West Liberty State College

Robert W. Schramm

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2001
• Print ISBN: 9780738506975
• eBook ISBN: 9781439627846
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Education General
• Index: History

Located in a charming community in West Virginias northern panhandle is West Liberty State College, the oldest institution of higher learning in the Mountain State. The school was chartered by the State of Virginia as an academy in 1837 and has seen its share of changes since that time. Arguably the foremost change arrived in 1863 when West Virginia became the 35th state in the Union, thereby making the college older than the state. The school took its name from the community in which it resides, which, at the time of the American Revolution, was the frontier settlement farthest west of the Appalachian Mountains and therefore appropriately
named West Liberty. Since that time, West Liberty State College has been organized and reorganized as a normal school, a state teachers college, and, finally, a state college. It has maintained its stated mission to launch our graduates into community, work, and academic environments ready to
be viable contributors with skills and knowledge needed to meet future opportunities and challenges. West Liberty State College celebrates the history and traditions of the school, spotlighting academic, social, and athletic events over the past 163 years.

Three

TEACHERS COLLEGE TO STATE COLLEGE THE ELBIN ERA

Dr. Paul N. Elbin became president of West Liberty State Teachers College on August 15, 1935. At 30 years old, he was the youngest president of a four-year college in the United States. Like President Bonar, Elbin’s goal was to convert West Liberty into a four-year, degree-granting state college offering various programs in addition to teacher education. Elbin began by organizing a long-range plan for the accreditation of the college: advance public relations of the college, expand the physical facilities of the campus, and make easier the upgrading of academic standards and student services. Elbin recognized the necessity of making the college more appealing to prospective students. To this end he sought the best artists and musicians he could find to teach art and music. He hired the school’s first professor of speech and created the position of dean of students. He hired the first trained librarian, the first dietitian, and revived the theatrical group, the Hilltop Players. So that the faculty should be involved in cultural improvement, he was instrumental in the formation of a faculty club.

DR. PAUL N. ELBIN IN THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE IN MCCOLLOCH HALL, 1937. In the entire course of the school’s history, no individual has had such a monumental influence on West Liberty State College as Paul N. Elbin. During his 35-year presidency, Dr. Elbin accomplished more for the reputation and the academic and physical advancement of the institution than was accomplished in the previous 98 years by the collective efforts of his predecessors. By force of his personality, Elbin fought an uphill battle to build a true college on the hilltop campus. He brought a tiny, local teachers college to the status of a nationally accredited state college.

“BIBLE QUESTION BEE,” 1944. In order to make the public aware of the college and its degree programs, Dr. Elbin began a series of four 30-minute radio programs per week, broadcast over WWVA, in February 1936. In 1937, he began airing a live show on Saturday morning called the “Bible Question Bee.” Dr. Elbin acted as quizmaster for a panel of biblical experts consisting of West Liberty students and area schoolchildren. Hundreds of letters poured in from all over the country containing favorable comments and/or submitting quiz questions. The program developed a national reputation. Pictured here are some of the contestants flanked by Helen Elbin on the left and Paul Elbin on the right.

“CAMPUS REVERIE,” 1938. In 1938, Mrs. Elbin, who was a voice instructor, suggested that some of the coeds interested in singing might be willing to appear on a program consisting of musical interludes and poetry. The program, known as “Campus Reverie,” broadcast regularly on WWVA one evening per week at 10:30 p.m., was an instant success. Pictured, from left to right, are Dr. Elbin, Vera Cordona, Ruth Bishop, Mary Jane Nichols, Doris Schiffler, Gloria Von Berg, Mary Bea Montgomery, Alba Panico, Mrs. Elbin, and William Conrath (engineer).

BROADCAST STUDIO, C. 1938. The radio programs were broadcast live from the Academy Hall auditorium, the West Liberty State Teachers College Downtown Center in Wheeling, and the WWVA studios in the Hawley Building in Wheeling. In 1937, a radio studio was constructed on the top floor of McColloch Hall.

STUDIO CONTROL ROOM, 1937. Telephone lines ran from the “control room” on the campus to WWVA’s transmitter which, at that time, ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• AUTHOR’S NOTES
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• One - THE ACADEMY
• Two - THE NORMAL SCHOOL
• Three - TEACHERS COLLEGE TO STATE COLLEGE THE ELBIN ERA
• Four - TRANSITIONS
• Five - INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM
• Six - TRADITIONS
• Seven - ALUMNI WALL OF HONOR
• AFTERWORD
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX