A $100,000 gift from1977 WVU accounting graduate Mike Rogers establishes a new scholarship for freshmen entering the major. (WVU Photo)
Freshman accounting students at the West Virginia University John Chambers College of Business and Economics will benefit from a new scholarship established by a retired alumnus.
Mike Rogers, a 1977 business school graduate, established the Rogers Accounting Scholarship with a $100,000 gift following his retirement in December 2025.
“I feel it’s my obligation to give back,” Rogers said. “I’ve had a nice career. I feel young people coming up should be able to benefit.”
The Rogers Accounting Scholarship goes to Chambers College freshmen from West Virginia who are majoring in accounting. The scholarship is designed to attract talented students to the field by reducing the cost of tuition, with the hope that recipients will then apply for the Neidermeyer Scholars leadership program after completing their first accounting course.
"The demand for skilled accountants continues to grow — especially in West Virginia — and support for West Virginians interested in accounting helps students while meeting state needs," Milan Puskar Dean Josh Hall said. "We are extremely grateful for Rogers’ generosity toward WVU, the Chambers College, his profession and West Virginians.”
Rogers has been a consistent donor to the University by participating in Day of Giving, the annual one-day fundraising event for all members of the WVU community. Over time, he has supported programs including the Mountaineer Marching Band, rifle team, and Alzheimer’s disease research at the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.
“Having family members diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, it hits home,” Rogers said. “I give RNI money because of the cutting-edge work they do. I think the research they are doing is groundbreaking. I’m in awe every time I hear about it.”
When Rogers retired from a private company in the railroad construction industry after 38 years, he received several shares of stock affording him the ability to pay it forward. He wanted to be certain his gift would help fulfill a real need.
“I just wanted to call someone at the WVU Foundation and ask, ‘Where do you need the money?’” Rogers said. “I wouldn’t know where the business school necessarily needed money. I would rather have someone else letting me know how they could best use the money.”
Rogers worked with the Chambers College development team to determine how he could use his stock gift to strengthen the school in a way that suited his interests, ultimately settling on the scholarship.
His Mountaineer career path began in his hometown, Mabscott in Raleigh County, and continued in Morgantown for college before Rogers landed in the mass transit industry.
Throughout his career, Rogers lived in at least eight states from Florida to Washington and visited nearly every state in the country. As a regional administrator, he traveled to railroad and trolley projects across the nation overseeing budgets.
“I saw a lot of the United States, totally due to my job,” Rogers said. “I attribute my foundation to what I learned at West Virginia University.”
The former Sunnyside resident, who now lives in San Diego County, California, said he will include WVU in his estate plans along with the Sickle Cell Disease Foundation of California, for which he has served as a longtime board member.
Rogers made his gift through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.