U. of Charleston boss impressed with facilities at Martinsburg campus

Whether the University of Charleston absorbs the Mountain State University facilities in Martinsburg is expected to be decided this fall, but school President Edwin Welch said Thursday the college is aiming for a long-term presence in the community.

For the short term, any Mountain State students who can graduate by May 2013 can transfer and graduate with a Charleston degree while still under Mountain State graduation requirements, Welch said in his first visit to the Martinsburg campus Thursday.


Those who can graduate by December 2012 will graduate with a Mountain State degree.

With an endowment of $30 to $35 million, Welch said the private, Charleston, W.Va., college is in a financial position to grow and noted that the school has had balanced budgets for 21 of the past 23 years.

While the school does have some debt on residence halls, Welch said the school is “healthy enough” to absorb the MSU-Martinsburg campus assets. Mountain State owns the University Center property at 214 Viking Way and purchased the Martinsburg Mall in 2010. 

Welch admitted he didn’t know what to expect when he visited the MSU-Martinsburg campus facilities Thursday, but was impressed by the college’s facilities at the mall, where MSU recently opened a hybrid learning center.

“The mall’s phenomenal,” said Welch. He traveled with other University of Charleston representatives to Martinsburg to meet with current Mountain State students to discuss their enrollment options at an open house event.

Welch said Charleston’s message for current Mountain State students is that there is a “clean and clear path” for them to take Mountain State courses this fall and continue on with Charleston as a transfer student in an “overwhelming majority” of programs if they have not graduated.

Mountain State is expected to go out of business by Dec. 31 because of accreditation problems.

Welch said some specialized medical field programs at the Martinsburg campus that have low enrollment and low interest likely will be discontinued, but he expects the college will ask accrediting officials for approval to take over MSU programs that it currently doesn’t offer.

Exactly which programs will be discontinued will be decided by the end of the year, according to Welch.

“The (enrollment) numbers that have existed are not reliable because students recently have made decisions whether they are going to stay or not,” Welch said.

“And at one point, Mountain State was telling people ‘don’t sign up with us, go transfer,’” Welch said. “We now know they can stay here, UC can teach them out.”

At the open house Thursday, Mountain State organizational leadership major Ken Smith of Charles Town, W.Va., said he had questions about whether UC would continue to recognize the Mountain State program so he can obtain his bachelor’s degree.

“It’s been a roller coaster ride,” Smith said of the circumstances that resulted from MSU’s accreditation problems.

At times, Smith, a full-time member of the 167th Airlift Wing of the Air National Guard, said he found himself relaying information between Mountain State, Charleston and the U.S. military.

Two weeks removed from graduating with a degree in aviation, Mike Mays of Martinsburg said he came to the open house to encourage Charleston officials to maintain the campus out of respect for the faculty and staff.

“I have nothing but good to say about everybody I’ve dealt with at this school,” Mays said.

Mays said he believes the Higher Learning Commission, which revoked MSU’s accreditation effective Dec. 31., “hammered them harder than they should have.”

“But you know, what can you do,” Mays said.

If students were unable to attend Thursday’s open house, they may contact the University of Charleston at uc_msuinfo@ucwv.edu. Students should indicate their current major in the subject line of the email.