About the President

Marie Foster Gnage, Ph.D.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Marie Foster Gnage became the sixth president of West Virginia University at Parkersburg in July of 2004. Prior to assuming the presidency at WVU Parkersburg, she served as Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Raritan Valley Community College in North Branch New Jersey; Assistant Vice Chancellor for Education Services at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona; Vice President for Instruction at Central Florida Community College in Ocala, Florida; Dean of Academic Affairs and Department Head of English/ESL at Broward Community College, North Campus in Coconut Creek Florida. She was an ACE Fellow through the American Council on Education Fellows Program with Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina serving as the host institution. She also served as Assistant Professor of English at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, and Regional Vice President for West Virginia University.

President Gnage was appointed to the AACC’s 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, and the West Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission. She is a member of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Board of Directors currently serving as Chair; Past Chair of the American Council on Education (ACE) Network Executive Board; The Mid-Ohio Valley Chamber of Commerce Board; the Region IV Workforce Investment Board; The United Way of the Mid-Ohio Valley Board of Governors; Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Council; Campus Compact Board of Directors; and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

Dr. Gnage has several publications including “Voice, Mind, Self: Mother and Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Fiction,” in Women of Color, UP Press (Fall 1996), A Bio-bibliography of Southern Black Creative Writers, 1829 – 1953, Greenwood Press, Inc., (1988), and “Reconfiguring Self: A Matter of Place in Selected Novels by Paul Marshall,” in Middle Passages and the Healing Place of History: Migration and Identity in Black Women’s Literature, The Ohio University Press (2006). “Hiring for Student Success,” co-author Kevin Drumm in Hiring the Next Generation of Faculty, Jossey-Bass (2010). She has made presentations at numerous leadership workshops, institutes and conferences.

Dr. Gnage holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Alcorn A&M College, Lorman, Mississippi; a master’s degree in English from University of Southwestern Louisiana, and doctoral degree in English (American Literature) from The Florida State University.

Dr. Gnage was presented with the Empowerment Inspiration Award given by the West Virginia Minority Business Development Center to individuals for their significant achievements/accomplishments, inspiring others by example and guidance, and continuing to excel in personal and professional goals and objectives, the Women of Excellence Award for Trail Blazing awarded by Altrusa International, Inc. to women that have made inroads in their careers and/or community that have never been done before, and the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction presented by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-Year College for her outstanding support of Phi Theta Kappa.