News

Five years ago, the West Virginia UniversityDavis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design set as a priority providing students with value-added experiences -- outside the classroom internships, research opportunities and study abroad – to help with recruitment and retention.

With a recent gift of $500,000, Farm Credit of the Virginias will help to ensure students continue to have access to those opportunities that enhance their college experience.

Alumni and friends of West Virginia University and the Mountaineer Marching Band are being asked to help the band travel to support the football team at two games in North Carolina in September.

Jenna Nypaver, a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications at West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media, is the latest recipient of the Don Marsh Scholarship in Healthcare Writing. The scholarship includes a tuition waiver and a paid internship in the University Relations office at the WVU Health Sciences Center.

Nypaver received her bachelor of science degree in journalism with an emphasis in strategic communications from WVU. She previously worked as an intern at the WVU Alumni Association focusing on philanthropy communications.

For the fourth straight year, the West Virginia University Foundation’s annual giving program received a record number of donations. Between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018, donors gave $22.3 million to the University Fund surpassing the previous record high of $21.6 million in FY ’17.

The $22.3 million is part of an overall $161 million in gifts and pledges by donors to WVU during FY ’18, the second highest fiscal year of giving ever in the Foundation’s history. Foundation officials say 21,811 individuals made 42,401 gifts to WVU through the annual giving program.

“I am appreciative of our alumni and friends who continue to make WVU a priority in their charitable giving and are passionate about the future of WVU,” said Greg McCracken, director of the Foundation’s University Fund.  

Alumni and friends gave $161 million to  West Virginia University  this past year, making it the second highest year of giving in the University’s history.

The  WVU Foundation says 23,161 donors, including 12,471 alumni, made 46,056 gifts between July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018 totaling $161,029,056. Only in FY’12 did the Foundation raise more - $173.9 million, a year that included two exceptionally large philanthropic gifts. FY’18 was buoyed by three record months of giving in July ($12.9 million), August ($12 million), and December ($49.5 million). 

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.— A $500,000 grant from the BB&T Charitable Fund will be used in the Center for Financial Literacy and Education at West Virginia University’s College of Business and Economics and for the new business school complex to be built on Morgantown’s waterfront.

“This generous support from BB&T will be used in different ways, ranging from the creation of new academic programs to helping us lead the way in incorporating financial literacy in West Virginia through the Center for Financial Literacy and Education,” said Javier Reyes, B&E Milan Puskar Dean. “Part of this grant will also be used for our new business school complex, which will represent the physical component of an overall business education transformation at WVU. The academic and experiential transformation is well on its way, thanks in part to the generosity of BB&T. These are exciting times for the College, but this is only the beginning.”

The West Virginia University Foundation is acknowledging those alumni and friends of WVU who have created endowed scholarships, fellowships and student awards in calendar year 2017.

Eighty-three donors are being honored by having bricks engraved with their name placed in the Ernest L. Hogan Scholars Walk, the pathway located at the downtown campus library.

An incoming freshman who found his career path while taking care of his grandfather is the first recipient of the Jim and Gerry Cox Endowed Academic Scholarship.

Bradley Bordelon, who moved to West Virginia from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and a recent Nicholas County High School graduate, is a direct admit in West Virginia University’s nursing program; he plans to minor in Spanish. 

A new limited-edition piece from Blenko Glass will be added to West Virginia University’s art collection.

The company is continuing its tradition of providing WVU with the latest piece from the collection. The donation has become an annual occurrence on June 20 – the state’s birthday. Started by the company in 1980, the West Virginia Birthday Blenko Glass Collection celebrates the state’s birthday with just the exact number of pieces as the state’s age made and sold each year.