Jack Nuckols, '64
Jack W. Nuckols, Jr. was born in Charleston, West Virginia, the only child of the late Jack W. Nuckols, Sr. and Myrtle E. Jones. He grew up in Fayette County and lived in Boomer and Montgomery. He graduated from Montgomery High School and enrolled at West Virginia Institute of Technology, where he received a printing management degree in 1964. During college, he worked at Ramsey’s Esso Service Station, had a summer job in Washington, D.C. and, during his senior year, worked evenings at a bowling alley in Charleston.
After graduation from West Virginia Tech, he immediately enrolled in the Master of Science Printing Management program at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota. At the end of the first summer session, he and another Tech grad traveled west to Wyoming to work on the Pitchfork Ranch, located south of Yellowstone National Park.
Jack was hired in 1965 as an Instructor of Printing, where he taught a variety of hands-on technology classes, estimating and management courses. When Chairman Bert Buckbee retired in December 1985 from Tech, Jack became chair of both the Printing Technology A.S. and the Printing Management B.S. programs in 1986. During his first year as chair, Professor Nuckols received a call from Tech graduate Homer Taylor who asked if the printing department would be interested in working with the newspaper industry providing production managers. A National Newspaper Operations Committee was formed and the members established a state-of-the-art facility on campus. The committee then led a campaign to establish a National Publishing Innovation Center in Montgomery by donating over $1.5 million, coupled with alumni donations, plus state and federal grants that exceeded $3 million. The new center on Third Avenue was dedicated in 2007 and has an auditorium, a flexographic press lab and many other professional training areas. The college honored him by naming a room the “Jack W. Nuckols Executive Suite.”
He retired after 50 years of teaching and 30 years of serving as department chair. During that time, more than 900 students graduated with printing degrees. Many of these students received department scholarships and found viable summer internships that led to excellent technical and management careers. Professor Nuckols was chosen to be a member of the National Government Printing Office Educational Committee, served as a judge for the International Newspaper Color Contest, was Chair of the National Flexography Newspaper Color Quality contest, established and Chaired the Eastern Panhandle VIZZ Awards Committee and served on many other committees during his career.
Jack and his wife Virginia reside in Pratt, West Virginia. Their son and son-in-law are both WVU Tech printing management graduates. Todd Nuckols holds a bachelor’s degree from WVU Tech and a master’s degree from WVU. Son-in-law Kenneth Skaggs holds a bachelor’s degree from WVU Tech and a master’s degree from Liberty University. Their daughter Annalisa Skaggs received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Marshall University. They also have one granddaughter, Mia Skaggs.