WVU Parkersburg President Torie Jackson speaks during a Board of Governors meeting Tuesday on the college’s main campus. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s Board of Governors unanimously approved resolutions allocating $450,000 toward renovations at the school’s Jackson County Center and establishing a fully online option for its bachelor of applied technology degree.

WVU-P President Torie Jackson told board members Tuesday that the Jackson County Center has been operating at a financial loss in recent years, to the tune of approximately $400,000 in the last fiscal year. The proposed renovation would “take the first floor of that facility and completely turn it into an applied technical center,” she said.

That would allow WVU-P to offer complete advanced manufacturing technology and multi-craft technology electrical maintenance associate of applied science degree programs at the campus, which has only been host to general education classes for several years, Jackson said. The first year of the associate of applied science in reliability and maintenance technology would be offered there as well, although the second year would shift to the main campus, where the school has an established welding lab “with plenty of space,” she said.

The degree programs have been requested by companies in the region, including Timet in Ravenswood and NuCor in Mason County, to provide their needed workforce, Jackson said.

“I think we’ll be able to get a return on our investment rather shortly,” she said.

WVU Parkersburg Vice President for Academic Affairs David Lancaster, left, discusses the proposed online option for the college’s bachelor of applied technology degree during a Board of Governors meeting Tuesday on the main campus. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Alice Harris, executive vice president of finance and administration, said the plan is to have the project under contract by Jan. 15, so work can get under way in February and the space is ready for classes by the fall 2024 semester.

The funding, which would come from the college’s approximately $22 million in reserves, would not cover fixtures, furniture and equipment. Additional funding will be sought for those expenses, Jackson said.

Another resolution approved by the board will open up WVU-P courses to students in South Carolina starting in the spring semester.

The board authorized the addition of fully online options for the school’s bachelor of applied technology degree, with specializations in software engineering and cybersecurity and network administration. WVU-P already has articulation agreements with Pierpont Community and Technical College and Blueridge Community and Technical College through which students can take the first two years of the program at those fellow West Virginia schools before completing the last two years as WVU-P students. Faculty have developed completely remote options for those classes.

WVU-P recently signed an articulation agreement with Aiken Technical College in South Carolina, said David Lancaster, vice president for academic affairs. The online designation would allow students from out of state to qualify for in-state tuition and take other online-only classes through WVU-P.

“I really do think this is the wave of the future,” Lancaster said. “If we can do this online … then we can also do that in South Carolina or any other place.”

Jackson opened the meeting with a moment of silence in remembrance of Drew Carpenter, a member of the math faculty who died in a motorcycle accident on Sept. 22.