I firmly believe that there is an increasing drive and energy gathering around the Glenville State College, our community, Gilmer County, and central West Virginia. An 8.6 percent first-year, first-time student enrollment increase at the College, new housing starts, a visionary Blueprint Community group, and real economic development are strong indicators of mounting momentum. But if we are to benefit from these forces, we must join in responding with the same drive and energy. No single individual, no independent agency, no governmental jurisdiction, no lone institution can succeed. We must create a seamless web of cooperation and collaboration to build our flourishing and self-sustaining college, community, county, and region.

Earlier this fall, I talked to the Glenville State College faculty and staff about the year ahead and its opportunities and challenges. I think my remarks are appropriate to every citizen who aspires to the common good and a better life for all West Virginians.

In a recent NPR interview, Irene McKinney, West Virginia’s Poet Laureate, read from her forthcoming memoir of growing up and living on her family’s West Virginia farm. She says,

West Virginia culture itself is marginal to the larger society. I’m on the brink, the lip, the edge, the literal line, dancing over the line, stepping over the line, the margin. The edge is where I belong. I like the view.

I like Ms. McKinney’s courage. When she says, "The edge is where I belong," I think of our College. Let me be clear; I do not mean on the edge of a precipice overlooking an abyss. That circumstance for Glenville State is well over. What I have in mind is "on the edge" of taking our place as an essential engine of educational, cultural, social, and economic progress in West Virginia. What I have in mind is making Glenville State the best, small, public, liberal arts college in the country. These ambitions are going to require each one of us and all of us together to step over the line.

What gives urgency to the individual and collaborative need for us to step over the line are high expectations. In the past year, elected officials at the federal and state level, educational leaders across West Virginia and citizens in Gilmer and surrounding counties have adopted a heightened level of expectation for what Glenville State can be and can do. The Governor has said that he expects Glenville State to be an incubator and spur for economic development. Our Congressman has pledged his support for academic programs that have a natural fit in central West Virginia. Our local delegation (Delegates Brent Boggs, Delegate William Stemple, Senator Joe Minard, and Senator William Sharp) and Governor Joe Manchin have already secured supplementary funding of $400K to support collaboration across 13 counties to establish a true system of K-16 education. Finally, the emerging culture of higher expectations has prompted the launch of a capital campaign that calls for significant private investment and new public-private partnerships.

This environment of heightened expectations has the potential to bring substantial, additional resources to support the work of our college and our communities. I have just said that this "culture of heightened expectations has potential to bring substantial, additional resources to support the work of our college. I emphasize potential because the offices and individuals who will sponsor additional resources are one step behind us at the edge. They are waiting for us to step "over the edge" to achieve our potential: to be the engine of educational, cultural, social, and economic progress in West Virginia and to be the best, small, public, liberal arts college in the country.