Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin, world-renowned historian, has been reporting on politics and baseball for over two decades. Goodwin is the author of several books and has written for leading national publications. She appears regularly on network television programs and was an on-air consultant for PBS documentaries on Lyndon B. Johnson, the Kennedy Family, Franklin Roosevelt and Ken Burns’ The History of Baseball. She was the first female journalist to enter the Red Sox locker room.
Goodwin was born and raised on Long Island, New York. She received her B.A. from Colby College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She received her Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University, where she taught Government including a course on the American Presidency. Following her tenure at Harvard, Goodwin served as an assistant to Lyndon Johnson in his last year in the White House. She later assisted Johnson in the preparation of his memoirs.
In 1976, Goodwin authored Lyndon Johnson & The American Dream, which became a New York Times best-seller. She followed up in 1987 with the political biography, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, which stayed on the New York Times Best-Seller List for five months. In 1990, it was made into a six-hour ABC miniseries. Her next book, No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Home Front During World War II, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in April 1995, as well as the Harold Washington Literary Award, the New England Bookseller Association Award, the Ambassador Book Award and the Washington Monthly Book Award. It was a New York Times best seller for six months.
Goodwin’s book, Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir, published in 1997, is about growing up in the 1950’s in love with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It has been a New York Times best-seller, as well as a Book of the Month Club selection. A Washington Post reviewer wrote, “This is a book in the grand tradition of girlhood memoirs, dating from Louisa May Alcott to Carson McCullers and Harper Lee.”
Her most recent work, a monumental history of Abraham Lincoln entitled Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, published in October 2005, joined the best-seller lists on its first week in publication, and soon reached #1 on the New York Times Best-Seller List. Team of Rivals won the 2006 Lincoln Prize for an outstanding work about the president and/or the Civil War, the New York Historical Society Book Prize, the Richard Nelson Current award and the New York State Archives History Makers Award. When President Obama was asked if he could only bring one book to the White House other than the Bible what would it be, he said Team of Rivals. Steven Spielberg is developing a feature film about the book. The award-winning playwright, Tony Kushner is writing the screenplay. She is currently at work on the progressive era: Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft and the golden age of journalism.
Goodwin is married to Richard Goodwin, who worked in the White House under both Kennedy and Johnson. Mr. Goodwin’s experience as the investigator who uncovered the quiz show scandals of the 1950s was captured in the Academy Award- nominated movie Quiz Show, directed by Robert Redford. The Goodwin’s have three sons.
http://www.doriskearnsgoodwin.com/
Additional Speakers
Richard M. Adams, Jr. | Forest J. Bowman | Dr. James P. Clements | Joshua Dower, M.D. | Andrew Jordon | Hoppy Kercheval | Oliver Luck | Senator Joe Manchin | David Ramsey | Dean Maryanne Reed |
Dr. Robert O. Rupp | Governor Earl Ray Tomblin | Beth Vorhees |
Dr. Ed H. Welch |
Forest J. Bowman
Forest Jackson “Jack” Bowman is the Jackson Kelly Professor of Law Emeritus at West Virginia University and a frequent speaker before business and professional organizations. In a departure from the typical academic isolation, he is a Past President of The West Virginia Bar Association (the third oldest state bar association in the country) and is a member and Past Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Salvation Army’s Evangeline Booth College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jack Bowman is nationally recognized as a speaker on the topics of ethics, leadership, human motivation and success. Since 1985, he has addressed audiences in thirty-one states and two Canadian provinces and has served as a consultant or expert witness in cases in over a dozen states. He brought his expertise to the classroom with such effectiveness that he was named “Professor of the Year” seven times during his twenty-three years at the WVU College of Law and in 1988 was named “Professor of the Year” for all of higher education in the State of West Virginia by the Faculty Merit Foundation of West Virginia.
Professor Bowman also serves as Special Ethics Counsel to the Pittsburgh-based law firm of Burns White. In March 2007, he was appointed Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for West Virginia by Secretary Francis J. Harvey, an appointment that has just ended.
Dr. James P. Clements
James P. Clements has said that no university in the country means as much to its state as West Virginia University means to West Virginia. Since becoming WVU’s 23rd president on June 30, 2009, Dr. Clements has shown a strong dedication to expanding the University’s role as a 21st century land-grant institution, providing superior academic programs, expanding a wellness initiative for students, technologically advancing research for use around the globe, and strengthening service and health-care initiatives for the community.
Dr. Clements has already announced several initiatives in support of this commitment, including: adding 100 new faculty members to achieve goals directly related to WVU’s mission; building a new student health facility to increase wellness efforts; dedicating capital funds to expand outdoor recreational space for students; creating a grants budget office to assist researchers; and increasing research to strengthen the University’s position as a leader in fields such as energy, biometrics, and health sciences.
Additional priorities have been to continue offering world-class health care and – through WVU’s Top-10 ranked Rural Health Program – remain committed to increasing state outreach in the health sciences. Other goals include finding more efficient and effective ways to use technology to drive progress, increasing the diversity of WVU’s learning community, and developing an even broader global focus in preparing students for new international opportunities.
He also plans to focus on increasing student retention, increasing WVU’s doctoral program enrollment, enhancing leadership development, and increasing operating funds.
In 2009-10, private giving to the University increased, external and competitive funding for research grew, and student applications increased, keeping enrollment strong. A major strategic planning process was launched, several new facilities opened, and ground was broken on a project to house WVU’s nationally acclaimed Physics Program.
Recently, Dr. Clements was appointed to the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Commission on Women in Higher Education and was appointed to serve as the Outreach Liaison for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), representing the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Dr. Clements’ previous experience in higher education demonstrates his ability to help achieve these objectives and guide WVU to continued stability, growth and prominence.
Before joining the Mountaineer family, Dr. Clements served as provost and vice president at Towson University, the second-largest public university in Maryland. Under his leadership, Towson developed academic and student support programs that led to impressive increases in enrollment as well as retention and graduation rates. Towson’s externally-funded research increased by 36 percent during Dr. Clements’ tenure as provost.
Prior to becoming provost, he served as Towson University’s vice president for economic and community outreach and as the Robert W. Deutsch Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. He was a four-time recipient of Towson’s Faculty Member of the Year Award given by students at the University.
With a background in computer science, Dr. Clements also brings technological savvy to his role as president. He has a B.S. in computer science and an M.S. and Ph.D. in operations analysis from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), as well as an M.S. in computer science from Johns Hopkins University. His project management textbook, in its fourth edition, is used in more than 20 countries and is published in four languages. At WVU, Dr. Clements is a tenured professor in the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources’ Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
In October 2009, he was named UMBC’s Alumnus of the Year in the Engineering and Information Technology category.
Dr. Clements chairs the boards of the WVU Research Corporation, the West Virginia United Health System, and the WVU Hospitals. He also serves as an ex-officio member of the WVU Foundation and WVU Alumni Association boards.
He is married to Beth Clements, and they have four children – Tyler, twin daughters Hannah and Maggie, and Grace.
Andrew Jordon
Andrew Jordon is a Charleston, West Virginia native and a mining engineering graduate of Penn State University. He has worked in the West Virginia coal industry for 33 years and has owned and operated Pritchard Mining Company, Inc. since 1991.
Pritchard Mining Company has mines in Kanawha and Boone counties. In addition to its business successes, Pritchard Mining has compiled an enviable record in safety, reclamation and community involvement. The company won a national reclamation award and is a regular at ceremonies for the Mountaineer Guardian Mine Safety Awards. Mr. Jordon served two terms as chairman of the West Virginia Coal Association.
Additionally, Andrew Jordon and Pritchard Mining serve West Virginia. Mr. Jordon is on the board of directors of Charleston Area Medical Center Foundation, the University of Charleston and the Charleston Civic Center.
In addition to other projects that serve the community, Prichard Mining donated all the construction for the new driving range at Coonskin Park and was a principal donor of the construction of the soccer fields at Trace Fork and the reconstruction of John Adams Middle School football and soccer fields.
Hoppy Kercheval
The radio "dean" of West Virginia broadcasters, Hoppy Kercheval joined West Virginia Radio Corporation in 1976. Through the years Hoppy's assignments have spanned the gamut to include news, sports, and talk.
A native of Summit Point in Jefferson County, Hoppy began as a news anchor/reporter at WAJR in Morgantown while still attending West Virginia University. After graduating with honors from WVU, Kercheval took over as News Director at WAJR and began carving an identity as one of the state of West Virginia's most professional and respected journalists.
A founding father of Metronews, Kercheval served as News Director until assuming the role of Vice President of Operations in 1991. In 1993, he created Metronews Talkline, which has become a signature program of the network. Hoppy's gift of interviewing has made Talkline a must-listen for lawmakers and anyone interested in state politics and the day's top news events.
In addition to his Metronews assignments, Kercheval has been a key member of the Mountaineers Sports Network. His pre-game, halftime, and post game scores and highlight features have become a staple of MSN broadcasts.
He also has a Masters Degree in Journalism from WVU and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from West Virginia Wesleyan.
An avid traveler, Hoppy's adventures have taken him to 18 different countries around the world. He and his wife, Karin, live in Morgantown. His one son, Ben, lives and works in Austin, Texas.
Oliver Luck
Director of Athletics
Oliver Luck is the right man at the right time for West Virginia University. President James P. Clements appointed the former Mountaineer quarterback Director of Athletics on June 9, 2010, making him the 11th person to hold that title at WVU.
“Oliver Luck is someone who has succeeded at the highest levels at everything he has done – from his college and professional football playing days to his academic pursuits and his professional business career,” said Clements. “He is the clear choice to carry forward what has truly been a golden era in athletics.”
“It’s an incredible honor for me to be appointed as athletic director at my alma mater,” said Luck. “I care deeply about this school. I’ve had an opportunity to serve on the Board of Governors the last couple of years, and it’s given me a tremendous viewpoint of how important intercollegiate athletics is at a land-grant institution like WVU.
“WVU is truly one of the outstanding land-grant universities in the country, and I am so pleased to be a part of its momentum and growth. This is a tremendous opportunity - a chance to return to a University and a state that I love at a dynamic and strategic time in its history.”
Luck’s athletic and professional career has been the epitome of success, first as a record-setting quarterback for the Mountaineers from 1978-81, then as a professional quarterback for the Houston Oilers, and later as a professional sports executive.
Luck’s journey to the big chair at WVU began in his native Cleveland, where in 1977 he was named the Cleveland Touchdown Club Player of the Year at St. Ignatius High. Luck chose WVU over Ivy League schools Harvard and Yale, embarking upon a career that saw him establish school records for touchdown passes and completions during his playing days, while also leading the Mountaineers to a 26-6 upset victory over Florida in the 1981 Peach Bowl.
His best season came as a senior in 1981 when he completed 216 of 394 passes for 2,448 yards and 16 touchdowns. He passed for a career-high 360 yards in a 27-24 loss to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in the final regular-season game of his career. Luck ended his college career with 5,765 yards and 43 touchdown passes, both figures still ranking among the best in school history. Luck was a two-time team MVP in 1980 and 1981, and also received the Louis D. Meisel Award for the WVU football student-athlete with the highest grade point average. The two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American was the recipient of Today’s Top Five, presented for scholastics by the NCAA and was selected by the National Football Foundation as one of its 10 scholar-athletes to make a keynote speech at its annual banquet in 1982.
Selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Houston Oilers (44th overall pick), Luck spent four years with the Oilers from 1982-86. His most extended action came in 1983 when he started six games and finished the season completing 124-of-217 passes for 1,375 yards and eight touchdowns.
After retiring from football, Luck became vice president of business development for the National Football League and later was appointed general manager of the Frankfurt Galaxy of the newly created World League of American Football. He spent the ’95 season as general manager of the Rhein Fire before being named President and CEO of NFL Europe in 1996. Luck totaled more than 10 years with the National Football League before becoming chief executive officer of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority in 2001.
In that role, Luck oversaw the development and management of a $1 billion professional sports and entertainment complex for the city of Houston that included Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans, the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, Comets and Aeros and the Livestock Show and Rodeo.
In 2005, Luck was appointed as the first president of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamos, helping that organization to a pair of MLS Cup titles in his first two years at the helm. Luck was in the midst of securing the funding for an $80 million soccer complex to house the Dynamos when the call came to return to his alma mater.
Prior to his current position at WVU, Luck was appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin in 2008 to a four-year term on the West Virginia University Board of Governors, a spot he relinquished in June 2010, to become director of athletics.
The Rhodes Scholar finalist graduated from WVU magna cum laude in 1982 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He also earned a law degree from the University of Texas, graduating cum laude in 1987. In 1997, Luck was inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2008, he was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
He is married to the former Kathy Wilson. They have two sons and two daughters: Andrew, the starting quarterback and a Heisman Trophy candidate at Stanford; Mary Ellen, an incoming freshman volleyball player at Stanford; Emily and Addison.
David L. Ramsey
President and CEO
CAMC Health System, Inc.
Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc.
David L. Ramsey is President and Chief Executive Officer of CAMC Health System, Inc., and President and Chief Executive Officer of Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc., a not-for-profit, 838-bed regional tertiary referral hospital. CAMC Health System is the parent company of West Virginia’s largest wholly-owned health system, with three teaching hospitals, a community hospital, the CAMC Foundation, the CAMC Health Education and Research Institute, and Integrated Health Care Providers, Inc.
David Ramsey joined CAMC in September 2000 from Methodist Healthcare-Memphis Hospitals, where he was President of a five-hospital regional system--the third largest non-profit hospital in the country. Other previously-held positions include: Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals for Governor Buddy Roemer; Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the 405-bed Baton Rouge General Medical Center; and, Senior Vice President of General Health, Inc. Prior to moving to Baton Rouge, he was Administrator of Montgomery County Medical Center, a 182-bed hospital in Conroe, Texas, and Assistant Vice President of the 1200-bed Methodist Hospital of Houston.
Born in a small town in Ohio, David Ramsey grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology from the University of Missouri at St. Louis, and a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration and Planning from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
He is active in a number of civic and professional organizations, including the HealthNet Aeromedical Services Board (Chairman), the West Virginia Hospital Association Board (Chair-elect), the American Hospital Association, VHA Central Atlantic Board, University of Charleston Board, Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences Board, Edgewood Summit Board, and the Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research & Innovation Center (MATRIC) Board.
He and his wife, Billy, have three daughters and two grandchildren.
Dean Maryanne Reed
Professor Maryanne Reed joined the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism faculty in 1993. Before being named Dean in 2004, she chaired the broadcast news program and taught courses in television reporting and producing, documentary production and journalism history. She created the School’s highly successful partnership with KDKA-TV News in Pittsburgh, PA, in which students serve as off-air reporters for KDKA, shooting news and covering stories for the top-30-market television station.
Reed has a background as a local news reporter, producer and anchor. She has worked in television markets in Elmira, NY, Rochester, NY, and Pittsburgh, PA.
Reed produces television documentaries and news features for public and commercial television. Her award-winning documentary, “Righteous Remnant: Jewish Survival in Appalachia,” originally aired on West Virginia Public Television and was distributed nationally by PBS. Her feature on children and mountaintop mining aired on “Nick News” on the Nickelodeon Cable Channel. Reed directed students in the production of an Emmy award-winning documentary profiling five cancer patients, “Cancer Stories: Lessons in Love, Loss and Hope.” The documentary aired on West Virginia Public Television in December 2003 and has been distributed nationally by the National Education Television Association.
Reed is currently doing research about the history and impact of community radio. Her article, “Allegheny Mountain Radio and Localism in Appalachia,” was published in the Journal of Radio Studies. And her article, "Fighting to Hear and be Heard," is being published in Spring 2010 West Virginia History Journal. She is director of the Monroe County Radio Project, funded by a New Voices grant from J-Lab in 2006, a community radio outreach project in Monroe County, WV.
Reed serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, and was selected to participate in the ASJMC New Deans and Directors Institute in 2008.
Reed holds a B.A. in history from University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Dr. Robert O. Rupp
Dr. Robert Rupp is a professor of history and political science at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he has taught since 1989. He received his undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and his graduate degrees at Syracuse University. His areas of interest are American politics and the American presidency. He is an Op-Ed contributor to the Charleston Gazette, and serves as an election analyst for West Virginia Public Radio. He is chair of the State Election Commission. This year, he was runner-up for West Virginia Professor of the Year award. Dr. Rupp has published several entries on state politics in the West Virginia Encyclopedia and is under contract to write a book on John Kennedy and the 1960 West Virginia presidential primary.
Beth Vorhees
You hear Beth Vorhees on the radio every morning and, during the legislative session, you see her on TV every evening.
Beth is the producer and host of West Virginia Morning, heard every weekday morning at 7:30 on West Virginia Public Radio. You also hear her deliver the news throughout the morning on Morning Edition.
When the state Legislature is in its 60-day regular session, Beth is the producer and host of The Legislature Today on West Virginia PBS.
Beth is also the producer and host of the weekly radio news program Inside Appalachia, a regional hour-long news magazine aired on West Virginia Public Radio and public radio stations in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Beth has received recognition and awards throughout her career. She has been named the Best Radio Anchor by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association eight years in a row.
Beth has been with West Virginia Public Broadcasting since 1984. She recently celebrated her 25th anniversary with public broadcasting and her 30th anniversary in broadcasting.
Beth is married to Rick Vorhees. They live in Charleston. Their daughter is a student at Marshall University.
Dr. Edwin H. Welch
Dr. Edwin H. Welch has served as president of the University of Charleston since 1989. He has led the institution through a period of unprecedented change – doubling full-time enrollment, tripling the endowment, transforming the academic program to focus on student outcomes, becoming a proponent for student assessment, clarifying the institution’s mission, constructing seven of the eleven buildings on campus, and adding pharmacy and business graduate schools. Dr. Welch also created a central administrative computing consortium which serves seven colleges and universities. He has served on numerous regional and national boards, and in the fall of 2009, he represented the United States at an invitation-only colloquium on higher education quality in Istanbul, Turkey.
Prior to joining academia full time, Welch worked in the Executive Office of the President at the White House. A September 7, 2007, New York Times Magazine article highlighted Welch’s efforts to infuse the University of Charleston with a culture of rigorous assessment of learning outcomes. The Foundation for Independent Higher Education chose him as the first recipient of its Charles L. Foreman Award for innovation in private higher education.
