By Steven Allen Adams for The Weirton Daily Times
CHARLESTON – The newly appointed director of a new center at West Virginia University focused on “classical Western history and culture and American constitutional thought” will be paid nearly one-third of $1 million during his first year.
According to an employment contract obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, WVU offered former Duquesne University associate professor Patrick Lee Miller two distinct positions: the directorship of the new Washington Center for Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship; and a tenured appointment in the Department of Philosophy within WVU’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
“I am pleased to offer you a position as the Director of the Washington Center for Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship with (a) Professor appointment with the award of tenure in the Department of Philosophy of the West Virginia University (WVU or University) Eberly College of Arts and Sciences,” wrote Eberly College Dean R. Gregory Dunaway and Paul K. Kreider, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey and WVU President Michael Benson introduced Miller as the Washington Center’s founding director during a press conference at the end of October. Miller has expertise in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, the philosophy of Plato and Friedrich Nietzsche, and psychoanalysis as pioneered by Sigmund Freud.