of The Poorhouse Rag.”

To submit a piece of writing or artwork to The Poorhouse Rag, or to view submission guidelines, visit wvup.edu/poorhouserag. Submissions are open to WVU Parkersburg students, faculty, staff, alumni, and their family members. The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2022, and there is no fee to enter.

Updates to COVID-19 Protocols

West Virginia University at Parkersburg

Effective Monday, Feb. 28, 2022

As you know, WVU Parkersburg has taken a careful posture in creating and implementing COVID-19 protocols, more restrictive than some peer institutions in West Virginia and nationwide. While we do not regret this posture and would take it again under the same circumstances, and while it has resulted in minimal community spread at WVUP, it is time for us to relax our protocols just as most states, communities, and institutions of higher learning are doing nationally.
In consultation with the Chair of the Board of Governors, the WVUP COVID-19 task force which represents all major stakeholder groups, and the entire executive team of the college which is in full consensus support, I am implementing the following changes to our protocols effective Monday, February 28, 2022, and unless and until further notice:

1. Face coverings will be encouraged inside all WVUP facilities when either Wood County or Jackson County, West Virginia, is designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an area of “high” community spread. Wood and Jackson Counties are selected as the deciding counties because WVUP has facilities located in both of these counties.

2. Effective as indicated, however, face coverings are no longer required by WVUP of its students, employees, or guests, with some exceptions noted below:
A. During times of high community spread as described above, any faculty member at his, her, or their sole discretion may require face coverings to be worn by anyone participating in a face-to-face class taught by that faculty member in the space assigned and for the duration of the class. Students who prefer not to be subject to this requirement of an individual faculty member may participate in a virtual option for the class in question if such an option is available. Any faculty member who plans to require masks in the classroom should notify all of his, her, or their students before February 28. Students should assume masks will not be required in classrooms or by faculty members from whom they have not received notification prior to February 28.
B. During times of high community spread as described above, any employee who is at heightened risk for severe illness or who chooses to do so for any reason may require all others to wear a face-covering when entering his, her, or their assigned workspace for the duration while the others are within their assigned workspace. In order to enforce this condition on others, the employee must also wear a face-covering when others are in his, her, or their workspace. Signs designating, “Face Coverings Required in This Work Space” may be secured from the Office of the President.
C. Students in clinical rotations at facilities of area healthcare providers, in field placements at area schools, or in similar situations wherein the facilities are not governed by WVUP will be expected to follow the protocols of those partners while located within the facilities of those partners, even if their protocols conflict with WVUP’s protocols. These are not requirements of WVUP, but of individual partners.

3. Masks will not be required in common areas of facilities.

4. Random surveillance testing will immediately cease for the foreseeable future.

5. The college will attempt to keep a limited number of rapid test kits available at no charge which may be obtained from J.B. Skidmore when available.

6. Anyone who comes within WVUP’s facilities face-to-face and who tests positive for COVID-19 must continue to immediately report positive test results to J.B. Skidmore at this email address: reportcovid@wvup.edu. Those who are positive must follow current isolation from campus requirements. J.B. will continue to send messages to those known to have come into contact with a positive case. Isolation protocols have not changed. Please refer to earlier guidance. Asymptomatic people who were exposed to a known positive case, but who have not tested positive and who remain asymptomatic, do not have to isolate from campus.

7. The administration still recommends conducting meetings and events by Zoom when practical for the foreseeable future and requires that any face-to-face events planned in our facilities or as an extension of WVUP must be approved in advance through the Office of the President by the Chief of Staff. We will, however, be incrementally relaxing our standards for approving such events in future, particularly those which have an academic function or are directly in service to students.

Medical and public health experts and authorities are split in their assessment of the trajectory of COVID-19, but the majority seem to believe it is trending in a much better direction for the present. The local health department has suspended contact tracing, although WVUP will keep contact notification in place for the present in an attempt to provide the maximum information available for individuals to make their own health choices. It is our responsibility individually and as a community to remain vigilant to protect ourselves and those around us, and the health and safety of this community remain my paramount concern. Most states are relaxing or removing face coverings protocols and opening facilities up more fully for public use, and WVUP must participate in the reshaping of community norms. Toward that end, you will also see our facilities reopening to more public events in the coming weeks and months.
Be advised, however, that the administration reserves the right at any time to revert to more restrictive protocols if it deems doing so necessary to protect the health and safety of our community.

As with all of our protocols, this document adds to the repository of COVID-19 protocols already provided and supersedes in authority any earlier document with which it might conflict. Anyone who wishes to continue wearing a face covering at WVUP should be supported in making that individual choice, just as any employee who enforces face coverings in his, her, or their workspaces as outlined above should be supported. Those choices are just as valid as the choice not to wear a face-covering which the administration is now providing to all who enter WVUP’s facilities, within the exceptions noted herein. We will continue to fully enforce all current COVID-19 protocols. The administration will continue to closely monitor the situation and will update our protocols as/if indicated. As always, we welcome questions or suggestions, and we thank you for your cooperation.

 

Parkersburg, W.Va. (February 15, 2022) – To celebrate Black History Month, WVU Parkersburg is hosting in-person and virtual events, exploring topics of inequality and paying tribute to the contributions of Black Americans.

On Wednesday, Feb. 23, at noon, Derrick Johnson, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chief executive officer and president, will join the college for a Facebook Live (wvup.edu/live). He will discuss the importance of equity and inclusion, voting rights and other pressing issues facing minority populations.

“This month, we honor the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans,” said Dr. Steven Smith, WVU Parkersburg Opening Pathways to Equity Now (OPEN) Project chair. “We have remarkable people of color who paved the path for education and inclusion right here in Parkersburg. I am proud to honor their legacy and celebrate the stories that have been forgotten or silenced.”

WVU Parkersburg’s OPEN Project will present another Facebook Live on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at 12:15 p.m., about the history of Sumner School. The presentation will be led by Dr. Michael Rice, author of “The Sumner Seven.”

 

 

Sumner School was the first free school established in Parkersburg, W.Va., in 1862, supported by the private funds of colored citizens in the area. In 1866, it became part of the segregated public school system. Sumner School eventually expanded and became the first Black high school in West Virginia, presenting its first class graduating students in 1887.

In addition, a visual history of Sumner School will be available at the college’s Success Epicenter (room 1332) on the main campus.

To learn more about these events, contact open@wvup.edu.