MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia University has been through a difficult season, but new President Michael T. Benson is optimistic that there are blue skies on the horizon.

Mr. Benson, who began his WVU tenure in July, is tasked with leading West Virginia’s flagship school through persistent enrollment downturns and on the backend of sweeping program and faculty cuts that thrust the institution into the national spotlight.

And though these challenges linger, Mr. Benson looks forward to heading the Morgantown-based school with three campuses, nearly 26,000 students and more than 200,000 living alumni.

It’s the “chance of a lifetime,” said Mr. Benson, 60, who previously served as president of Coastal Carolina University near Myrtle Beach.

“In so many ways, we are the cultural, athletic

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