Staff Report

RIO GRANDE — Former University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College administrator Dr. Scott D. Miller will become president of Bethany (W.Va.) College in January 2008.

Miller has been president of Wesley College in Dover, Del., for the past 10 years, according to a story that appeared Monday in the Delaware State News in Dover.

Miller told the newspaper that the location and feel of Bethany, a small liberal arts college, were significant factors in his decision, which he added was not an easy one to make.

“Anytime you have invested 10 years into a place it’s a difficult decision,” he said. “I have devoted my full energy. I have seen my family grow up here. I have become a part of the campus and the community, so it is a difficult decision.”

Charles R. Dashiell Jr., chair of Wesley’s Board of Trustees, said Miller will leave “a legacy of accomplishment. Thanks to his strong, strategic leadership, Wesley has become a vibrant, progressive institution, well-positioned to take advantage of new opportunities.”

According to the school’s website, Bethany, located on a 1,300-acre campus in West Virginia’s northern panhandle near Pittsburgh, is the state’s oldest college, founded in 1840. Enrollment is listed at 830 students.

A native of western Pennsylvania, Miller said his new job will bring him closer to his family roots as well those of his wife, the former Annie Cook of Rio Grande, who was Gallia County Junior Fair queen in 1979.

“The geographic location was ideal,” he said. “The fit between the characteristics that they were looking for and the abilities that I bring to the table were fairly consistent.”

Miller said Bethany College first contacted him last March about the open position after the current president, G.T. Smith, announced he was retiring, the State News reported.

The 48-year-old Miller is in his 17th year as a college president. He was president of Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee from 1991 until 1997, when he came to Wesley as its president. He has two daughters, Katie, 22, and Ashlee, 20, both in college, according to the State News.

Miller was director of alumni relations at what was then Rio Grande College and Community College from July 1, 1982 to April 30, 1984, URG/RGCC Director of Human Resources Phyllis Mason said.