The University of West Virginia was an educational authority formed by the West Virginia Legislature on July 1, 1989, to oversee the operation of the state's graduate and doctoral degree-granting institutions. It was abolished on June 30, 2000. A 17-member Board of Trustees governed the following institutions of higher learning in West Virginia:
- West Virginia University (WVU), including:
- West Virginia University at Parkersburg (formerly Parkersburg Community College)
- West Virginia University School of Medicine
- West Virginia University Institute of Technology (formerly West Virginia Institute of Technology), and
- Potomac State College of West Virginia University
- Marshall University, including:
- Marshall University Graduate College (formerly the University of West Virginia College of Graduate Studies), and
- Marshall University School of Medicine
- West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
From the foundation of the state's various colleges until 1970, all colleges, indeed all forms of education, from pre-school through the graduate programs at Marshall University were under a single state Board of Education, with the exception of West Virginia University and what is now known as West Virginia State University which were under separate Boards of Governors as land grant schools. Following the decision in Brown v. Board of Education State was desegregated, gave up its land grant status and was placed under the Board of Education as well.
In 1970, education governance was reformed and all colleges, including WVU, were placed under a single Board of Regents, with the state Board of Education focusing on primary and secondary education. This lasted until 1990, when the graduate level colleges were separated as The University of West Virginia, and the remaining Board of Regents was renamed the "State and Community College System of West Virginia".
In 2000, the state abandoned the University of West Virginia system, establishing the two universities as separate, state related institutions with tremendous independence from the state, and placing all state colleges under separate boards of Governors for each school, with no central coordination.
In 2008, the community colleges were likewise separated from their parent institutions and renamed.
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—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)