a Face of Career Education
What makes our community special? It’s the people. People whose passion for their roles at work, in their volunteer lives, and in their homes stands out. They make up the unique color and character of life in Morgantown. Here we share a few stories behind the faces of people who make our community a better place.
It was 1958 when Chad Callen’s grandfather bought the privately owned Morgantown Business College, known today as West Virginia Junior College. The next generation ran the school into the early 2000s. Then, two of Callen’s aunts saw that the future would be in online education. They brought him on in 2010 as the first of the third generation, to start an online division.
His aunts had good instincts. “That is really our foundation today—driving student success through distance education,” says Callen. Now, working with other family members, he serves as CEO.
WVJC offers associate degrees and a bachelor’s degree completion program for RNs primarily to working adults through a hybrid on-site–online format. “Hands-on components, like externships or lab experiences, are generally on nights and weekends, so students can work and meet other family obligations,” Callen says. “We deliver the rest through distance education online, and that maximizes the flexibility for the student.” Training is accelerated, completed in 18 months or less.
Programs are focused in high-demand fields: technology, health care, and professional services. With campuses in Morgantown, Charleston, and Bridgeport, the college serves about 1,000 students across the state through partnerships that offer off-campus lab sites, including in some more rural areas. Those many partnerships mean training in relevant skills and externships and practicums that lead to hiring. “Our mission is to put people to work,” Callen says, and the school ensures that with highly active post-graduation follow-up.
Serving remote areas pushes the school to be innovative. Simulated environments have become more prevalent in health care education, and Callen is proud of WVJC’s three mobile simulation labs that allow for health care training anywhere, the first of their kind in the state.
Callen sees young people increasingly rejecting four-year degrees in favor of a shorter path to work, and WVJC provides that. “We have figured out a model that works for the future,” he says. “Now our plan is to build programs in areas that West Virginia hospitals tell us are their upcoming shortages—like surgical technology or respiratory therapy.”
Asked if enjoys his work, he laughs. “I love it so much. I feel like I’m making a meaningful difference in our state.”
READ ABOUT OTHER FACES OF MORGANTOWN
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