Concord University continues tradition of local service

Sep. 24—ATHENS — Concord University (CU), the local post-secondary school in Athens, West Virginia, has been serving its community for many years, and President Kendra Boggess said that they are continuing the tradition of bettering the university and the community.

"Concord is 150 years old this year," said Boggess. "We became a university in about 2004, and that's given us the opportunity to offer new master's level programs which are doing really well."

CU is a small private institution with around 1,800 enrolled currently including undergraduate, graduate, and dual enrollment students that came about to serve the people of Athens and this region of Appalachia, and it has just grown from there according to Boggess.

"Our students represent Appalachia," said Boggess. "There is something really special about going to a small school where you get to know your students and you keep in touch with them for years, and I think that is a big part of Appalachian culture."

She added, "The university arose because the people in this area believed there needs to be a school here, and so that's a very long history of people giving sacrificially to make sure that this place was here to serve their students and their children."

With that history, Athens and Concord have been working together since CU's beginning to keep people coming to the area and to provide for what each other needs to be successful.

"I think we're intimately involved with one another," said Boggess. "We have years and years of people living here in Athens, and the community has always supported Concord."

She added, "Over the years, I think we've done a great deal to work together."

As Concord and Athens are so closely intwined, Concord hold many events and provides services to the community such as holding the annual Athens Town Social and the CU library being the public library that serves the area.

Boggess has been the president of CU for nine years now but has been there for 38 years, and she describes how she learned the importance of Concord to the community through attending the town social and getting more involved in the community.

"I wasn't very involved in the community things when I first got here, but when I first attended the town social a few times, I realized how many people this event brings together," Boggess said. "There would be people who come every year that come from places as far as Florida that would come up here almost as a vacation for them because of how attached they are to Concord and Athens."

That is also how Boggess feels about this area, and the community along with her students is what kept her here for all these years.

"The best part of this place is our people, and I would say for me, the best part is our students," Boggess said. "They are what inspires all of us to be here because when I came here, I came to teach one class, but when I got into all of it, I knew immediately this was where I wanted to be."

She added, "I've heard similar stories to mine from faculty as to why they stayed as well. They all come in thinking they'll be here for a year or two and actually end up staying 20."

Concord is best known in the area for their social work programs, and they have a new business administration master's degree on its second year that is on the rise in enrollment.

They are also beginning several new programs coming either soon or within the next three years including a nursing program which they already have state of the art equipment for and a physician's assistant program that is looking to begin in around 2025.

"These are what have given us real opportunities to grow at a different level, and that's been really exciting for our faculty," Boggess said.

These courses and the opportunities that come along with them also help propel CU's values and mission for students.

"I think first of all we believe in having a high quality educational experience for our students," she said. "We want them to know that everything's not easy in life and really learning the hard things, and this is the place for them to do it while still having a soft place to land."

Boggess said that the professors at Concord are good teachers that help lead students to success in the areas that they are looking to excel in.

"That's really important her, not diminishing our quality, and its probably the most important part of our faculty," Boggess added.

Boggess also said that not only is having a university available to the area important it is necessary to be available for those who come from everywhere else too because of how our society is set up now.

"Post-secondary education is important, probably more important today than ever," she said. "Students need not just their high school education, they need a trade, they need a two-year degree, they maybe need to go on after that and get certificates, they need four-year degrees."

Boggess added, "Now, we're in this knowledge economy, and even though we are in Appalachia and are a little more laid back, technology is forcing us to do lot of different things in lots of different ways."

Concord will soon be partnering with New River Technical College to teach the importance and value of education.

They will announce more about this later on when it is all finalized.

Concord is proud to continue growing and serving Athens and Mercer County by giving its residents a local option for future success and to hopefully help change lives for the better.

"If you really want to make a difference in somebody's life, you don't start with somebody who already has it all," said Boggess.

Boggess finished by saying she is excited to see what the future brings to Concord and how they will continue the mission that started them all by serving the community.

— Contact Kassidy Brown at kbrown@bdtonline.com.