Danny Twilley, Ph. D.
Assistant Vice President of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Provost, West Virginia University
CATHY BONNSTETTER
Photo by Nick Morales, WVU.
DANNY TWILLEY, PH. D., assistant vice president of economic and community development for the Office of the Provost at West Virginia University( WVU), traded sand and waves for the mountains— but first, he took a loop around the country.
Twilley spent five years after college traveling before completing his master’ s and doctorate degrees at Ohio University. His adventures included surfing the coasts of Ecuador and Peru; biking across the U. S. from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Anacortes, WA, and down the Pacific Coast to the Mexico border; and kayaking down the Grand Canyon.
“ A few years after college when I was living in Oregon with some friends and training for a marathon, I vocalized for the first time wanting to get my Ph. D.,” Twilley says.“ Higher education profoundly transformed my life.”
Just as his professional landing at WVU was not a straight line, neither was his academic life. In fact, he had nearly completed his bachelor’ s degree at Salisbury University in Maryland when he made one of many life-changing decisions.
“ I started out as a physical education major,” Twilley says.“ When I was one year away from completing my degree, I took
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