WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., July 14, 2021 — President W. Franklin Evans will be the keynote speaker at the next Belmont County NAACP’s meeting on Thursday, July 15. A noted speaker and frequent contributor to community events, Evans joined WLU as president on Jan. 1, 2021.
The NAACP event will be held at the Bridgeport Rotary Shelter (located behind the Bridgeport Schools’ administrative offices) and is open to the public. It gets started at 6 p.m.
Jerry Moore II is the Belmont County Chapter president of the NAACP and is pleased to have Evans back at the podium.
Evans was the keynote speaker last January for Martin Luther King Day for the Belmont County Chapter.
“He’s a wonderful speaker and we look forward to welcoming him again to address our chapter,” Moore said. “He’s very well educated and a brilliant speaker.”
Any prospective student or their families are welcome to attend and hear his talk and learn first hand why he’s in demand as a public speaker.
Evans has more than 25 years of experience in higher education (9 years in K-12). He is the first Black president in the history of the university and arrived at WLU after successfully leading Voorhees College in South Carolina. Prior to his role at Voorhees, Evans served as interim president of South Carolina State University, where he also served as the provost and chief academic officer.
He also has served as vice president of academic affairs at Virginia Union University in Richmond, where he was instrumental in leading the institution through a successful reaffirmation of accreditation and establishing an Honors College.
Evans earned a doctoral degree in higher education administration from Georgia State University in 1994. He also holds advanced degrees in science curriculum and instruction from Georgia State University and earned bachelor degrees in both journalism and biology/entomology from Georgia State and the University of Georgia (respectively) in 1984.
Voorhees College presented him with an honorary doctoral degree in January 2021 to recognize his achievements.
Born in Augusta, Ga., he is active in the NAACP, Black Family Preservation Group, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Sigma Pi Phi, and Toastmasters International and has served on the boards of the Sickle Cell Association, Boys and Girls Club, Kiwanis Club International and the AIDS Action Coalition. He is an ordained elder with the Church of God in Christ.
President Evans serves locally on the boards of the Ohio County Development Authority, the Regional Economic Development (RED) partnership and the Mountain East Conference (MEC).