WVU Davis College Fall 2018 Magazine

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES AND DESIGN

MAPLE'S MOMENTOUS RISE Through experiential learning and collaborative research, WVU is helping to expand one of the stateʼs fastest growing industries.

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LETTER from the Dean Greetings, and I hope that your year has been as exciting and productive as ours at the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design!

In this edition of our magazine, you will learn about our partnerships that are creating opportunities, providing new funding sources and engaging our research faculty and students.

For instance, you will learn about our inaugural Appalachian Geoscience GeoCamp, where we teamed up with the United States Geological Survey and the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey to introduce high schoolers to concepts and skills related to the earth sciences, forest ecology and more.

Strong partnerships with state and federal agencies are key to the success of our college. Jamie Schuler, associate professor of silviculture, has partnered with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture to establish the Southern Syrup Research Institute, making WVU a primary hub for all maple research and programming in the state.

We also have been collaborating with private industry and donors to develop new opportunities. We

dedicated the new WVU Feed Mill, made possible by feed mill manufacturers and private donors. Now, Joseph Moritz, professor of poultry science, will be able to provide cuttingedge research on how to make poultry feed that is safer and more nutritious.

We dedicated the addition of new equine facilities to the J.W. Ruby Research Farm, supported by the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust, while also celebrating a highly successful fundraising campaign that provided us with more than $30 million in funding for research, scholarships, faculty support and more.

Collaboration and partnerships will make our college more successful and help us with meeting the needs of our state and its people. They also provide us with new research problems and avenues to get students involved in realworld, hands-on projects.

This work supports undergraduate and graduate students and is part of our strategy to leverage our capacities in these fiscally tight times. These kinds of projects do a great job linking teaching, research and service as key to our landgrant mission.

Please join us on this journey! Let us know of other ways we might be able to partner with agencies, organizations, private foundations or industry with whom who you are involved. And, enjoy learning more about what we are doing now to boost our research enterprise and partner across the state.

My best,

Dan Robison, Dean

FALL 2018 E. Gordon Gee President, West Virginia University Joyce McConnell Provost Sharon L. Martin Vice President for University Relations and Enrollment Management Daniel J. Robison Dean and Publisher Michael Esposito Executive Creative Director Angela Caudill Director, UR-Design Graham Curry Art Director, UR-Design Hayley Boso Magazine Designer Julie Cryser Nikky Luna Lindsay Willey Contributing Writers Brian Persinger M.G. Ellis David Ammon Lindsay Willey Photographers Kathy Deweese Director, University Content Mikenna Pierotti Senior Writer ADDRESS WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design OďŹƒce of the Dean P.O. Box 6108 Morgantown, WV 26506-6108 www.davis.wvu.edu CHANGE OF ADDRESS WVU Foundation P.O. Box 1650 Morgantown, WV 26504-1650 Fax: 304-284-4001 Email: info@wvuf.org www.mountaineerconnection.com

CONTENTS Fall 2018

AGRICULTURE

NATURAL RESOURCES

DESIGN

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Poultry Powerhouse

All Things Maple

A Roadmap to Success

WVU will continue to advance poultry research with the completion of our new poultry feed mill.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Hands-on learning and expanded research opportunities contribute to one of the stateʼs fastest growing industries.

Two WVU faculty members pilot program to transform rural education in the Mountain State.

02 Around the College

28 Supporting Student Success

04 Class of 2018

30 A State of Success

12, 20 Faculty Research

32 The Last Word

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PHOTO: WVU celebrates the completion of upgrades to its poultry research feed mill with a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony on May 4.

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Around the College

Fulfilling a pivotal role abroad Marlon Knights, associate professor of animal and nutritional sciences, is currently serving as the livestock advisor to the Minister of Agriculture for Trinidad and Tobago. He is conducting a comprehensive livestock review with a focus on brucellosis, an infectious bacterial disease, and its impact on genetic material.

Legacy calf

PHOTOGRAPHED BY M.G. ELLIS

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On June 2, six new members were recognized with West Virginia University’s highest honor, the Order of Vandalia.

Among them was Mannon Gallegly, professor emeritus of plant pathology, who was honored for his significant contributions to WVU and the state of West Virginia.

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The Davis College welcomed a new calf, named RMA Ginger Reagan Seneca — ET. She is the first embryo calf to be born as a result of an effort to expand WVU’s Ayrshire herd and honor the terms of the Reymann Farm gift from 1917. The donor cow was given by Mary and Mike Creek and Ralph Shank from their herd of superior cows at Palmyra Farms in Boonsboro, Maryland.

Going further faster During its spring 2018 meeting, the WVU Board of Governors approved two new Davis College programs — environmental and community planning (BS) and energy environments (MS).

New division leaders Wirt for the Win

Throughout the 2017-18 academic year, the WVU agricultural and extension education program hosted a total of 1,018 middle and high school students for its annual Career Development Events. Pictured here is the Sweepstakes Team Winner — Wirt County High School, coached by Davis College graduate John Workman.

KIM BARNES

ALAN COLLINS

Making the world a better place

Over the summer, local high school students took part in Morgantown’s first Appalachian Geoscience GeoCamp. Students stayed at WVU’s Outdoor Education Center during the five-day, four-night summer adventure, which provided a perfect environment for learning while being immersed in nature.

The camp covered orienteering, topographic and geologic mapping, forest ecology and more.

SVEN VERLINDEN

The College recently welcomed three new members to its leadership team, naming Associate Professor Kim Barnes, Professor Alan Collins and Associate Professor Sven Verlinden as interim directors of the Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, Division of Resource Economics and Management and Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, respectively.

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Landscape architecture graduate J. Keith Bowers joined an elite group of graduates on May 18 as he was inducted into the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni.

Bowers has devoted more than 30 years to ecological restoration.

Total immersion

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Congratulations, Class of 2018!

PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRIAN PERSINGER

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In the spring, the Davis College welcomed nearly 360 graduates into its alumni family. Of that group, 315 participated in the Davis College Commencement ceremony on May 11.

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JOHN CRITES, A 1963 GRADUATE OF THE FORESTRY PROGRAM AND FOUNDER OF ALLEGHENY WOOD PRODUCTS, WAS RECOGNIZED WITH AN HONORARY DOCTOR OF SCIENCE.

Seiler is an adjunct professor in the Davis College, where he instructs three pre-veterinary courses and is actively engaged with the Davis-Michael Scholars program.

Honoring the memory of a fellow Mountaineer Before officially presenting the degree candidates, Dean Robison took a moment to honor the memory of Calvin Dworshak, a forest resources management major who unexpectedly passed away in 2017.

The dean recognized Dworshak with a posthumous Bachelor of Science, presenting it to Calvin’s mother, Carrie, and his sister, Avery, who were in attendance.

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Like mother, like daughter It was a Mother’s Day weekend like no other as Jordin Wilcher, graduate of the biochemistry program, and her mom Susan Miley, graduate of the Regents Bachelor of Arts program, walked across the stage together to receive their degrees.

Seiler’s sage advice “Be honest, hungry, humble, patient and persistent.” Those were among the wise words shared during the 2018 Commencement Address, given by 1978 graduate George Seiler, a dedicated veterinarian, teacher and mentor.

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Class of 2018

The Class of 2018: Making the best better WRITTEN BY NIKKY LUNA AND LINDSAY WILLEY

“Do the best you can do, and then do more. You can make the best better.” That was JoBeth Delawder’s response when we asked the agribusiness management graduate what advice she had for the Class of 2022.

As it turns out, she and several of her fellow 2018 graduates took every opportunity to apply this adage throughout their college careers.

And, if history is inclined to repeat itself, it’s safe to say these Mountaineers show no signs of letting up.

JoBeth Delawder, BS, agribusiness management

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JoBeth Delawder is a proud sixthgeneration farmer who began her own sheep and goat operation at the age of 11. The Old Fields native is now part-owner of Water Rise Farm, a beef cow-calf, broiler breeders, swine, sheep and goat operation.

The WVU Honors College graduate was an integral member of the campus community, serving as a member or officer various organizations, including Sigma Alpha Pi, the Pre Law Society and Sigma Phi Omega Honor Society at Potomac State College (president), where she began her WVU undergraduate career. She also worked

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as an intern with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.

Delawder, whose next step is law school, plans to continue advocating for the things she loves by practicing agricultural and environmental law.

Audrey Geise, BSA, agroecology

Audrey Geise is an Honors College graduate whose interest in agriculture took root in high school, when she served as an adviser for the middle school Garden Club. Since then, the Allentown, Pennsylvania, native has earned every opportunity imaginable to invest in that interest — and develop new ones — through research, teaching and traveling.

As a 2016 Boren Scholar, Geise traveled to Jaipur, India, and worked with the NGO Kumarappa Institute of Gram Swaraj. She studied Hindi, researched concepts about rural youth in India and helped run an organic vegetable market.

The following year, she was awarded an undergraduate research internship from the National Science Foundation and worked in a biogeochemistry lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Washington, D.C. With her sights set on a career in international development, this 2018 Fulbright Scholar will get one step closer to that goal as she returns to India this year to research agricultural soil contaminated by polluted irrigation water.

Tyler Plum, BS, wildlife and fisheries resources

Research, leadership and outreach were cornerstones of Tyler Plum’s undergraduate career.

As a recipient of the Myles Natural Resources Undergraduate Student Enhancement Grant and a winner of an NSF undergraduate research award, Plum had the unique opportunity to work closely with a faculty member on genetics research on lake sturgeon and study chemical accumulation in a small shark species, the smooth dogfish, respectively.

This Shinnston native served in various leadership roles with the WVU Student Subunit of the American Fisheries Society, WVU Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society and WVU Chapter of Society of Conservation Biology.

Plum, who hopes to one day work as a shark ecologist and marine fisheries scientist, offers the following wisdom to the class of graduates: “Be involved — it is not too late! The WVU wildlife and fisheries family I’ve found here is irreplaceable, and I met each and every one of them as a direct result of my involvement in research and student organizations.

“Passion, above all else, drives change, and it will be the source of your greatest satisfaction.”

Morgan Campbell, BS, energy land management

Hard work was no stranger to Morgan Campbell, who worked as a geographic information systems assistant for WVU and an intern for DPS Land Services during his undergraduate career.

“Through the job (with DPS), I’ve met a lot of different people and have negotiated leases with over 100 landowners,” he said. “I’ve tried to learn something from each one of those experiences to better myself and my professional career.”

The Virginia native also minored in business administration and GIS and was a member of the WVU Energy Land Management Association. As a recipient of the Myles Natural Resources Undergraduate Student Enhancement Grant, Campbell was able to work on analyzing the development of Marcellus shale using GIS. His advice to incoming freshmen: “Ask questions.”

Rosalynn Andrade, BS, animal and nutritional sciences

Rachel Wattick, BS, human nutrition and food

As she looks back on her time as an undergraduate student, Wattick, a Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, native, can recall two meaningful experiences at WVU that helped define her academic and career goals.

She traveled to Nicaragua her sophomore yearw with WVU’s Global Medical and Dental Brigades to provide medical and dental care and construct public health infrastructure to prevent illnesses seen in clinics. The life-changing trip opened her eyes to the importance of a holistic approach to healthcare.

Conducting research with Melissa Olfert, associate professor of human

nutrition and foods, in the Lifestyle Intervention Research Lab combined Wattick’s two interest areas — nutrition and public health — and helped her uncover a passion for communitybased research.

Now pursuing a graduate degree in social and behavioral sciences at the WVU School of Public Health, Wattick shares this advice: “It’s OK to not know exactly where you fit in, and the time will come when you find that out and everything falls into place.”

Marissa Jefferson, BS, interior design

When looking back on her time as an undergraduate, Jefferson knows she may not have experienced everything life at WVU has to offer. But, the Waldorf, Maryland, native still has plenty of fond memories.

To gain design experience and a greater understanding of other cultures, Jefferson spent a semester abroad studying in London.

"The Interior Design program at WVU is unique in the sense that studying abroad is part of the curriculum," she said. "The English culture is quite like ours, but there are also many unique differences. England also has an incredible architectural history."

She also had the privilege of being a member of the Mountaineer Marching Band.

For the piccolo player, the band was the primary reason she chose to study at WVU. “It has been such a rewarding experience," Jefferson said. "Not many people can say they experienced what it feels like to run out of the tunnels on game day into a stadium full of Mountaineer fans!”

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For Rosalynn Andrade, WVU provided her with incredible service opportunities that changed her as a person and helped refine her career goals.

She spent time in Costa Rica and Nicaragua providing healthcare services with VIA: Medical, Dental and Veterinary Volunteers Abroad. She also participated in a rehabilitation externship at the Lackland Air Force Base Working Dog Hospital in Texas.

Those experiences helped her uncover a passion for preventative medicine and a love for rehabilitation, both of which were driving forces in her choice to pursue her veterinary medicine degree at the University of Tennessee.

Looking to the future, Andrade didn’t hesitate when asked what problem she wants to solve.

“I want to help remove each and every species from the endangered species list.”

A lofty goal, yes, but it’s something she’s passionate about. “In many ways, it is our fault that so many animals have snuck onto a list that is usually a death sentence for their species,” she said. “I want to use my knowledge of public health and preventative medicine to develop programs to protect the remaining species until they are plentiful enough to be removed from that list.

I also want to use my knowledge of reproductive physiology to reproduce animals in the womb of surrogates to bring back species who have recently gone extinct.”

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Poultry Powerhouse New feed mill will increase poultry feed research

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WRITTEN BY JULIE CRYSER PHOTOGRAPHED BY M.G. ELLIS

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THREE-TIME DAVIS COLLEGE GRADUATE KELLEY WAMSLEY IN THE H.H. LEVECK ANIMAL RESEARCH CENTER AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY, WHERE SHE SERVES AS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POULTRY NUTRITION. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID AMMON, MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY.

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School of Agriculture and Food Kelley Wamsley will be the first to tell you that she owes her career to the Poultry Research program at the Davis College.

“No other research laboratory in the country (and to my knowledge the world) is producing the quantity and quality of feed manufacture research, as well as the students trained in this specialty,” said Wamsley, who entered the College as a freshman from Raleigh County in 2005.

Now an assistant professor of poultry nutrition at Mississippi State and having earned her undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Davis College in Animal and Nutritional Sciences, Wamsley said recent upgrades to the WVU Feed Mill will allow the research program to grow.

“The new enhancements to the current mill will undoubtedly benefit students of WVU, WVU’s stakeholders, as well as the poultry industry and feed manufacturers across the world with trained individuals and sound research in order to make informed decisions about their costly investment,” she said.

Americans consume more than 100 pounds of poultry each year, and poultry production is the number-one agricultural commodity in West Virginia. In the spring, the Davis College dedicated the new WVU Feed Mill, providing a state-of the-art research facility that will result in timely research that will ultimately provide an abundant, affordable and safe food supply.

“The new feed mill has given our laboratory the capability of conditioning feed for an extended period of time and holding conditioned feed at an elevated temperature for a continued period of time to eliminate potential feed ingredient pathogens,” said Joseph Moritz, professor of poultry science and the WVU Extension specialist for feed manufacture and poultry science.

Moritz’s research is also incredibly important to West Virginia.

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ANGELA LAMP, WEIRTON NATIVE AND DOCTORAL STUDENT, INSPECTS EQUIPMENT BEFORE MAKING PELLETED FEED.

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PRESIDENT GEE (WHITE LAB COAT) CELEBRATES THE OPENING OF THE NEW FEED MILL WITH FACULTY AND STUDENTS.

“We run an applied research program in feed manufacture and poultry nutrition that allows for research conclusions to be immediately applied to industry practice,” he said.

“Approximately 2 million broilers and 12,000 tons of feed are produced weekly in the state.”

Moritz was trained in nutrition and feed manufacture at Ohio State and Kansas State. He joined the faculty at WVU in 2002. His primary research focus is on nutritional consequences of feed manufacture.

Moritz’s laboratory has published more than 50 peerreviewed journal articles and presented research at numerous regional, national and international meetings. He has been the major advisor to 26 students who have earned their master’s degree and five students who have earned their doctorates. He prides himself on having a student-centered research program.

“Our primary research focus has been and continues to be demonstrating that proper feed manufacture rests on a threelegged stool,” Moritz said.

Thermal processes associated with making feed pellets must allow for: proper pellet binding increased or maintained nutrient digestibility mitigation of pathogens contained in feed ingredients.

“This seems to be a delicate balance, and much more research is required to fully understand variable interactions of processing to achieve all three goals,” Moritz said.

Equipment donations from CPM Acquisition, Scott Equipment Co., the Essmueller Co. Inc., as well as donated engineering from WL Port-Land Systems, made the new feed mill possible. The American Feed Industry Association, represented by Joel Newman, the organization’s CEO and Davis alumnus, presented the plans for the mill to manufacturers. Individuals and other corporations also donated toward installation.

SHAWN GRUSHECKY, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENERGY LAND MANAGEMENT, DISCUSSES HOW THE NEW FEED MILL OPERATES WITH FACULTY AND STUDENTS.

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Since the new feed mill with the help of graduate came on line in the spring, students and undergraduate “ The new enhancements to the current companies have started obtaining mill will undoubtedly benefit students of students clamoring for research. research hours. I also WVU, WVU's stakeholders, as well as the Already Moritz has worked utilize information from with at least three different poultry industry and feed manufacturers my research program in my feed enzyme companies undergraduate teaching.” across the world with trained that are interested in the Wamsley can attest individuals and sound research in order ability of their products to to the importance of the withstand increased thermal research to her career. to make informed decisions about their processing while still “My education costly investment.” maintaining healthy birds. in nutrition and feed — Kelley Wamsley “We are also working manufacture was vital to with a pellet binding getting my job. It was product that would allow for lower feed conditioning essential to setting me apart in a job interview and has given temperatures with potential to increase amino acid me a niche research/teaching/service subject that I can speak digestibility,” said Moritz, whose program attracts more than to that not many others have,” she said. $200,000 a year in sponsored research.

Wamsley teaches a course in feed manufacturing at The upgrades allow Moritz’s research to remain current and Mississippi State University. She said she was thankful for the relevant in the changing feed manufacture environment. New opportunities that she was afforded at the Davis College to do commercial mills are being constructed that will use similar undergraduate research and to earn a Certificate in University technologies. The new mill will also assist with his teaching.

Teaching in Animal and Food Science at the graduate level.

Moritz instructs approximately 180 undergraduates per year.

“If it weren’t for my training at WVU,” she said, “I would not “My research and teaching programs have a high degree of be as effective as a teacher or researcher.” overlap,” he said. “All of my research projects are conducted

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Faculty Research

Solar attraction WRITTEN BY NIKKY LUNA

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Attitude determines everything, and it can play a significant role when it comes to solar energy — as one group of WVU researchers has discovered.

At a time when West Virginia University and its statewide partners are working to advance our state’s economic future, one group of WVU researchers has taken an important first step in better understanding why corporations invest in solar energy in some states, but not others — namely, West Virginia.

Across the country, there has been a substantial increase of solar panel installations by corporate firms, helping make solar the fastest growing electricity generation sector in the nation.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the total amount of solar capacity installed by corporations from 2002 to 2015 is approximately 6,250 megawatts — enough to power the equivalent of one million homes per year.

Despite this surge in solar, not one installation by a corporate firm has occurred in West Virginia.

With support from The Nature Conservancy, three WVU researchers investigated the issue — Levan Elbakidze, associate professor of resource economics and management; Jed Cohen, former postdoctoral researcher and senior researcher at the Energy Institute of Johannes Kepler University; and Randy Jackson, director of the WVU Regional Research Institute.

“Our main project objective was to better understand why corporations, or commercial firms, choose to install solar, with a focus on West Virginia,” Elbakidze said. “Even neighboring states with similar insolation rates (levels of exposure to the sun), like Pennsylvania and Ohio, have seen a rise in commercial solar installations.”

To address the issue, they assessed multiple factors that influence a

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firm’s decision-making process, first examining state-level policies, financial incentive programs, market size and other key factors directly linked to quantifiable incentives.

“In addition to federal policies and programs like the clean power plan, production and investment tax credits, states have initiated various policies and programs to encourage renewable energy generation and solar energy generation, in particular,” Cohen said.

One of the most prominent policies is the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires a proportion of electricity to be generated from renewable sources.

It can be paired with a “solar carve-out” specification, requiring that a portion of the renewable energy source be solar.

Some states have implemented various financial incentive policies, including tax incentives and feed-intariffs. The latter, also known as FITs,

guarantee payments to energy users for each kilowatt produced using solar technology.

They determined that some statelevel policies can affect solar installation on commercial properties, though that didn’t come as much of a surprise.

“Generally speaking, if you properly incentivize people to do things, they typically do them,” Elbakidze said. “It’s not that surprising, and it applies in the context of solar, too.”

However, possibly due to the wide variance of policy specification from state to state, Elbakidze also noted that some of the results weren’t statistically significant.

The most thought-provoking discovery was linked to electric vehicle ownership.

“We found that states with higher per capita ownership of electric vehicles tend to be the states that have higher

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COMMERCIAL SOLAR CAPACITY INSTALLED AND NUMBER OF INSTALLS BY YEAR FROM FULL SEIA DATA.

COMMERCIAL SOLAR CAPACITY INSTALLED 2002-2015 (SEIA, 2016).

installation of solar panels by commercial entities,” Elbakidze said.

According to Elbakidze, it doesn’t mean one causes the other, but it is an interesting correlation that revealed one possible interpretation of the results.

Corporations’ decisions to install solar on their properties is correlated with statelevel ownership rates of personal electric vehicles, which may be due to underlying environmental attitudes and/or policies that support both outcomes.

“If businesses can say ‘we’re carbon neutral’ or ‘we’re going green,’ then perhaps they can be more attractive to customers, which may work in places like California, where commercial installations have been the highest,” Elbakidze continued.

In West Virginia, it’s estimated that the rate of personal electric car ownership in 2015 was 0.18 per 1,000 people compared with 0.45, 0.49, 0.98, 0.6 and 0.21 in the surrounding states

of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky, respectively.

Their study takes an important first step for researchers, policy experts and analysts by being among the first to explicitly examine the factors that potentially influence corporations as they pertain to solar technology investments.

In the past, research has primarily focused on residential solar adoption.

Consequently, this information could be useful in helping shape decisions related to energy.

“Generally, I think clean energy sources are good to have,” he said. “In addition to job creation — from training, installing and maintaining solar panels — they can help diversify the economy and generate tax revenues. But, you have to also consider the tradeoffs — so, at the expense of the what?”

There are many factors to consider at the state and corporate levels, particularly in West Virginia where,

despite being ranked as the largest coal producer east of the Mississippi River in 2016 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the loss of coal jobs has had a major impact on West Virginia’s people and economy.

Emerging research, combined with other multidisciplinary strategies, will hopefully help light the way as the West Virginia Forward movement continues.

And, in the meantime, Elbakidze’s attitude and aspirations for the state remain bright.

When asked about his hopes for West Virginia, he responded optimistically, “That we’ll get lots of sunny days and find ways to grow and diversify the state’s economy to provide good jobs, healthcare and education.”

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PHOTO BY MICAH GREGORY

Hands-on learning and expanded research opportunities at WVU are contributing to the momentous rise of the maple industry.

WRITTEN BY NIKKY LUNA PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRIAN PERSINGER

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School of Natural Resources

STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO SPLICE IN DROP LINES THAT RUN FROM THE TAPPED TREES TO THE CENTRAL COLLECTION POINT.

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When Jamie Schuler joined the Davis College faculty in 2012, he never expected that his idea to create a new course would lead to a swell of research activity centered on one of the state’s fastest growing industries and sweetest commodities: maple syrup.

Although he’d grown up around maple syrup producers, the New York native had never made syrup himself. But, soon after arriving in Morgantown, he learned about the University Farm Woodlot, a 107-acre tract located next to the Animal Sciences Farm that was being used primarily for recreation — and that’s where Schuler saw an opportunity.

“There happened to be a lot of sugar maple in that area, so I thought, ‘if we’re not going to use this property for any income generation, there are lots of opportunities to use it for other products,” said Schuler, associate professor of silviculture.

So, he developed Sugarbush Management and Maple Syrup Production, the first semester-long course of its kind in the Division of Forestry and Natural Resources.

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“This seemed like a fun, novel thing,” he said. “There was a resource here just waiting to be utilized, so I thought I’d give it a shot and make it a fun class.”

With support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant program, which exists to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops, and the WVU Davis College School of Natural Resources, Schuler was able to purchase a modest building and all the equipment needed to create a small-scale commercial operation.

And, as it turned out, the hands-on course, which became a spring semester offering to align with maple syrup season, was not only fun, but surprising for some.

“It’s an awesome class,” said Scott Ziegler, forest resources management senior. “Though, I was surprised at how much work it was. From the setup to boiling it all off and creating the final product, it’s quite a process and takes a long time to do this stuff.”

From the time students got out of class, they would head out to the Woodlot to check the tubing, collect sap and tend

to the wood fire stove as they boiled the sap, drawing off the thicker, concentrated syrup. The process can take hours, so they would typically work in shifts.

Ziegler, who grew up in Marshall, Virginia, was also surprised to learn about the potential for syrup production in West Virginia.

“I didn’t realize how big of an industry it is and how well it could work in the state, looking at the statistics of species, the topography and other aspects,” he said.

According to the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA), West Virginia has one of the fastest growing maple industries in the U.S. During the 2017 season, West Virginia maple producers made 9,000 gallons of syrup, representing a 33 percent increase from 2016 — the same year the Mountain State was included in the National Maple Survey, indicating its formal recognition by the USDA as a maple-producing state.

And, given that West Virginia ranks sixth in the country in terms of total “tappable” maples (more than Vermont!), maple industry growth seems inevitable.

With maple’s momentum, Schuler thought it was time to start investing more in research and educational programming.

“What affects our producers is not the same thing that affects producers up there,” he said, referring to New England — the area that likely comes to mind first for most people when thinking about maple.

“Our climate and weather patterns are different, our season is probably different, and these warm spells that we get probably have a longer term impact on our production,” he continued. “So, we’ve recognized that we ought to start investing in research specific to our state and region.”

IN 2015, THE USDA ESTABLISHED A NEW MAPLE SYRUP GRADING SYSTEM, RETIRING ITS FIVE-GRADE SYSTEM. DAVIS .W VU. E DU

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Faculty Research

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A CENTRAL LINE RUNS THROUGH THE WOODS TO THE COLLECTION TANK. PICTURED: JAMIE SCHULER AND EVAN ADAMSON, FOREST RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SENIOR.

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Schuler worked with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture to apply for a grant from the Acer Access and Development program, which supports the efforts of qualified organizations to promote the domestic syrup industry. In 2017, the WVDA was awarded $203,716, and, as part the grant, WVU Davis College would serve as a key partner.

One of the products to come out of the grant is a website that promotes research, pools resources and formally establishes the Southern Syrup Research Institute, a research and education program housed at WVU. “It will be ‘all things maple,’ promoting the research we’re doing and providing educational resources while targeting the challenges associated with producers in the southern portion of the commercial sugar maple range,” Schuler said.

“We’ll also use it to promote products and announce related

workshops or seminars. It will be a clearinghouse for a lot of the work we’re doing.”

Another outcome of the grant is the Southern Syrup Research Symposium, hosted by the WVDA, WVU Davis College, WVU Extension Service, West Virginia Maple Syrup Producers Association, University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center, Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment and the Kentucky Maple Syrup Producers Association. The inaugural event was held September 28-29 in Summersville.

“Our goal, with respect to the Symposium and moving forward, is to bring together researchers and producers from the southern area while building a good partnership with experts from the north. It's definitely a cooperative effort.”

FROM SWEET TO SWOT For Scott Ziegler and Mason Kauffman, forest resources management seniors, Sugarbush Management and Maple Syrup Production was their introduction to maple syrup-making.

“I learned how a sugar bush operation is run and how to do large-scale tapping for profit, as well as for a hobby,” said Kauffman. “It was interesting to learn that you can make syrup from more than just maple trees — like walnut, box elder, sycamore, birch and other species.”

“Every year, I give them a piece where it starts from scratch — so no infrastructure,” Schuler said. “They run the lines, figure out where the central collection line is going to go up through the woods and how everything feeds into that. Then, once that’s all put together, figuring out what to do with it.”

And, it doesn't stop there. Fast forward through hours of collecting and boiling gallons of sap and transporting it back to campus.

“I also ask them to make a value-added product,” Schuler explained. “Some people make coated nuts, cookies or other baked goods. The weirdest one this year was venison bologna with maple, which was actually pretty good.

As they transition to the final phase of the course, they conduct a financial assessment.

“We keep track of our costs — annualizing a lot of the equipment costs — and look at how much syrup we made and how much we can sell it for,” Schuler explained. “Then that leads into a SWOT analysis. I make them forget that we’re operating at a university and, instead, pretend it’s a private operation.”

To Schuler, the takeaway should be more than just knowing how to “stick the tubes together” or learning what causes the sap to flow.

“Once they go through the course, they should be able to think about this as if this were their own operation on private land,” he said. “I think that’s better than a written final exam.”

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Faculty Research

Helping communities understand and survive the coal decline WRITTEN BY JULIE CRYSER

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It’s difficult to address economic problems if you don’t understand them and in West Virginia and surrounding states, no economic problem looms larger than what to do with displaced coal employees.

Peter Schaeffer, a professor of resource economics and management in the Davis College, and a group of researchers from WVU, the University of Tennessee and Catholic University of America, set out to analyze the Appalachian coal industry ecosystem and help policy makers more clearly understand the impact of the loss of coal jobs on the people of West Virginia.

The nearly $350,000 study, supported by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), covered a variety of areas, including replacement employment and the effect on educational funding. Schaeffer’s research focused on the human capital aspect of the coal ecosystem. He partnered with Matthew N. Murray, a professor of economics from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“The research deals comprehensively with one of the major industry systems in this part of Appalachia and for that reason is potentially important far beyond the boundaries of West Virginia,” Schaeffer said. “The western counties of Maryland and Virginia, eastern counties of Ohio, the coal regions of Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Tennessee are affected.

Even Alabama has a small but growing coal industry.”

The research shows how different industries are connected to each other.

For example, the decline of the coal industry strongly negatively impacts part of Appalachia’s transportation system, particularly rail and trucking.

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Traffic on some rail lines may decline to the point where they might be abandoned, an event unlikely to be reversed. The implication of rail line abandonment negatively impacts how attractive the affected regions would be for industries that depend on rail transportation.

A second finding was the relatively low movement of workers between major industries. This is a problem when one industry shrinks. Established employment links between industries would make it easier for laid-off workers to be absorbed into employment in other industries.

“The research is needed to document changes to the coal ecosystem so communities better understand their unique impacts and craft economic development solutions that are targeted to their area,” said Kostas Skordas, director of the Division of Planning and Research for the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“Understanding region-wide impacts is important, but more critical for local leaders is understanding how their local economy has been affected.”

This series of five ARC-commissioned reports explores some of the current and potential impacts of Appalachia’s declining coal production on elements of the coal ecosystem, including production and employment, supply chain industries, transportation, electric power generation and human capital. These are critical for understanding the breadth and depth of coal impacts across and within the Appalachian Region.

Results from the research have been used to guide community-based requests for the POWER Initiative (arc. gov/power). POWER (Partnerships

PETER SCHAEFFER

for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization) is a Congressionally funded initiative that targets federal resources to help communities and regions that have been affected by job losses in coal mining, coal power plant operations and coal-related supply chain industries due to the changing economics of America’s energy production.

“The POWER Initiative supports efforts to create a more vibrant economic future for coal-impacted communities by cultivating economic diversity, enhancing job training and re-employment opportunities, creating jobs in existing or new industries and attracting new sources of investment,” Skordas said.

A fish tale

For years, a team of West Virginia University researchers has been working alongside the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources to restore and protect native brook trout in our state’s watersheds.

The official state fish of West Virginia — and the only trout species native to its streams — brook trout are excellent indicators of water quality, as they live and reproduce in only the coldest and purest streams.

Throughout the state, however, their habitats and populations have been compromised by a variety of circumstances.

“For nearly a decade the WVU Natural Resource Analysis Center has been closely partnered with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) in stream restoration and habitat enhancements on cold water fisheries,” said Paul Kinder, director of NRAC. “In particular, our work has focused on the brook trout, as they are the only native trout species in the state and their presence in streams indicates very healthy watersheds in terms of chemistry, temperature and habitat.”

Although stream restoration and habitat enhancements are an ongoing process, as progress is made

researchers have turned attention to protecting and expanding native brook trout populations.

Late last fall, DNR biologists briefly captured several native brook trout from a small stream in Hampshire County. The breeding-size fish were stripped of eggs and milt (the sperm-containing fluid) and quickly returned to the water.

The fertilized eggs were delivered to aquaculture facilities at Reymann Memorial Farm in Wardensville, allowing scientists to successfully hatch and raise the young trout to fingerling size over the course of several months.

“In order to produce brook trout from green eggs you need a substantial source of cold, clean water, and a facility possessing the necessary equipment to hold and secure the fish at different life stages before you can repatriate them to acceptable streams,” said Brandon Keplinger, fisheries biologist with the West Virginia DNR. According to Jerry Yates, manager of the Reymann Memorial Farm, the aquaculture facility is versatile and was developed with multiple purposes in mind.

“We have hatched eggs here before and had the equipment, facility and expertise available to assist the WVDNR with this great project,” Yates

said. “We specifically used specialized trays for incubation of the eggs, providing fresh, clean spring water at a constant flow rate.”

After hatching and developing beyond the larval stage, the fish were moved to small specialized tanks where they are carefully fed and nurtured.

“After they grew to about one-half to one-inch long we moved them to a larger tank and began transitioning their diet to a more natural feedstuffs — flies, bugs and meal worms,” he explained. “The whole process took almost eight months to complete.”

On May 25, officials released the fingerlings into a tributary of the Cacapon River, a watershed that lost its native brook trout population years ago.

According to Keplinger, the decision to stock fingerlings has been a wellthought-out process.

“DNR initially stocked hatchery-raised trout, but they didn’t reproduce well,” he said. “We also tried taking adult native brook trout from one stream and putting them in another, but this depleted the trout population of the donor stream and increased the chance of transferring harmful bacteria to the new stream.

Stocking fingerling trout appears to have been successful.”

DAVIS .W VU. E DU

WRITTEN BY LINDSAY WILLEY

WVU and West Virginia Division of Natural Resources scientists expand efforts to restore and protect native brook trout populations.

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A ROADMAP TO SUCCESS Two Davis College faculty members pilot program to transform rural education in West Virginia.

WRITTEN BY LINDSAY WILLEY

In November 2017, Emily Perdue and Jason McKibben stood on the gym floor of Van High School looking out into a crowd of almost 1,000 people.

It was a Wednesday night and, traditionally, many of those people would be in church.

But when members of the Van, West Virginia, community heard representatives from West Virginia University would be in town to propose a new pilot educational program, churches moved their services to Tuesday.

People arrived by the busloads — and the informational meeting was standing room only.

The WVU team wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming interest and immediate support for the program they proposed; however, they returned to Morgantown knowing they had found the perfect partners.

This fall, Perdue, an Extension specialist in 4-H youth agriculture, and McKibben, assistant professor of agricultural and extension education, launched West Virginia P20, a pilot program that establishes an early college and STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics) Academy in Boone County’s Van School District.

The goal of the program is to work with rural youth to help them prepare for, attend and ultimately graduate from high school with an associate’s degree and go on to a four-year institution to earn a college degree. At the same time, they will be developing work-force ready students in the fields of agriculture, forestry and natural resources.

Within the program’s framework, students, teachers and the community are empowered to help the young people become stronger learners through educational initiatives like Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) and youth development programs like FFA and 4-H. Students learn a skill that can become a career through career and technical education at local community colleges. They also learn how to be innovators by conducting research-based STEM projects starting as elementary students.

“It’s amazing what can happen when students are shown that they have the power to learn, teachers have the ability to empower them, and communities expect and demand students to be innovators,” McKibben said. “Schools were once the centers of our communities. They are where we look for our local identity; they help us raise our children, and they are the only place we can make true and lasting change for our communities.”

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School of Design and Community Development ROADMAP FOR SUCCESS

The WV P20 educational system is modeled after the highly successful Roscoe Independent Collegiate School District in Roscoe, Texas.

While pursuing her doctorate degree in agricultural leadership, education and communications at Texas A&M University, Perdue, a West Virginia native and WVU alumna, was introduced to the educational model and, more importantly, came to truly believe in its ability to help students succeed.

The state of Texas has a long history of supporting a STEMbased educational model as well as early college programs, but Roscoe ISD is unique.

“What makes Roscoe’s P20 program different is its incorporation of teacher and student development and support as well as its inclusion of Extension programs like 4-H,” Perdue said.

Perdue was inspired by the program.

In fact, during her oral exams at the end of her graduate program, one of Perdue’s advisors posed an important question: “If you could work anywhere, do anything you want and have all imaginable resources available to you, what would you do?”

For her, the answer was easy.

“I said I would move back to West Virginia and implement P20,” she said. “At the time, I thought it was a softball question to lighten the atmosphere and stress of oral exams. I had no idea that several years later I would be working for WVU Extension and working to fulfill a dream.”

CHALLENGE OF CHANGE

Boone County was once one of the state’s top coalproducing counties. Mining jobs were plentiful and the economy was thriving. Over the years, the steady decline of the

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PRESIDENT GEE MEETS WITH FACULTY FROM AUBURN UNIVERSITY, BOARD MEMBERS FROM THE VAN SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND STATE GOVERNMENT LEADERS PRIOR TO A KICKOFF EVENT FOR WV P20.

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EMILY PERDUE

coal industry has negatively impacted the county’s finances and its school system.

In 2016, the county struggled to pay its teachers and to keep some schools open and ended the fiscal year with a $4.5 million deficit.

While the school system has made great progress, announcing a projected $7-7.5 million in reserves for fiscal year 2017-18, there is still a lot of work to be done — and the WVU team hopes to provide to provide the county, its teachers and students with a hand up.

Soon after returning to her alma mater in 2015, Perdue began garnering support and researching how to implement a pilot program in West Virginia — and it’s been a challenge.

“It’s taken almost three years to get where we are now,” she said. “In Texas, school districts are independent from each other and the superintendent has some autonomy and control of what happens in his/her district. In West Virginia, however, the school districts are by county, which made it more difficult to implement a program like this. It took time to navigate the various components of the school system.”

There was also the added challenge of selecting a school to partner with.

WVU PRESIDENT E. GORDON GEE TALKS WITH STUDENTS FROM THE VAN SCHOOL DISTRICT DURING A KICKOFF EVENT FOR WV P20.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she said. “It just felt like we had found our home.”

The community relationships and support for the program are invaluable because, at its core, WV P20 is a community development and empowerment program.

“That’s why we gave it the tagline ‘A model for student, teacher, and community success,ʼ” Perdue said.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

According to McKibben and Perdue, the WV P20 system has seven key components that provide a meaningful connection between hands-on experiential learning with situated learning and career opportunities in and outside the classroom.

DAVIS .W VU. E DU

“Selecting a school was difficult and time consuming because there are so many factors that go into it,” Perdue said. “We really wanted to find a school system where the elementary, middle and high schools were in close proximity.”

Five counties, including Boone, made the short list.

“The P20 and early college model is new for West Virginia, and change is really scary,” Perdue said. “For whichever county was selected, it was extremely important for the community to buy into and take ownership of the program. It couldn’t be viewed as WVU coming in and trying to take over the schools.”

On the heels of the overwhelming support WVU received from the community during its informational meeting, Perdue knew the Van School District would be a perfect partner.

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School of Design and Community Development “These projects will be ‘real’ in nature and involve current research being conducted by University and Extension faculty that’s important to the local community, ecosystem and economy,” Perdue said. “Students will have the opportunity to help answer the ‘big questions’ that drive discovery and innovation.”

Under the research umbrella, students will complete a large, academically rigorous capstone project during their senior year and, hopefully, continue to conduct research in college.

“The research experience has been shown to enhance undergraduate instruction,” McKibben said. “The expectation is students, once indoctrinated into the reality of research, will continue that into their undergraduate program.”

DUAL CREDIT PRESIDENT GEE HUGS AND TALKS WITH VAN JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL CLASS PRESIDENT DURING A KICKOFF EVENT FOR WV P20.

AVID STUDENT SUCCESS AND READINESS

Established more than 35 years ago, AVID is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and other postsecondary opportunities.

“To put it simply, AVID trains educators to use proven practices in order to prepare students for success in high school, college and a career — especially students traditionally underrepresented in higher education,” McKibben explained.

Those proven practices include teaching skills and behaviors for academic success, promoting strong student-teacher relationships, creating positive peer groups for students, and fostering a sense of hope for personal achievement through hard work and determination.

Through dual enrollment classes, every high school student will take courses that translate into college credit.

Local educators will be credentialed through Southern Community Technical College or the WVU System to offer college course credit and, if qualified teachers are not available, distance education technology will be employed.

The end result?

“The collaboration between institutions of higher education and the Van School District will allow students to complete an associate’s degree while still in high school,” Perdue said.

IN-SCHOOL 4-H

According to Perdue, every student in the Van School district will be enrolled in a full 4-H program and, beginning in third grade, will conduct 4-H based research projects each year through their senior year of high school.

“Operating for more than 100 years, 4-H is an application-based youth development program dedicated to positive development of rural youth,” she said. “Designed to connect rural youth to each other, the program helps build a sense of community that is imperative to keeping rural economies stable.”

CONDUCTING RESEARCH WITH WVU AND EXTENSION FACULTY

S PR I N G 2 0 1 8

In addition to a yearly 4-H-based research project, students will participate in an interdisciplinary research project in partnership with faculty at WVU, WVU Extension and other regional institutions.

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JASON MCKIBBEN

p20 A model for student, teacher, and community success.

On Job Training School Based LLC Industry Certification Dual Credit

Research with Extension/University Scientists (COALs)

On-Job-Training School Based LLC

CS UG Research Grad Research

In School 4-H AVID Student Success and Readiness

Dual Credit

Industry Certification Kinder

3rd

9th

12th

BS/BA MS/MA

Instructional Rounds Professional Development

Research with Extension/University Scientists (COALs)

CS UG Research

Grad Research

In-School 4-H AVID Student Success and Readiness

Emily Perdue, Ph.D. Emily.Perdue@mail.wvu.edu ©Jason D McKibben, Ph.D. Jason.McKibben@mail.wvu.edu

Kinder

3rd

9th

12th

BS/BA

MS/MA

Instructional Rounds Professional Development

STRUCTURE OF THE WV P20 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

It’s an effort to lower one of the hurdles to pursuing a college degree.

“Let’s face it, the real cost of education isn’t tuition. It’s living expenses,” McKibben added. “That is the real barrier to higher education for most rural kids. Most rural kids don’t live within driving distance of a university, so they have to get an apartment or live in the dorms. If we can get kids 60 hours — half of their undergraduate classes out of the way — they can hit the ground hard when they get to a four-year school. And, if they push just a little, something the AVID and the P20 system teaches them to do, they can finish out in just a few semesters. That cuts the ‘real’ cost of college in half.”

To round out the system, every student will participate in career and technical education that leads to an industry recognized certification, and participate in on-the-job training to develop skills needed for success in today’s job market.

“Part of the idea of empowerment is to help teachers help themselves and each other be the best educators they can,” McKibben said. “They have the training and experience to push our kids farther than they think possible. P20 tries to help teachers hone those skills.”

As the pilot program gets off the ground, both faculty members are enjoying watching it gain momentum.

With hard work, determination and a little bit of luck, the success of the WV P20 system in Boone County has a chance to put West — Emily Perdue Virginia on the cutting edge of rural education in America.

“Without our young people, we have no community. They are inventors of our future,” McKibben said. “It’s going to be up to them to set our state up; our job is to make sure we give them the tools to make it somewhere to be proud of.”

“I SAID I WOULD MOVE BACK TO WEST VIRGINIA AND IMPLEMENT P20.

I HAD NO IDEA THAT SEVERAL YEARS LATER I WOULD BE WORKING FOR WVU EXTENSION AND WORKING TO FULFILL A DREAM.”

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Supporting Student Success

Investing in student success Farm Credit gift supports value-added experiences for WVU Davis College students.

WRITTEN BY JULIE CRYSER

JACOB DOLENCE, DAVIS COLLEGE VALUE-ADDED EXPERIENCE PROGRAM COORDINATOR, HAS A PASSION FOR TRAINING FUTURE LEADERS.

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A recent gift of $500,000 from Farm Credit of the Virginias will help to ensure WVU Davis College students continue to have access to value-added experiences — outside the classroom internships, research opportunities and study abroad — that enhance their college experience.

“Farm Credit’s mission is to be an engaged partner in our rural communities. Supporting young agriculturalists helps us to ensure our industry’s future by encouraging these individuals to pursue what they are passionate about. Without experiences such as these, it is challenging to determine a specific area of interest in such a broad industry. Tomorrowʼs ag. leaders are todayʼs ag. students and beginning farmers. Investing in today’s youth is one of the smartest decisions we can make. These experiences will help mold and develop them into wellrounded and experienced individuals which businesses look for when

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hiring,” commented Farm Credit’s CEO, Peery Heldreth.

The gift also allows the WVU Davis College to hire a Farm Credit of the Virginia’s Value-Added Experience Program Coordinator, whose salary will be paid entirely by the financial institution for two years.

In late July, Jacob Dolence joined the College as our first value-added experience coordinator.

The Wyoming native earned his bachelor’s degree in natural resource recreation and tourism and a graduate certificate in environmental education from the University of Idaho. He then went on to receive a master’s degree in sustainable communities from Northern Arizona University (NAU).

Dolence credits the opportunities he had — and the inspirational professors he connected with — as a student at the University of Idaho, the state’s landgrant institution, with shaping him as a person and propelling him into a career of helping students succeed.

On his journey to becoming a Mountaineer, Dolence won a business plan competition and founded an internet company to help college students buy and sell cheaper textbooks. Prior to joining Northern Arizona University, he served two terms as an AmeriCorps volunteer teaching field-based science to K-12 students.

During his seven years at NAU, Dolence was a teaching faculty member in the first-year student success program and, for the last three years of his tenure, directed the student innovation and entrepreneurship incubator, Boundaryless.

“I have a deep drive to help train the leaders of the future. It’s the potential I see in each student that motivates me the most,” he said. “I’m very excited about connecting Davis College students to value-added experiences that fit their interests and majors. I want to make sure they have the ability to grow their leadership, get practical work, research and project experience, and get out into the state, region and world ready to lead our communities and economies toward a vibrant future.”

Dolence is responsible for bringing under one umbrella all value-added experience programs to create synergy and leverage resources. The Davis College now has more than 20 funds that support value-added experiences for undergraduate and graduate students.

Save the Date Davis College Scholarship and Stewardship Dinner

WVU Davis College alumni can be found in all 55 West Virginia counties, every state and around the globe.

April 11, 2019 5 p.m. (reception) 6 p.m. (dinner) Join us as we celebrate the generosity of our donors and outstanding achievements of our students.

Location: Erickson Alumni Center 1 Alumni Drive Morgantown, WV 26504

Sincerely, David J. Workman, President, WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design Alumni Association DAVIS .W VU. E DU

Regardless of where they are on the map, you will find them making significant contributions, engaging in their communities and spreading the values that unite us. Our alumni are sharing the Mountaineer Spirit and representing our University and the Davis College in many ways.

I invite you to visit our alumni webpage (davisalumni.wvu.edu) and explore the many options there while learning about the accomplishments of fellow alumni. You can also learn about joining the Davis College Alumni Association or supporting scholarship opportunities for students.

Finally, explore the host of ways for you to stay connected and informed of the exciting things happening at our alma mater.

We are pleased to be joining with the Davis College to promote

and share some of the great things that are bringing current faculty, staff, students and alumni together in new ways. Join us for one of the popular tailgates before a Mountaineer football game and the Scholarship and Stewardship Recognition Banquet, when we celebrate the accomplishments of our distinguished alumni.

If you’re not already receiving the Davis College Connection, our monthly alumni e-news message, please sign up by emailing davisalumni@mail.wvu.edu. It is a way to stay up-to-date with events and connected to the place and people who have meant so much to us.

You’re also welcome to email me directly at djworkman@mail.wvu.edu if you have questions or would like to get more involved.

Best to each of you always, and “Let’s Go Mountaineers!”

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A State of Success 10-YEAR CAMPAIGN: July 1, 2007–December 31, 2017

8,890 $31.48 131% TOTAL NUMBER OF DONORS

TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED (IN MILLIONS)

AMOUNTS RAISED

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DONORS TO EACH DIVISION

$11.47 MILLION

4,869

DAVIS ADMINISTRATION

DAVIS ADMINISTRATION

$7.22 MILLION

1,695

ANIMAL AND NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES

ANIMAL AND NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES

$4.02 MILLION

585

SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

$4.13 MILLION

1,032

FORESTRY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

FORESTRY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

$4.35 MILLION

520

PLANT AND SOIL SCIENCES

PLANT AND SOIL SCIENCES

$0.28 MILLION

189

RESOURCE ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT

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RAISED OF $24 MILLION GOAL

RESOURCE ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT

The Davis College ended the State of Minds comprehensive campaign more than 130 percent over goal, reaching more than $31 million in gifts and pledges.

But most importantly, what the campaign ensured is that the College can provide more than 200 undergraduate and graduate student scholarships and value-added experience funds every year thanks to 49 new endowed and cash funds. The campaign paid for upgraded farm facilities that will allow us to boost our research, teaching and service missions. We now have five new graduate fellowships.

The impact of the campaign has been substantial. These additional funds will create the margin of excellence that puts our students at the forefront, providing a higher quality educational experience and new resources for research and teaching.

DAVIS ADMINISTRATION

ANIMAL AND NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES

SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

TOTAL NEW FUNDS: 40 TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 18 TOTAL NUMBER OF FELLOWSHIPS: 2

TOTAL NEW FUNDS: 19 TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 16 TOTAL NUMBER OF FELLOWSHIPS: 1

TOTAL NEW FUNDS: 19 TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 11

PLANT AND SOIL SCIENCES

FORESTRY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

RESOURCE ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT

TOTAL NEW FUNDS: 21 TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 4 TOTAL NUMBER OF FELLOWSHIPS: 1 TOTAL NUMBER OF PROFESSORSHIPS: 1

FUNDS

TOTAL NEW FUNDS: 40 TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 18 TOTAL NUMBER OF FELLOWSHIPS: 2

SCHOLARSHIPS

TOTAL NEW FUNDS: 2

FELLOWSHIPS

PROFESSORSHIPS DAVIS .W VU. E DU

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The Last Word with Ashleigh Nabers WRITTEN BY NIKKY LUNA

2017 MANRRS SUMMER SERVICE TOUR

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Professional development, networking opportunities and the opportunity to lead through service to others. Those are just a few of the reasons why Ashleigh Nabers, animal physiology graduate, chose to be involved with Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences. Known as “MANRRS,” the WVU student organization promotes and implements initiatives that foster inclusion and the advancement of members of ethnic and cultural groups who are underrepresented in agricultural and natural resource sciences, as well as in related fields.

Nabers was invited to join the organization shortly after starting in the master’s program. From developing character to shaping her as a lifelong learner and leader, the Louisiana native has no regrets about investing her time and talent in MANRRS.

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Q A

ow did you learn H about MANRRS, and why did you become involved?

While I’d heard of it during my undergraduate career, I had never been involved with it.

But, when I got to WVU, Dr. (Marlon) Knights approached me with the opportunity to be a part of this great organization. He was looking for people to help him get it off the ground since the chapter was relatively new. So that’s why I decided to join.

Why is MANRRS important?

I think it’s important to promote diversity within any given division or college, as well as within student organizations.

And, it’s equally significant to have representation in areas where minorities are underrepresented. MANRRS is all-

EACH YEAR, ANIMAL AND NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES MAJORS HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRAVEL TO TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FOR A SERVICELEARNING EXPERIENCE.

MEMBERS OF MANRRS ATTENDING THEIR FIRST NATIONAL CONFERENCE.

inclusive, so it’s also important to note that it isn’t just for minorities. It’s a space for all students to network and connect with people who look like you in the agricultural and related industries.

Tell me about a few of your favorite MANRRS-related memories?

The first is when I was community service chair, and we chose to volunteer for the Ronald McDonald House by preparing meals every Friday. We were able to bond with the guests and also each other. Our group was a mix of undergrads and graduate students, so, normally, we would never talk to each other, but this gave us a chance to get to know one another.

Navigating through your college experience can sometimes be difficult when you can’t see the big picture, but can only see what’s immediately in front of you, so for the graduate students, it also gave us a chance to be mentors to the undergrads.

My other favorite experience was our summer service tour in 2017. It was a lot of hard work, but it was amazing.

We went to seven different after-school and summer educational programs in communities all over West Virginia, focusing on some of the lower-income counties. We felt like we made such a huge impact teaching STEM and agriculture to these kids. It was just neat to see them learning about agriculture and science in a positive light, and maybe that experience will stick with them and they will want to be a science teacher when they grow up. You just never know what will influence kids.

What is your dream job?

My dream job is one where I get to wake up every day and have the ability to make a difference. I would love to work in an area where the focus is to lower our environmental impact.

How has WVU prepared you for the future?

WVU has prepared me for the future by equipping me with the necessary skills to walk in anywhere and do just about any job.

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENERGY ENVIRONMENTS Go further faster by earning a master’s degree in energy environments. With advanced coursework, ample research opportunities and practical, hands-on work, you’ll be prepared to succeed in the rapidlyexpanding global energy and environmental fields.

This flexible program offers a mix of foundational coursework in science, ethics, project management and natural resource economics.

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE “I chose to pursue this master’s degree because I can gain more experience in the natural resources field while also completing a graduate certificate in GIS and spatial analysis. After completing my bachelor’s in wildlife and fisheries resources, I wanted to branch out to another part of the natural resources field and become an expert in GIS.” – Sydney White ’18, BS, wildlife and fisheries resources

Contact Todd Petty, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs 304-293-2278 jtpetty@mail.wvu.edu Learn more at: davis.wvu.edu/future-students/graduate

DAVIS .W VU. E DU

READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP?

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Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design P.O. Box 6108 Morgantown, WV 26506-6108

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DAVIS is produced twice each year for the alumni, friends and other supporters of the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design.

Copyright ©2018 by the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design.

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