There’s a common saying in Morgantown, W. Va., home to West Virginia University: “It’s a great day to be a Mountaineer.”

It’s also a great day to be in Miami for the Discover Orange Bowl, competing against a great team and a great university — Clemson.

While we may be strangers on the gridiron, we have much in common, starting with our land-grant roots planted in 1862.

In the 19th century, that focus was on agriculture and providing broad access to higher education. Today, in response to dynamic changes in science, technology and medicine, the 21st century land-grant university has evolved into much more.

Consider the impact these WVU initiatives have on the lives of our citizens:

To provide life-changing healthcare, WVU launched Bonnie’s Bus, a digital mammography lab that travels throughout West Virginia providing breast care screenings to thousands of residents — one of many programs that earned WVU a Top-10 ranking in Rural Medicine by US News & World Report.

To bolster national-security efforts at home and abroad, WVU serves as the FBI’s lead academic partner for biometrics research.

To accelerate research on clean coal and carbon capture and storage, WVU is leading the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Consortium.

To help our young people thrive in the new economy, WVU is strengthening its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pipeline with our K-12 partners and integrating STEM education in all 4-H programming.

From humble beginnings, our institution has grown into a world-class university — a gateway to education, research, healthcare, innovation and economic leadership.

It is impossible to imagine West Virginia, South Carolina or any state, without the impact of their land-grant universities over the past century and half.

Though both of our universities contribute many times more to our states’ economies than we receive in state funding, our value is not solely a monetary one. The lives that our universities transform, through knowledge and innovation, best demonstrate our value to West Virginia, South Carolina and the world. In this mission, WVU and Clemson are not competitors, rather, we are teammates!

James P. Clements, president,

West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va.