West Virginia University Institute of Technology
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| Motto | Be Big Here |
|---|---|
| Established | 1895 |
| President | Carolyn Long |
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Academic staff
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177 total (120 full time) (57 part time) |
| Students | 1,106 |
| Location |
Beckley, West Virginia, United States 38°10′46″N 81°19′29″W / 38.17944°N 81.32472°WCoordinates: 38°10′46″N 81°19′29″W / 38.17944°N 81.32472°W |
| Campus | Rural, 200 acres. |
| Colors | Navy blue and Gold |
| Nickname | Golden Bears |
| Mascot | Monty |
| Website | www |
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West Virginia University Institute of Technology is a four-year college currently transitioning from Montgomery, West Virginia, to Beckley, West Virginia United States. It is the largest regional campus of West Virginia University and is governed by the WVU Board of Governors. Locals generally call the school WVU Tech, West Virginia Tech, or simply Tech. The new Beckley campus is also called "WVU Beckley" but this name is unofficial.
The school was founded at the sub-college level Montgomery Preparatory School of WVU in 1895. In 1917 it was separated from WVU and renamed the West Virginia Trade School. Next, in 1921, it reached the junior college level as the New River State School. It became a four-year college as New River State College in 1931 and was renamed the West Virginia Institute of Technology in 1941. It began to grant degrees in engineering in 1952.
The school added a community college in 1966 and it began to grant the master's degree in engineering in 1978. It no longer awards advanced degrees and its community college is now a separate institution.
In 1996 the college became a regional campus of West Virginia University. On July 1, 2007, WVU Tech became a full division of WVU. While several departments on campus report directly to WVU, oversight of all academic areas has remained on Tech's main campus.
The "Old Main" building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Neal D. Baisi Athletic Center was completed in 1968 and was home to the Golden Bears' basketball teams.
The school had been beset with declining enrollments for many years. In 2011, the state government passed the WVU Tech Revitalization Project law, in response to its declining enrollments and financial distress. As a condition of the law, an assessment was conducted over the summer of 2011 and a “revitalization report” was completed by October 2011. The report found that:
As a result of these findings, the study recommended that the school:
In January 2015, WVU completed purchase of the buildings in Beckley formerly used by Mountain State University, which is about 30 miles from the Tech campus. WVU President E. Gordon Gee stated that Tech's future was "very secure" but refused to answer a question from the Charleston Daily Mail about the possibility of the school relocating.
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