Honorable Tera L. Salango Scholarship Established at West Virginia State University

12/14/2023

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Contact: Jack Bailey
(304) 766-4109
Jbaile19@wvstateu.edu
     
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- Charleston area attorney and Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango has established an endowed scholarship in honor of his wife, Judge Tera L. Salango, at her alma mater, West Virginia State University (WVSU).

“Tera’s interest in the law and the criminal justice system really began at West Virginia State University,” said Ben Salango. “I hope that through this endowed scholarship that same passion for improving social justice for all citizens of West Virginia may be instilled in others.” 

The new Honorable Tera L. Salango Endowed Scholarship was created with a donation of $100,000 to provide scholarship support to students attending West Virginia State University, where Tera Salango received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

“We are very thankful to Ben Salango for this generous donation in honor of his wife and her accomplishments,” said WVSU President Ericke S. Cage. “Judge Salango represents the very best of West Virginia State University. She has clearly used her education to achieve great things in her career and to become one of the leading jurists in Kanawha County.”

A native of Nitro, Tera Salango first developed an interest in the law when her older brother was murdered, and she witnessed the case being tried. She studied criminal justice at WVSU  graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1999, earning the highest grade-point average in her major of criminal justice. 

In 2003 she graduated in the top 20 percent of her class from the West Virginia University College of Law. Following a 15-year career as an attorney with the Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and with the firms Spilman, Thomas & Battle and Preston & Salango, she was elected Circuit Court Judge in Kanawha County in 2018. 

Preference for the new Honorable Tera L. Salango Endowed Scholarship will go to WVSU students in good academic standing pursuing a career in criminal justice, social work, political science, or another field dedicated to improving social justice for all citizens. Preference will also be given to students from West Virginia with first preference for students from Nitro.

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West Virginia State University is a public, land-grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.