Photo by Benjamin Powell WVU President Michael Benson holds a foam microphone that can be tossed and used for large group discussions.

MORGANTOWN — New West Virginia University President Michael T. Benson took a tour of an architecturally impressive Reynolds Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Benson walked down the halls guided by Josh Hall, the Dean of the John Chambers College of Business and Economics. Benson, with his hands behind his back, started the tour by taking in the nearly new building but quickly transitioned to question mode.

Benson grazed his hand over the natural looking table in the faculty commons room.

“Where is this table from?” he asked.

Benson was curious.

Hall replied, and Benson continued to listen. Then, Benson approached one of the research centers where he wanted to take a peek, but first, he made sure to grab the door to allow the tour group of five to seven to enter the room. Benson did this numerous times throughout the tour, and the only time he didn’t, someone beat him to it.

Benson’s personable nature was apparent. He made sure to introduce himself to everyone and ask where they were from before conversing with them.

“I really do like people,” Benson said. “I like talking to them. I like finding out about them, and I love being around students. I mean, there’s nothing more energizing than stepping foot on a campus and meeting students… My parents taught me that every single person is important. You’re no better than anybody else, and I may be the president and have a nice office at Stewart Hall, but every person on campus has a job, a responsibility and a value.”

Benson wants to lead West Virginia University with the same attitude. Whether that comes to increasing funding or tackling what he thinks is his biggest task, increasing enrollment.

Three weeks ago, one evening, Benson called in all the West Virginia deans. They went through a list of names of students who had applied and been accepted but had not made a deposit. On the table, other than the list of names, were phones. Benson and the deans used the phones to personally call each student who didn’t make a deposit.

“I spoke to one mother who asked who I was and why I was calling her daughter,” Benson said. “I said, ‘Well, I’m Mike Benson. I’m the new president at West Virginia.'”

In fitting with his personality, Benson wants to create a welcoming community no matter the religion, race or gender of a student, too, despite the current political climate making it harder for universities.

“There’s no law against empathy,” Benson said. “There’s nothing that says you can’t treat another person with respect. Whether it’s your religious faith that teaches you that, or just the decency of being a human being. Regardless of what people say or what’s out there in my administration, we’re going to create an environment where every single person who steps foot on campus feels welcome. They feel like they can be successful. They have a home here, and they have people who will support them.”

After taking in the view of the Monongahela River from the balcony, the tour worked its way down the stairs, where Benson passed by the floor names. The floors in Reynolds Hall are interesting. Each is named after an international city. Before the tour started, Benson learned that those are the places West Virginia students study abroad.

Benson realized how important getting to those places is for students who are looking for jobs after college. He said no parent wants to finish the last tuition payment while their child is still under their roof.

Benson studied abroad, too, so he wants to keep expanding the West Virginia brand outside the state borders and create more opportunities for students to get jobs after college, because that is the ultimate goal.

“The experiences to send students into those parts of the world and just see different cultures and to see how people learn, I think is really valuable,” Benson said. “I talked to the dean a little bit about that, but I would love to expand those chances to every student who wants it.”

After going down the stairs, Benson was stopped and told about the business college’s support fund program. If a student doesn’t have money for a suit, the college established a career closet to help out. Or, if they can’t afford to pay for rent at a new internship location while maintaining a lease in Morgantown, the support fund program will help out, to the tune of $133,500 this past school year. Benson loved that idea and wants to expand those programs to other colleges at the university.

Benson sometimes veered off or asked to see other rooms, like the cantilevered classroom. It’s clear Benson wants to start his own path.

President Gordon Gee had his signature bow-tie-shaped sugar cookie. Benson said bow ties are “Gordon’s thing.” Benson, if he were to get one, wants his cookie to be in the shape of the Mountaineer because he thinks that’s one of the coolest aspects of the university.

Benson has learned under his good friend Gee for a couple of months, but didn’t want to compare himself. Gordon’s not the only president West Virginia’s had, and recognized how 26 came before him, and all led differently, and Benson wants to do the same.

“There’s only one Gordon Gee,” Benson said. “I can’t try to be him, just like he won’t try to be anybody else. I’m going to try and chart my own path, kind of always reflecting on the work that all my predecessors did.”

Benson won’t start as the president of West Virginia until July. The next couple of months, Benson will be finishing up his duties at Coastal Carolina while still meeting with West Virginia over Zoom. Most of Benson’s family will be in Morgantown when he moves. His daughter will finish up high school in South Carolina after next year, and then she and his wife will join them in Morgantown.

Benson’s still in the early stages of his vision for the university, but he knows for sure he will make West Virginia welcoming. He’ll be the first to hold the door open for students to start their careers.

“We’re in the beginning,” Benson said. “We are kind of in the beginning processes of a strategic plan that I think is gonna be really exciting, that’s gonna chart a very, very bold path forward for us.”