West Virginia University at Parkersburg AlumniFrom WVU Parkersburg to Washington D.C. Mike Fulton is an outstanding alumnus of West Virginia University at Parkersburg. Mike at-tended WVU Parkersburg from August 1975 to May 1977, when he graduated with a degree in pre-jour-nalism. From humble be-ginnings in Parkersburg, Mike is now executive vice president of Golin-Harris International in Washington D.C. Mike discovered a love of journalism at Parkersburg High School. While a student there, Mike wrote for the school paper, The Journal ,and also worked on the school’s yearbook, The Parischan. After graduating high school, Mike went on to WVU at Parkersburg. He lived in Vienna and worked at Pizza Inn at the Grand Cen-tral Mall. While at WVU Parkersburg, Mike continued with his journalistic endeavors. He was a member of The Chronicle staff and during his time at WVU Parkersburg he acquired a position interning for the Park-ersburg News and Sentinel. In 1977, Mike went on to West Virginia University where he majored in Journalism. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor’s of Science in journalism. During his senior year at WVU, Mike learned of a job op-portunity working in the Washington, D.C., office of Congressman Robert Mollohan. Mike interviewed with the legislative direc-tor and acquired the position before ever go-ing to D.C. Mike became projects director for Con-gressman Mollohan. He had the opportu-nity to work with city and county officials, business groups, and companies on legisla-tion, grants, regulations, and other measures that could help them reach their goals. Af-ter Congressman Mollohan retired, Mike

worked on the campaign and later in the congressional office of Mollohan’s son, Alan B. Mollohan. He worked as an asso-ciate counsel to the House Appropriations Committee until 1988. After his near ten-year congressional career, Mike went to work for Ryan-Mc-Ginn, Inc. The company was an offshoot of Charles Ryan Associates based in Charles-ton, W.Va. This gave Mike the opportunity to work with West Virginia clients at a feder-al level. The company became so successful that they were acquired by parent company GolinHarris International. GolinHarris is one of the world’s top 10 communications agencies, with 12 U.S. offices and 34 around the globe. Mike is now Executive Vice President of GolinHarris and is the agency’s top fed-eral lobbyist, having been named for three consecutive years by The Hill newspaper as one of the top 100 lobbyists. Mike lives in Kensington, Md, with his wife Teresa. He has two daughters, Amanda, who works on Capitol Hill, and Elizabeth, who is a junior

at Clemson Univer-sity. With all of his success in Washing-ton, Mike still looks back at WVU Parkers-burg and the Parkers-burg area with fond-ness. Mike was very involved with campus life. He was student body vice president and was active on sev-eral faculty-student committees. Mike truly en-joyed the atmosphere at WVU Parkersburg and is happy that he began his higher edu-cation at the college that was then Parkers-burg Community Col-lege. “I found WVU at Parkersburg to be a

welcoming and friendly environment for ed-ucation, social life and community service. All of the administrators and faculty were accessible and engaged with students.” Many faculty members and students alike were memorable to Mike. Some who are still at the institution, such as H.G. Young and Phil McClung, and others who have moved on from the institution such as economic instructor Dick Dezio and Dr. Bernard Allen, who was the dean of aca-demics. Some of Mike’s most memorable times on campus include student government ac-tivities and working on The Chronicle. He gave blood for the first time at a blood drive on campus. He remembers special appear-ances to the college by Ronald Reagan and Senator Jay Rockefeller, who was governor then. From his time on campus at WVU Park-ersburg through his days in Washington, Mike still considers Parkersburg a home. He loves hearing about his alma mater and helping the college grow.

Mike Fulton - WVU at Parkersburg Alumnus, Mike Fulton with Senator Robert Byrd. Mike attended WVU at Parkersburg from 1975-1977. He is now the executive vice president of GolinHarris

Why Should I Reconnect? Benefits of being a WVU at Parkersburg Alumnus

Your ties to WVU Parkersburg don’t end at commencement. Alumni from every decade share a special tie to the college. We want to keep your WVU Parkersburg connection strong so that you can reap the rewards in life-long friendships, career enhancement, and other benefits. We invite you to explore the many ways you can be an active part of the WVU Parkersburg Alumni Community. And we look forward to seeing you back on campus!

Career ServicesThe career services office can provide alumni with free tools that can be necessary to finding employment, enhancing a career or starting a new one! These include: •Connectionsthroughlocalbusiness partners •CareerMapping/SkillsAssessments •Resumeandportfoliodevelopment and improvement assistance

•Freecareerrelatedwebinars •Careerfairs

NetworkingStaying connected to your alma matermeans a broader personal and professional

network. Some of the ways you can stayconnected include: •Facebook(WVUatParkersburg Foundationpage) •LinkedIn(WVUParkersburgAlum- ni)pageforAlumnionly •OnlineAlumniCommunity (www.wvup.edu/alumni)

News and EventsWVU Parkersburg and the WVU at Parkersburg Foundation keeps you postedon all that’s happing on campus and in the community. Be a part of it by: •FollowingusonFacebook (WestVirginiaUniversityat Parkersburg and WVU at Parkersburg Foundation) •SubscribingtotheWVUatParkesburg monthly newsletter or e-newsletter •Attendingoneofourmanyculturalor athletic events

Ted Brunson - When Ted hired on at Dupont he didn’t know when he would get to go back and visit his mom in Florida, so they took a trip to see her and stopped at Tybee Island, Georgia.

Ted Brunson: Completing a College Degree in a Non-Traditional Way Ted Brunson is a new member of the WVU at Parkersburg Alumni Associa-tion, but he had his start a long time ago. In 1973, Ted graduated from Parkersburg High School. Later that year he started his college career at Parkersburg Community College. Like many young people who start college right out of high school, Ted was not ready and he dropped out of college. Ted served in the Navy from 1974 until ‘78. In August of ‘78 he decided to go back to school and enrolled in an engineering program at West Virginia University. He was there for two semesters, but didn’t have the required math and science background. At this point, Ted enrolled at Fairmont State University in their engineering technology program. In 1981, Ted was offered a job at Cabot Corporation and at that time online classes were not available. Ted had to drop his classes in order to take the position. Ted worked a 27-year career with Cabot, 17 of which were in supervision. Ted discovered that Cabot was offshoring a year before the company closed. At this point, Ted went back to his Alma Mater and spoke with Director of Non-Tra-ditional Programs Paul Milhoan. He dis-covered that he was only three credits away from a Board of Governors degree. Ted had finally found his way back to WVU at Parkersburg and in May 2008 he received that degree that he began in 1978. Through the Trade Adjustment Assis-

tance program, Ted had benefits and could continue his education even further. He be-gan taking more classes and in December 2010 Ted graduated with a Regents Bach-elor of Arts emphasizing in Communica-tions. At this time, Ted also acquired an Elec-trical Engineering Instrumentation Cer-tificate from Washington State Community College. In the summer of 2010, Ted entered the hiring pool for Dupont and in March of 2011 he was hired as a process operator. He feels that the interpersonal skills that he ac-quired at WVU Parkersburg will help him in his new position. Ted hopes to eventu-ally move into a position where he can uti-lize his electrical instrumentation skills as well. “I’m 56 years old, I worked 27 years at Cabot and I hope to get in 10 or 12 at Dupont.” Ted is very happy about returning to school and completing his degrees. He started in the ‘70s with a C average and re-turned to make straight A’s with the excep-tion of two B’s. “My going back to school after so many years, it was challenging, but very, very rewarding and worthwhile.” He set an example for his daughter Amanda and inspired her to return to col-lege, as well. She is now enrolled at WVU Parkersburg and is majoring in Psychology and Sociology. She will be interning at Walt Disney World in Orlando this fall. In his spare time, Ted enjoys fly fishing.

A few years ago he took an introductory fly fishing class and was hooked. Ted also en-joys bowling. He is a member of a bowling league at Emerson Lanes with his wife and daughter.