WVU Parkersburg welcomes new president, celebrates 15 years as WVU regional campus.

Attention, Editors:  President Gnage will be available for media interviews from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 1.

Contact: Connie Dziagwa, Communications and Public Relations, 424-8203.

West Virginia University at Parkersburg will welcome its new president and celebrate its 15^th year as a WVU regional campus on Thursday (July 1).

Dr. Marie Foster Gnage becomes the sixth president of the Parkersburg institution. Thursday is her first official day on campus.

Her appointment in May followed a four-month national search to fill the position vacated in 2003 when Erik Bitterbaum took a similar position at SUNY Cortland. Dr. Gnage has served as senior vice president for academic affairs at Raritan Valley (NJ) Community College since 2001.

The college will also be celebrating its 15^th year as a regional campus of WVU on Thursday. The institution became West Virginia University at Parkersburg on July 1, 1989 in a reorganization of West Virginia’s public higher education system.  As a result of the new relationship, enrollment increased by 15 percent at WVU Parkersburg in the fall of 1989.

In the past 15 years, college officials note that the campus has added new baccalaureate degrees, facilitated transfer options for WVU Parkersburg students to attend WVU, opened the Caperton Center for Applied Technology, and created synergistic relationships and partnerships with WVU to enhance educational opportunities in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Faculty, staff and students will enjoy cake and punch during a 2 p.m. reception in the college’s main hallway on Thursday.