BECKLEY, W.Va. — Dr. Gordon Gee’s love for learning is not just apparent because of his advanced degrees or the fact he’s the president of West Virginia’s flagship university, WVU.
He’s curious. Gee’s questions to the people he meets come fast — background and location and surroundings and climate — Gee wants to know those things.
Gee’s own answers to questions, then, are sometimes surprising, sometimes deep, but always quick and never disappoint.
In his signature bow tie, the 71-year-old university president’s eyes behind his round glasses are bright, engaged in the conversation as if it’s all he’s got to think about or do.
It isn’t.
Gee is carrying the weight of nearly 30,000 students on-campus in Morgantown, where a culture of social media has increased an inherent tendency to “work hard and play hard.” He’s also broadening the university’s reach into southern West Virginia.
As WVU prepares to take over the former Mountain State University campus in Beckley, he said academic leaders are “still kicking the tires” for programming.
“We’re going to survey the community in southern West Virginia,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re good partners with Concord and Bluefield State…