Entries by Steve Jones

Celebrating Nature’s Symbols

Yeah, I know, it’s perhaps a real stretch to see our Fairmont State University Flying F logo in this morning’s dawn. Yet I really liked the image painted in the eastern sky above the Falcon Center. Judy and I had just finished our morning walk. Dawn had just begun brightening the east when we started. […]

A View of Fairmont State University’s Ecosystem

FSU’s Science and Technology Dean Don Trisel sent his drone with camera aloft 7:30 AM November 20. Looking north, the view captures campus and the hills beyond. Almost Heaven, don’t you think! A typical landscape of North-Central, Wild Wonderful West Virginia. Our “College on the Hill” campus rises some 300 feet from Locust Avenue in […]

Another West Virginia Dawn

Every dawn is a gift. This past Thursday, November 16, was no exception. Warm moist air streaming from the south, pushing hard against the season’s advance. A few morning cumulus signaling the struggle. Winter will eventually push past. I hope to see snow before I head back south to northern Alabama December 22! No shortage […]

A Week in the Life of This Interim President

I lay my head on a pillow in Shaw House, the Fairmont State University (FSU) President’s residence, which sits south of the Feaster athletic facility and north of the Falcon Student Center. My office is in Hardway Hall, the next building south below the Falcon Center. My current life extends across our campus, into the […]

Nature’s Veterans Day Inspiration

Today is Veterans Day — here are two photos fifteen minutes apart as dawn deepened, viewed from my Fairmont State University President’s residence. Gazing east toward my Cumberland, MD home (65 miles or so from this perch) I thought of WWII veterans Jack E. Jones and Elmer E. Cessna, my Dad and Judy’s. My hat’s […]

Summer-Like November Hike Along the Mon-River Rails-to-Trail

I hiked six-and-one-half miles along the Monongahela River Rails-to-Trail November 5, 2017, near Prickett’s Fort State Park. The temperature of 77 degrees masked the season. Leaves have mostly dropped, attributable to photo-period and evolved seasonal habit. We have not yet had a killing frost here in North-Central West Virginia. We’ll call this hike an escape […]

Environmental Influences

I hiked September 17 at Dolly Sods National Wilderness Area (approximately 4,000 feet elevation), a couple hours from my six-month West Virginia home. Dolly Sods has been a favorite destination for me since I first sojourned there as a forestry student nearly 50 years ago. In fact, I intend for it to be my final […]

Little Things Matter — ‘U’ Better Believe IT!

What’s a ‘U’? One of the 26 letters in our alphabet. A little less than four percent of the total, with a frequency of usage rate even lower at 2.758 percent (Wikipedia). Yet, look at the Feature Image for this post. Fairmont State University women’s tennis hosted our first home competition of the season several […]