James M. Dean

Jim Dean served as a lecturer and undergraduate student advisor for the Mining Engineering Department in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources until May 1994. At that time, Jim was appointed as the associate director of the Mining Extension Service, which he would later become the director the Mining and Industrial Extension Department and serve in that position until 2019. Dean served on executive loan as the acting director of the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training at the request of Governor Joe Manchin, following the Sago and Aracoma mine disasters until a search for the director's position was conducted. During that time, he also served as the chairman of the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety and the West Virginia Mine Safety Technology Task Force, a joint industry and labor group charged with evaluating technology for improving mine safety. He received the Distinguished West Virginia Award from the Governor and the West Virginia University's President's Distinguished Award for his contributions to mine safety. After returning to the University, Dean continued to work in collaboration with industry and labor on various mine health and safety issues and evaluating potential technology solutions. In 2011, Dean was selected to serve on the National Research Council of the National Academies Committee on Mine Safety: Essential Components of Self-Escape. He also briefly served as the chairman of the West Virginia Mine Inspector's Examiner's Board and has served in the following organizations: Careers in Coal, the Holmes Safety Association; The Holmes Mine Rescue Association, the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute, Post 5 of the National Mine Rescue Association and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.