A $750,000 planned gift from WVU Tech graduate Roger O’Dell will benefit future students from Greenbrier and Nicholas counties. (WVU Tech photo)
A proud graduate of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology is celebrating his family roots with a $750,000 planned gift to benefit future students from Greenbrier and Nicholas counties.
Roger O’Dell, of Charleston, recently committed to the scholarship gift in his will. West Virginia resident students attending WVU Tech will be named O’Dell Scholars, with first preference for graduates of Greenbrier West and Richwood high schools. First-generation college students will also be given preference.
“This generous gift in support of first-generation students will be truly transformative for those selected to receive this scholarship,” Campus President T. Ramon Stuart said. “We are deeply grateful for alumni like Roger O’Dell ’67, whose continued support not only uplifts WVU Tech but also opens doors for students from Richwood and Greenbrier West high schools — empowering them to achieve dreams they may have never imagined through an education at WVU Tech.”
O’Dell said his ancestors have lived in the Richwood area of Nicholas County since 1783, seven generations including those who fought in the Revolutionary War. He grew up in Quinwood —about 25 miles away in neighboring Greenbrier County — and attended Crichton High School, which was later replaced by Greenbrier West.
“I am from an area that I have a personal attachment to and, at the same time, really needs some help,” O’Dell said. “The two combined made this gift a no-brainer. People who have been lucky or whatever you want to call it, have done well, should give back.”
He earned a small scholarship that compelled him to choose Tech, then located in Montgomery, for his undergraduate education. O’Dell described Tech as a “dynamite place” where he grew up considerably and learned critical skills that contributed to his future success.
He completed his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1967 and continued his education at Georgia State University, where he earned a master’s degree in business administration.
O’Dell worked in Atlanta for five years before returning to the Mountain State in 1975. He settled in Charleston, where he worked in school fundraising for a year and a half before joining Merrill Lynch. He said he aced his finance aptitude test thanks in large part to his education at Tech.
“I think Tech sort of gave me the attitude, with the background I had, that I could do anything,” O’Dell said. “I had the technical, mathematical and logical training and the self-discipline that was needed no matter where I decided to go.”
He stayed with Merrill Lynch for 11 years. A friend then connected O’Dell with West Virginia State University, where he taught finance until his retirement in 1996.
O’Dell said he feels a sense of duty to share his blessings, and he felt a scholarship was the best way to make a difference.
“I hope it takes some really bright kid and gives him a first-class education, so he is not in a deep hole financially when he graduates like so many are,” O’Dell said. “He’ll be on level land. Tech will make sure that he is able to take care of all of his obligations, no doubt about that, and maybe he’ll be lucky enough to give away a little bit more and help others.”
O’Dell also hopes the scholarship creates opportunities to reconnect with old classmates he hasn’t seen or heard from in the 58 years since he graduated.
Gifts to Tech are made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University and its affiliated entities. O’Dell’s gift was made in conjunction with WVU Day of Giving, a 24-hour fundraising event held March 26. WVU alumni and friends made more than 10,300 gifts totaling a record $46.2 million.