​Thanks to donor support, three Fairmont State University students traded the classroom for London this spring – briefing senior executives at BAE Systems on UK critical maritime infrastructure alongside NATO military officers and international graduate students.

From March 6-15, three students, one industry analyst and three faculty members traveled to the United Kingdom to collaborate with the University of Plymouth, culminating in a formal presentation to BAE Systems.

"The students used their skills gained from the Master of Science in Cyber Security & Risk Management program to perform intricate critical infrastructure analysis of key UK maritime assets," said Dr. Greg Cutlip, who led the trip. "It reinforced the relevance of their academic experience at Fairmont State, their ability to perform at a high academic and professional level, and to represent the United States with utmost professionalism and decorum."

BAE Systems took notice. Dr. Damian Terrill, account manager for BAE Systems Digital Intelligence's Space business unit, called the students' presentation "first-rate" and said it "demonstrated the ability to understand complex problems, synthesize large amounts of data, and undertake detailed critical analysis." BAE Systems has since requested a formal report from the FSU-Plymouth team for consideration by the UK government.

"Azimuth Inc, a local defense contractor, served as a corporate sponsor for this trip, allowing students and faculty to represent the University on an international stage, working with NATO partners in analysis of those topics critical to international security," Cutlip said. “We’re thankful for this investment in our students. None of this happens without donor support.”

"Experiential learning that allows students to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to complex, real-world challenges is a critical part of our graduate students’ professional development," according to Dr. Rebecca Giorcelli, dean of the College of Business and Aviation. "Opportunities to collaborate internationally with professionals and peers expose them to new perspectives, strengthen their confidence, and demonstrate how their education can make an impact on a global stage. We are incredibly proud of how these graduate students represented Fairmont State University in the U.K. and grateful for the donor support that makes transformative opportunities like this possible."

Private support made this experience possible – giving students a seat at the table with NATO officers, international academics and a global defense contractor, and the chance to prove they belonged there.

Since joining the university in 2022, Warren has led the Folklife Center through a period of significant growth, expanding programming, securing grant funding and building the kind of community that, as she puts it, doesn’t leave even after people do.

The Folklife Center is, by any measure, unusual in American higher education. It houses undergraduate minors in both folklore and museum studies, credentials that virtually nowhere else in the country offers at that level.

“At most schools, that’s a master’s degree,” Warren says. “Students come here and they’re able to get experience not just taking those classes, not just having those minors on their CV – but doing oral histories, creating exhibitions, going through the archives.”

Those aren’t abstract skills. Student workers have spent recent semesters fully inventorying all 117 boxes of the Ruth Ann Musick folklore collection, one of the center’s signature holdings. As undergraduates, they’re doing work that most archivists don’t attempt until graduate school.

“Usually, you need a master’s degree in archives to be allowed to touch the boxes,” Warren says. “And they’re in there with their gloves on as sophomores.”

For Marion County residents with no connection to the university, the Folklife Center has become something rarer still: a free, all-ages gathering place where cultural heritage isn’t behind glass.

Monthly acoustic music jams draw a rotating cast of musicians, some who’ve been coming for years, into an intimate circle open to listeners and players alike. Storytelling performances, craft workshops, square dances and literary arts events fill out a calendar that runs through the academic year and into summer.

This summer, the West Virginia Storytelling Guild brought its youth summer camp to campus, with children staying on-site and spending time at the center. The program is led by Dr. Fran Kirk, a former Folklife Center director and retired Fairmont State professor. Kirk’s continued involvement is emblematic of something Warren has observed again and again since taking the helm.

“The people who are interested in folk life cultivate a really strong sense of community,” Warren says. “Once you’re a part of this, you don’t leave – even when you leave.”

That continuity is part of what makes the center’s work possible. Former directors stay involved. Donors return. Families bring children for field trips to the same building where they once took classes.

Warren, an ethnomusicologist by training, describes cultural preservation not as nostalgia but as orientation, a way of helping people understand where they are and who got them there.

The center’s gallery walls trace the immigrant communities that built this region: Irish and Italian miners, timber workers, brickmakers. One of Fairmont’s more distinctive contributions to the built environment, the brick that appears on homes and buildings across town, was manufactured here, by hand, a little more than a century ago.

“It’s easy to forget that this wasn’t happening that long ago,” Warren says. “Everything around us was built by people who made things with their hands.”

But the Folklife Center is not a history museum, and Warren is quick to make the distinction. “The programming here is what we try to be,” she says. “This is where we’re going. These are traditions that are alive and still being practiced.”

That philosophy shows up in the center’s current exhibitions, which include a loan from the Arthurdale Heritage organization featuring handwoven functional textiles alongside works by contemporary fiber artists from across West Virginia – the same traditions expressed through new hands.

One of the center’s most significant projects in the coming year is the transition to a fully cloud-based archive system, a change that will make the center’s tens of thousands of holdings searchable by anyone, anywhere – for the first time.

“If you want to type in ‘fiber arts’ or ‘quilt’ or ‘Italian,’ you can see what we have,” Warren says. The system will be online and accessible before the end of 2026, with the full cataloging effort, a years-long undertaking, already underway.

That work depends directly on student workers funded through donor investment. Without donor support, Warren says, summer staffing simply isn’t possible.

“The archive work would be a lot slower,” she says. “The students working with us have been able to fully inventory 117 boxes of the Musick collection. There are concrete goals being checked off the list – thanks in large part to donors.”

The Folklife Center’s archive transition is just one piece of a larger momentum Warren describes. Donor dollars also cover the unglamorous but essential infrastructure of archival work: acid-free boxes, acid-free folders, nitrile and cotton gloves – the materials that make preservation possible.

It all reflects Warren’s broader vision for the center: a place where giving is acknowledged, traditions are practiced and anyone who walks through the door, whether they’ve been coming for decades or just moved to town, can find something that feels like home.

“If you just came to Marion County, if you just came to this country, you have your own traditions,” she says. “And they can be here, too.”

There is a moment in a biology lab, Dr. Glenna Pirner will tell you, that no textbook can manufacture. It happens when a student peers into a microscope, or analyzes a data readout, or watches a crayfish react to a stimulus it never expected – and suddenly, the living world clicks into focus.

“There really is nothing more satisfying,” said Pirner, assistant professor of biology at Fairmont State University, “than seeing students do the work and have it mean something.”

That moment of meaning is what Pirner and her colleagues have built their teaching philosophy around. And increasingly, thanks to the generosity of donors, it is a moment more biology students get to experience.

Fairmont State’s biology faculty have designed a program with clear conviction: students should graduate as whole scientists, not specialists narrowed too early. The program Pirner describes reflects that belief. There are no formal tracks. Students move through coursework that touches plants, bacteria, animals and human systems alike – a breadth that mirrors the complexity of the field itself, and, she argues, the complexity of the careers waiting on the other side of a degree.
 
“We try to produce what we call well-rounded biologists,” she said. “Making sure we cover the full spectrum and then preparing all of them for the future workforce.”

That preparation has a hands-on structure. In their junior year, students undertake original research projects in either animal or plant physiology. Senior year brings a capstone. By the time many of the biology students walk across a commencement stage, they have designed an experiment, conducted it, analyzed the results and, in a growing number of cases, presented their findings at a regional or national conference.

The range of what they study would surprise anyone who remembers high school biology as a parade of diagrams. During the spring 2026 term alone, one animal physiology class ran projects on the effects of high- versus low-sugar diets in mice, tracking voluntary exercise on measured wheels. Another group examined the escape reflex in crayfish – that characteristic backward dart – comparing how caffeine and alcohol affect the speed of the neurological response. A third studied metabolism in geckos, looking at how light, temperature and the physiology of ectothermy interact at the enzymatic level. ”We try to tie in more than just ‘if we do this, what happens,’” Pirner said. “We try to dig a little deeper into the physiology behind it.”

Outside the classroom, Pirner recently took over as full-time faculty advisor for the university’s Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta) chapter, the national biological honor society. The group held a plant sale earlier this spring that performed well, and she is already planning expanded programming – more activities, more fundraising, more of the informal cohesion that turns a club into a community.

Four TriBeta students traveled to a regional conference during the spring term. Two presented research. One of them, a student who studied the effects of sunscreen chemicals on aquatic plant photosynthesis – tracing what happens when UV-blocking compounds wash off swimmers and into the water – placed second overall in oral competition.
 
“She was able to show real, measurable differences,” Pirner said, with the quiet pride of a mentor who has watched a student’s curiosity become a credible scientific contribution.

None of this happens cleanly without reliable equipment. It is the part of the conversation Pirner returns to with the frankness of someone who has watched a semester’s worth of student effort evaporate because a spectrophotometer returned noise instead of data.

“There is nothing more frustrating to an instructor and a student,” she said, “than going to a lab, doing the work, and getting data that means nothing.”

This year, support from Day of Giving donors and a recent gift from Truist West Virginia Foundation helped the biology department invest in new microscopes – a tangible upgrade that has already changed the quality of what students can see and document. The department is also working toward updated sensor and water-testing equipment, a process that will move forward as a newly hired lab manager comes on board this summer and conducts a full assessment of what can be calibrated, what should be replaced and what the program most urgently needs next.

For Pirner, the equipment question is never really about hardware. It is about what happens to a student’s confidence and curiosity when the tools keep pace with their ambition. Recent donor support – including the microscope investment – has already moved that needle, and she is grateful for every gift that has helped close the gap between what students deserve and what a department’s budget alone can provide. 

“Donors are absolutely making a difference in the students’ overall experience,” she said. “It builds confidence in their research and the quality of work they can produce.”

Students who get real data from functioning instruments build more than scientific knowledge. They develop the habit of inquiry. Some will go on to medical school – the program reliably sends two to four students annually – while others will move into wildlife management, research, industry or fields that don’t yet have names. All of them carry forward what they were able to do, or not do, in a lab at Fairmont State.

“The better experience we can provide students,” Pirner said, “the better off everybody is – from the student level all the way up.”

For those who have supported the biology program, that is not an abstract return on investment. It is a crayfish darting backward under a student’s careful watch, a data set that finally makes sense, a young scientist standing at a podium, earning an award – and knowing exactly why.

Off the mat, eight wrestlers earned Academic All- American recognition. This is a program record, and a number that speaks to the expectations Bonaventura has built into the fabric of the Wrestling team. 

“We always want to win at the highest level,” he says. “But working with this group has been a blessing. It helps when you work with good people.”

Stoneking has embodied the Bonaventura era completely, ending his career this season as a four year starter, three-year captain, four-time Academic All-American, four-time regional placer, two-time conference champion, and 4.0 student.

At this year’s annual athletic banquet honoring student-athletes who have demonstrated tremendous achievement and skill, Stoneking took home three honors: Male Falcon of the Year, the Feaster Award for the highest cumulative GPA among senior student athletes, and the Colebank Award, presented to the most outstanding senior student-athlete for combined on and off the mat success. He is only the second wrestler in program history to receive the Colebank Award, joining Addison Courtney, who won in 2024. “Pretty much you name it, he did it,” Bonaventura says.

Stoneking arrived when the program was still finding its footing. He graduated this year leaving it standing on solid ground, with a standard that future Falcons will measure themselves against, quite literally, once his name goes up on the wall.

That wall project is next on the list. Bonaventura wants names up: conference champions, All-Americans, regional placers, national qualifiers. Every athlete who walks into the room should know exactly what’s been achieved there and what’s possible. 

“Seeing is believing,” he says. “You see those names up there, and you work hard every day to achieve that.”

The room itself has already been transformed. Donor investment has turned it into a genuine wrestling facility, one that signals to recruits and returning athletes alike that this program is serious. It’s one of the most tangible returns on donor investment Bonaventura can point to, and he’s not finished yet. 

Walk around the Fairmont State campus and you’ll find wrestlers. They’re in the LEAD Center – a tutoring and testing program on campus – where Stoneking and others have tutored fellow students. They’re at Student-Athlete Advisory Committee meetings and Fellowship of Christian Athletes events. They’re helping run the cheerleading competition and supporting the Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament that happens each year.

This is deliberate. Bonaventura recruits athletes, many of them from right here in West Virginia, who want to be part of something bigger than the mat. Aviation majors. Engineering students. Future educators. Student-athletes navigating lab schedules and practice times who know their coach will work around a tutoring appointment when needed.

“At the end of the day, we want them to be as successful off the mat as they are on it,” Bonaventura says. “We have to figure it out together.” 

The Academic All-American record this year, eight honorees, is the proof.

Bonaventura doesn’t hesitate when asked about the impact of donor investment. It’s athletic scholarships that make competitive recruiting possible. It’s travel that turns a college wrestling season into something more.

​The program has taken trips to New York City, Indianapolis, and beyond – experiences that have stayed with athletes long after a tournament has ended. “We had a lot of student-athletes from West Virginia who were on cloud nine in New York,” Bonaventura recalls. “Some of them said it was the best week of their lives. And that’s all because of donor support.”

Day of Giving dollars this year will go directly toward scholarships and the wrestling room wall project. Every dollar, he’s quick to note, is targeted and part of a plan, not an afterthought.

“It’s money well spent every year,” he says. “Everything donors give benefits the guys directly.”

As Bonaventura steps into an expanded role as director of wrestling, the program is breaking new ground. Fairmont State is launching a women’s wrestling program, and the early response has been remarkable. Less than a month after going public, the program is already halfway to a target roster of 12 for the fall.

Bonaventura credits the men’s program’s reputation and social media presence for generating early momentum, and he’s energized by the challenge ahead. A women’s head coach has just been hired. Additional staff support is planned. And the same blueprint that grew a men’s roster from 15 to nearly 40 student-athletes, with records on the books, is ready to be applied again with the new women’s team.

“We just have to keep doing the right things and building the right way,” he says. “We’ll get more support as we go.”

The gaps are closing. The room looks the part. The roster is full and growing. And now, for the first time, there are two programs to build.

For Gennaro Bonaventura, that’s not a burden. It’s the next four years.

As Vice President for Student Affairs at Fairmont State University, Dr. Janna Bredeson sees firsthand the impact that mentorship, belonging, and sustained support can have on first-generation students.

“First-generation students bring incredible resilience, determination, and potential to our campus, but many arrive without the roadmap that others may take for granted. At a regional institution like Fairmont State, programs like the Datha & Gene Smith Fellows Program are transformational because they create both access and belonging,” Bredeson explained. “We are deeply grateful to the Smith family for their continued investment in our students and their belief in the power of higher education to change lives for generations. As the program continues to grow, we are excited to expand leadership development, peer mentoring, and career readiness opportunities that will help our fellows thrive both at Fairmont State and beyond.”

The program is more than a scholarship. This distinction matters. Where scholarships provide a financial boost, the Datha & Gene Smith Fellows Program wraps students in sustained, four-year support. It is financial assistance paired with mentoring, academic resources, cultural experiences, and a dedicated coordinator who serves as advocate and connector for every year of a student’s college career.

The program coordinator is Lauren Pearson, and her approach to the role is as personal as it is practical. “A lot of students are afraid to talk to their advisors or financial aid,” she explains. “I become their middle person. And a lot of times, I’ll walk them to whoever they need to talk to, because it can be scary to navigate a college campus without any baseline for what to expect.”

Fairmont State’s student body reflects the reality of the region: many are from rural West Virginia communities where the path to and through college is not well mapped. When students arrive uncertain of what FAFSA means, unsure how to read a course schedule, or simply not knowing that they are, by definition, a “first-generation” student at all, Pearson meets them exactly where they are.

The program begins before orientation, before roommates arrive, before the noise of a new semester sets in. Each summer, a cohort of incoming fellows arrives on campus four to five days early for the Bridge Program. Participants are selected by a committee, and applicants must be first-generation college students from West Virginia with at least a 2.5 grade point average.

The week is intentionally immersive. Fellows tour campus, explore university technology platforms, meet advisors and support staff, and move through orientation. But they do it as a small, close-knit group, with the full attention of program staff. Last year, that included a whitewater rafting excursion to the New River Gorge, an experience many fellows had never had.

Upon returning to campus, “they ended up playing ultimate Frisbee on the quad on their own,” Pearson recalls with a smile, describing an evening during bridge week when the structured activities gave way to something better. “It wasn’t something we’d planned. It just happened. They had bonded. From that point on, they were united.”

That sense of belonging, forged before the broader campus population arrives, is among the program’s most powerful and intentional gifts. First-generation students often report feeling like outsiders in a place where others seem to know all the unspoken rules. The Bridge program resets that experience from day one.

Program requirements keep fellows engaged and supported throughout the academic year. Each student meets one-on-one with Pearson monthly, participates in a group activity each month – ranging from athletic events to campus programming to community service – and attends monthly study sessions at the Datha & Gene Smith LEAD Center, where tutors in a variety of disciplines are available.

The program’s impact extends beyond its formal structure. Pearson’s office has become an open door for fellows and their friends alike. “Students are now bringing their friends in,” she says. “I’ve become kind of their go-to person.”

In the program’s next phase, fellows who have completed their first year will step into peer mentor roles, leading study hall check-ins, managing social media, and offering the kind of support that can only come from someone who has walked the same path. 

Year two becomes an opportunity to give back while building professional and leadership skills of their own. As fellows advance, the program advances with them. Resume workshops and career exploration are already part of the curriculum. Internship preparation is on the horizon for upperclassmen, and a travel experience is envisioned for year-three students.

What Datha and Gene Smith built, born of quiet generosity and carried forward by their family’s continued commitment, is not merely a program. It is an infrastructure of belonging for students who arrive at Fairmont State carrying ambition and potential but without the roadmap that so many of their peers may take for granted.