April 2006

Buchanan County, Virginia

Terry Kilgore, state delegate from Southwest Virginia, has been named Dean of Institutional Advancement for the University of Appalachia, a new, private university located in Buchanan County. Kilgore is currently serving his seventh term as delegate of Virginia’s First District, which includes Scott, Lee, and portions of Wise and Washington counties. Throughout his political career, Kilgore has placed emphasis upon education, health care, and economic development within far Southwest Virginia. During his tenure and with his avid support, the Pharmacy Connect program that originated in Southwest Virginia was implemented to provide prescription medicines to low-income seniors. Delegate Kilgore has also supported annual increases in both educational funding and new jobs throughout the region.

“This new position created by the University of Appalachia helps draw higher education opportunities for all of Southwest Virginia,” Kilgore commented when he accepted the deanship. “The key to economic progress in far Southwest Virginia is education, education, education, whether in the form of technical training to respond to a global economy, community college studies, undergraduate degrees, or, thanks to recent educational enterprises, access to professional schools.” Kilgore pointed out that until the Appalachian School of Law (ASL) was established a few years ago, Southwest Virginia students had to leave the area to pursue most graduate degree studies. “We did have some master degree programs available through other sources, but ASL was the first to prove that a stand-alone professional school could prosper in our area. Now we have the pharmacy school in Buchanan County and new graduate programs at UVA-Wise. The schools of osteopathic medicine in Blacksburg, Pikeville, and now LMU, also give Southwest Virginia students new opportunities to stay in the region to learn and apply their skilled professions.”

Terry Kilgore was first elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 1993. Prior to that, he served two terms as the Scott County commonwealth attorney. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis in political science and economics. He went on to earn a law degree at William and Mary’s Marshall Wythe School of Law. Kilgore currently serves on numerous legislative committees that include Courts of Justice, Commerce and Labor, Militia, Police and Public Safety, and Rules. He chairs two subcommittees, Judicial Selection and Civil Law, and is the Vice Chairman of the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. He is the national chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Community and Economic Development Taskforce and chairman of the Criminal Subcommittee of the Virginia Crime Commission.

“As Dean of Institutional Advancement, Terry Kilgore brings strong leadership, a passion for the advancement of health care and education, and a voice to be heard throughout the Commonwealth,” explained Michael McGlothlin, President of the University of Appalachia. “Terry will be instrumental in expanding program development, promoting scholarships and fundraising, and increasing the awareness of educational and health care needs of Southwest Virginia. He has shown great enthusiasm in taking this office and has begun making contacts and setting up site visits well before his start date. Terry strengthens our leadership team and will help make our mission become a reality.”

The University is adding a second campus to provide growing room for the College of Pharmacy and to allow for the addition of other programs. Among those new initiatives is an herbal compounding laboratory and production facility. Most recently, discussions have been held with potential partners to establish a physician’s assistants school, according to the University chairman, Frank Kilgore. “While these new initiatives are still in the planning stages, we are not shy about pursuing unique programs or goals that some people might consider far-fetched,” he stated. “I have studied this region’s history and development issues for three decades now and it dawned on me several years ago that anyone can figure out what the problems are, but what we really need are home-grown solutions to energize our young people to aspire toward higher education and to stay in the region. We cannot see progress without our young, talented citizens deciding to make their homes and careers here, and they cannot have that option unless this generation supplies the opportunities.”

Frank Kilgore added that Delegate Kilgore’s addition to the University’s leadership team is a turning point for higher education in the region. “Terry’s contacts, experience, history of supporting education and health care, and his enthusiasm for Southwest Virginia are the exact ingredients needed for promoting our region. His work for Buchanan County and its bold educational initiatives will help all Southwest Virginians have access to opportunities no one dreamed of a few years ago.”

Delegate Kilgore noted that he is in the process of phasing out of his general practice of law and will maintain his legislative district office in Gate City where he and his wife, Debbie, also an educator, and their two children, Kayla and Kyle, continue to reside. “I will continue on a part time basis to represent a limited number of serious injury clients as part of my agreement with the University of Appalachia. It is important that I stay actively involved in the legal profession and it was not an easy decision to make this transition. But with all the expanding opportunities for further educating our high school graduates happening right here in Southwest Virginia I cannot resist doing what I can to make that happen on a larger and more aggressive scale.”

According to McGlothlin, the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy received over 1300 applications for next years class of 65 students and its charter class will finish its first year this summer. A nationwide search for the permanent dean of the pharmacy school has concluded and the selection process should conclude in late spring.

Call 276-935-6433, Mickey McGlothlin, President, University of Appalachia, for more information or Terry Kilgore, 276-386-7701.

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