Welcome to the West Virginia State University Gus R. Douglass Land-Grant Institute. The Douglass Institute is named for Dr. Gus R. Douglass, the Commissioner of Agriculture for West Virginia, the current longest tenured commissioner or secretary serving our state. Dr. Douglass has been an integral part of agriculture in West Virginia for more than 30 years and the faculty, staff, students, administration and alumni of West Virginia State University are indebted to him for his service in helping us regain our land-grant status.
As a Land-Grant Institution, West Virginia State University, along with the more than 100 other land-grant institutions, has the mission of providing high quality education to its constituents by way of instruction (Teaching), generation of new knowledge (Research), and transferring of knowledge (Extension) to students and the community.
The overall goal of Research is the quest for knowledge, new discoveries, interpretation of facts, and revision of facts through investigation and experimentation. Eventually, solutions and knowledge attained through research is introduced formally to an audience via teaching or instruction.
Teaching, the conveyance of education or knowledge, is an integral part of the land-grant educational system in that there is a transfer of information from academic research to the classroom and then via the classroom to the public.
Extension, as the term implies, is the act of direct public dissemination (or an extension) of the institution’s educational resources. Extension educators deliver information through non-formal and non-traditional teaching approaches with the target goal of providing learning opportunities in a number of areas such as agriculture, natural resources, workforce education and development, youth development, family and consumer education, and community economic development.
The Douglass Institute is proud that our faculty and staff excel in all three areas of the land-grant mission. Please browse through our website to find out more about our history, mission, and the exciting programs being operated today.
Orlando F. McMeans, Ph. D.
Dean and Director
