Marshall University Provides IDEA District Update

Dec 10, 2025

Marshall University representatives provided updates for a major new development during Wednesday’s Board of Governor’s meeting.

The IDEA District, previously called the Innovation District, is part of the university’s initiative to transform the blocks west of campus into a state-of-the-art “innovative ecosystem.”

According to Marshall’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Toney Stroud, “IDEA” stands for “impossible doesn’t exist anymore,” and was President Brad D. Smith’s idea.

“We’re doing a lot of things in this district that, I think at one point in time, people would have said would not happen in Huntington, West Virginia,” Stroud told WSAZ. “But now it is thanks to some of the initiatives we have going on in the district.”

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