Although we are West Virginia's oldest public institution, we continue to look forward to our next challenge as an opportunity to excel. We are blessed with dedicated faculty and staff committed to helping students learn, grow and contribute to the communities in which they live and serve.

To serve as the 36th president of Marshall University is an extraordinary privilege, one that comes during a time of unprecedented challenge and remarkable opportunity.

The current problems confronting higher education are formidable.Yet, we also can foresee vast vistas, rich in possibilities for those institutions of higher learning that can recognize and act on them.

To be relevant in the 21st century, we must create and produce value that is evident to our students, communities, and the world. This value is manifest in the capacity and innovative intellectual work that can be performed by our graduates – their creativity, the marketability of their ideas and intellectual products, their adaptability and their capacity to continue to learn.

Our commitment, therefore, must be to advancing the thinking of our students, their ability to apply and integrate what they have learned and educating them for a future of uncertainty, ambiguity and sudden opportunity.

My wife, Jane and I are very excited and committed to dedicating our full energy and enthusiasm to realizing the incredible potential we see within Marshall.The university excels in many areas that have earned the right to greater visibility and recognition.

We need to highlight and celebrate these achievements, regionally and nationally. They are beacons that distinguish Marshall University and our contributions to improving the world.

Dr. Stephen J.Kopp, Ph.D
President