FAIRMONT – Interim, no more.
Pierpont Community and Technical College has selected Michael Waide as its next president, the school announced.
Waide has a longtime association with the school in Fairmont. Before being named interim president last March after the resignation of Milan Howard, he had served as Pierpont’s provost.
He’s also a licensed medical laboratory scientist and tenured professor in the school’s medical laboratory technology program.
Waide’s other administrative posts at the school include stints as a vice president of academics and dean of health sciences – where he oversaw internship programs for Pierpont students taking their certifications and degrees into the workforce.
“Dr. Waide has demonstrated unwavering dedication to Pierpont,” said Lisa Lang, who chairs the school’s Board of Governors.
“He understands the critical role community and technical college education plays in strengthening our region,” the board chair continued. “He is the right leader to guide the college into his next chapter.”
It’s a chapter in a tale that has been in flux in recent years at Pierpont.
Howard, the previous president, was in his office for two years before stepping down. And his hiring came after a two-year search that also saw the appointment of two interim presidents during the vacancy.
During that same period, state lawmakers were also pushing for a bill that would have merged Pierpont with its sister institution Fairmont State University – but they later pulled back in that effort.
In the meantime, Pierpont pushed on, joining six community colleges across the country in “Project Vision,” a pilot program launched by the National Science Foundation.
Most recently the college has taken off with avionics, which is now a burgeoning industry across north-central West Virginia.
Pierpont has capitalized on the spinoff job trend in that field – with a popular aviation technology program that puts certified professionals to work on the engines and electronic systems that keep planes aloft.
