Carolyn Long is the Campus President of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology (“WVU Tech”).
In 2017, she oversaw the successful completion of the transition of WVU Tech from its former home in Montgomery to its new campus in Beckley, West Virginia. Under her leadership, the institution moved its more than 40 academic programs to the new campus while increasing enrollment to more than 1,700 students, marking the highest enrollment in nearly a decade.
Before stepping into her current role, Long served as the first female chairperson of the WVU Board of Governors from 2008-2011. Under her leadership, and with the assistance of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, WVU, and the state legislature, WVU Tech has made tremendous progress, including a more than 10 percent enrollment increase.
An educator at heart, Long has spent nearly 40 years as a teacher and administrator in West Virginia public schools. She began her career as a fifth grade teacher at Big Chimney Elementary School in Charleston then accepted a position as a Title I Teacher at Little Birch Elementary, where she eventually became the principal.
In 2001, she became the first female superintendent of Braxton County Schools. During her eight-year tenure she balanced the school system’s budget and received more than $12 million in grants from the federal Small Business Administration.