Gayle Manchin
As West Virginia first lady, Gayle Manchin has focused on the cause closest to her heartproviding a bright future for West Virginias children.
Educated at WVU and Salem International University, Mrs. Manchin taught at many Marion County schools and led the first service learning program at Fairmont State College.
Moving to Charleston in 2001 enabled her to serve as conference chair for West Virginia’s Commission on National and Community Service. She also became the West Virginia Director of the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow Program.
Under the Office of Secretary of Education and the Arts, Mrs. Manchin implemented the WV PASS (West Virginia Partnerships to Assure Student Success) Initiative, which modeled a partnering of national, state and local organizations to provide support and resources across West Virginia to children and families. It is this ongoing endeavor which provides the framework for her goals as first lady.
Mrs. Manchin has served as a national consultant for Dr. Ruby Payne, a renowned authority on the affects of poverty on children and education.
She serves as a commissioner for the National Education Commission of the States and is fund development chair on the executive board of the Education Alliance.
Carolyn Atkins
Carolyn Peluso Atkins was one of only 46 educators nationwide named 2005 Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Shes the 15th WVU professor since 1987 to earn the prestigious award, which is given to college educators for their commitment to students and their innovation in the classroom.
A speech pathology professor, Dr. Atkins is well known as the originator and instructor of theSpeaking to Communitiescourseknown popularly asJock Talkwhich she designed in 1990 specifically for WVU student-athletes.
Class members write five-minute motivational speeches that they then take on the road to area public schools. The final exam is the delivery of that same talk before their coaches, advisors, teachers, friends, reporters, and members of the public.
Dr. Atkins also teaches upper level Honors courses and takes her students into elementary schools to read to children and into secondary schools to present career speeches.
Dr. Atkins has published numerous articles and has received many teaching awards, including the WVU Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching and the Golden Key International Honor Societys Golden Apple Award.
She received her bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from WVU .
Catherine Yura
Catherine Yura has worked with college students for more than 25 years and has served as director of WVU s Carruth Center for Counseling and Psychological Services since 1997.
A licensed psychologist, Dr. Yura has been an invited presenter at professional conferences to speak about working with young adults and specializes in individual counseling, couples therapy, eating disorders, career counseling, and crisis intervention.
She has worked in community mental health with children and families as well as in private practice. Currently, in addition to her duties at WVU , she is a board member of Valley Health Systems in Morgantown and serves on their executive board.
Dr. Yura also has plenty of experience with teens and young adults in her personal life as she and her husband, Michael, have three children: two sons who have already experienced college and are working, and a daughter who is 17 years old and will be going to college next year.
She holds bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from WVU .
Earl Scime
Earl Scime, professor and chair of West Virginia Universitys Department of Physics, has mentored six students who have received the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship.
Dr. Scime oversees research into plasma, matter at extremely high temperatures. He and his students in the Department of Physics create and examine scorching gases in the hope of creating a rocket engine capable of space missions to Mars and beyond. Researchers at Los Alamos and NASA recognize his name.
The author or co-author of more than 90 scientific papers, Dr. Scime has received many awards for teaching and research, including the WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award and the Claude Worthington Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award.
Under his leadership, WVU s physics research program was recently named one of the top 100 federally-funded physics research programs in the nation, according to the National Science Foundation.
He was a U.S. Department of Energy Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining WVU s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in 1995.
He earned his doctorate in plasma physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
David C. Hardesty Jr.
David C. Hardesty, Jr., is president of West Virginia University, a public, comprehensive, multi-campus, land-grant university.
Since becoming president in 1995, President Hardesty has fostered a more student-centered culture at WVU . A host of new programs, including the Mountaineer Parents Club (led by Mrs. Hardesty), Resident Faculty Leaders in the residence halls, a math learning institute, a student recreation center, investments in student-oriented technology, enhanced advising efforts, and the new Lincoln Hall residential college, have resulted in enrollment growth in a state with declining high school enrollments.
The Hardesty presidency has also been marked by significant growth in research and sponsored program activities, supported by new research centers, a new university library, efforts to advance technology transfer, a science building, and investments in research infrastructure and laboratories.
President Hardesty came to the University from the practice of law. He was general counsel for numerous private and non-profit organizations. Earlier in his career, he served in the governor’s cabinet as State Tax Commissioner of West Virginia.
The president is a graduate of West Virginia University, where he was student body president. He holds degrees from Oxford University, which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship, and Harvard Law School.
President Hardestys knowledge and leadership skills have been recognized at the state and national levels. His current leadership roles include chairing the board of the National 4-H Council, serving as the Big East Conferences BCS representative and vice chair of the conferences executive committee, serving on the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board and the NCAA Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics, and chairing the University-Affiliated Health Care System and WVU Hospitals.