The University of Charleston will dedicate Welch Hall on Thursday, Sept. 24, honoring Edwin H. Welch, who served as the university’s president from 1989 to 2018.
The dedication ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. at Welch Hall, the former School of Pharmacy building on the UC campus. University leadership, board of trustees members, faculty, staff, students and community members are expected to attend.
Welch Hall houses the Physician Assistant program and the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice program, two of the fastest-growing graduate programs in the university’s School of Health Sciences. The programs prepare advanced health care providers for West Virginia and the Greater Appalachia region.
Welch served as president for 29 years, during which the university expanded academic opportunities, increased full-time enrollment, achieved record fundraising and received national recognition for innovation in outcomes-based learning and student assessment.
Under Welch’s leadership, UC launched new undergraduate and graduate programs, expanded to Beckley, entered the adult online education market and constructed seven buildings that are part of today’s campus, including the building that now bears his name.
“For nearly three decades, Ed Welch gave this University his vision, his energy, and his heart,” UC President Marty Roth said. “So much of who we are today, our momentum, our campus, our belief in what’s possible, traces back to his leadership.”
Roth said naming the building Welch Hall will allow students who use the facility to encounter the legacy of Welch’s leadership.
Welch and his late wife, Janet, were also credited by the university with helping shape a defining period in the institution’s history.
The dedication is part of UC’s Homecoming and Family Weekend, which runs Sept. 24-26. The weekend will also include a 60th reunion for UC nursing alumni and faculty, an Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a pep rally and tailgate, and reunion events for those observing their 50th reunion.
