By Tammie Toler Presley
For Concord University
Athens — Concord University is gearing up for its annual day at the West Virginia Legislature on March 3 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Administrators, faculty, staff, and students will fill the halls to showcase how Mountain Lions impact the state through higher education, industry leadership, and service to others.
“Our elected officials leaders continue to show their support by providing funds that allow Concord University to grow and serve the state by educating our region and providing graduates who pour back into West Virginia,” said CU President Bethany Meighen. “We’re looking forward to showing our state leaders exactly how Concord puts their investment to work.”
Legislative leaders, business professionals, educators, social workers, and medical professionals have their roots planted in Athens. For more than 150 years, Concord has expanded degree offerings to meet the needs of West Virginia’s workforce. Rural healthcare needs are informing Concord’s current programmatic growth. The first cohort of physician assistant students started fall 2025, following our nursing program which graduated its first BSN class in spring of that year. Those graduates had a 100% NCLEX pass rate and 100% job placement rate.
As Concord expands into healthcare fields, our facilities are upgrading to meet the demand, thanks to deferred maintenance funding approved by the West Virginia Legislature and Congressionally Directed Spending funds.
More than $11 million helped Concord put roofs on buildings, install HVAC systems, and upgrade security cameras and elevators. Upgrades would not have been possible without deferred maintenance funding. On February 3, President Donald Trump signed a funding bill that included $7.5 million for Concord to launch Phase II of a Center for Rural Healthcare Workforce Solutions; Phase I was completed with state and federal funding working together.
“I am thrilled that with President Trump’s signing of the recent appropriations package into law, Concord University will now be receiving funding to establish a Center for Rural Healthcare Workforce Solutions,” Capito said. “This targeted investment will help equip both students and professionals in the Concord University community with the skills needed to address critical health care workforce shortages in rural communities across our state.”
More than half of Concord’s graduates – 68% graduate students and 57% undergraduates – work in West Virginia. Concord’s top degrees include social work, liberal arts and sciences, education, business, and health sciences. Social work students completed 74,300 hours of practicum last year, an equivalent to $2,584,897.00 ($34.79 per hour) of service to our communities.
“We are leaning into our motto ‘Come to Learn. Go to Serve’ as we shape programs at Concord,” said President Meighen. “Service is our cornerstone, and that legacy of giving back is evident in our graduates and the great work they’re doing in West Virginia and beyond, including the many Concord alums serving in Charleston. I can’t wait to spend time with each of them on March 3.”
See more from Concord University, here.