West Virginia University will award five special degrees among the nearly 4,500 diplomas being presented this weekend as another academic year comes to a close.
During various Commencement ceremonies Friday-Sunday (May15-17), Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell will receive a Presidential Honorary Degree; chemical industry leader Preston Wu Shyon Chen an honorary doctor of science; former West Virginia delegate and Morgantown mayor Charlene Jennings Marshall an honorary doctor of laws; and retired financial executive and current hospitality industry leader Douglas R. Van Scoy an honorary doctor of business.
In all, approximately 4,500 graduates from 45 states and 43 countries will receive degrees during 17 different commencements during the three days. The events will be held at the WVU Coliseum, the Creative Arts Center and the Morgantown Event Center.
In addition to the Commencement ceremonies, other special events include an International Students graduation reception Thursday afternoon and the inaugural Mountaineer Send-off on Thursday evening.
The Send-off will be held at 7 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum and all graduating students and their families are invited for a celebration as the Class of 2015 comes together one last time.
Both the Army and Air Force ROTCs will also be commissioning officers on Friday.
Students and their families are encouraged to visit the Commencement website for event updates, as well as information about photography, lodging, parking and traditions.
You can follow many of the Commencement events on social media using the hashtag #WVUGrad.
Honorary degree recipients are:
Sylvia Matthews Burwell
Burwell will be recognized with a Presidential Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science, on Sunday, May 17, at ceremonies awarding bachelor’s degrees to graduates of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in the WVU Coliseum.
Burwell, a native of Hinton, was sworn in as the 22nd secretary of Health & Human Services on June 9, 2014.
Burwell has led large and complex organizations across the public and private sectors.
As HHS secretary, Burwell oversees more than 77,000 employees whose work touches the lives of Americans at every age, from every background, in every part of the country. She is committed to the mission of ensuring that every American has access to the building blocks of healthy and productive lives.
Burwell has called for the department to operate under three guiding tenets: to deliver results on a wide range of complex issues; to strengthen the relationships that drive progress; and to build strong teams with the talent and focus needed to deliver impact for the American people.
Most recently, Burwell served as director of the Office of Management and Budget, where she worked with Congress to help return to a more orderly budget and appropriations process that brought needed stability to the economy and middle-class families. She led the Administration’s efforts to deliver a smarter, more innovative and more accountable government. She oversaw the development of the President’s Second-Term Management Agenda, including efforts to expedite high-impact permitting projects, drive efficiencies and improve customer service. Additionally, she worked to ensure that our regulatory system protects the health and safety of Americans, while promoting economic growth, job creation and innovation.
Prior to serving in the Administration, Burwell served as president of the Walmart Foundation in Bentonville, Arkansas, where she led efforts to fight hunger in America, empower women around the world and leverage Walmart’s presence in local communities to reach millions of people. During her tenure, the Foundation surpassed $1 billion in total giving.
Before joining the Foundation in 2012, she was president of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, where she spent 10 years working on some of the world’s most pressing challenges, from vaccinations to children’s health to agricultural development. She also served as the Foundation’s first chief operating officer.
During the Clinton Administration, Burwell served as deputy director of OMB, deputy chief of staff to the president, chief of staff to the secretary of the Treasury and staff director of the National Economic Council.
Prior to joining the Clinton Administration, Burwell worked for McKinsey & Co. She has served on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, MetLife and the University of Washington Medical Center, among others.
Burwell received bachelor’s degrees from Harvard University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.
A second-generation Greek-American, Burwell lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband Stephen and with their two young children.
Preston Wu Shyon Chen
Chen will receive an honorary doctor of science on Saturday, May 16, at the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources ceremony at 1 p.m. in the Coliseum.
Chen is founder and chairman of Ho Tung Industries based in Taipei, Taiwan.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from National Taiwan University, Chen headed to WVU, where he received his master’s degree in the discipline in 1968, conducting research on the optimization of fixed bed methanation processes. He studied under Professor Chin-Yung Wen, also from Taiwan, who served as chair of the department.
After graduation, Chen remained in the United States working as an engineer for E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. At the request of his father, he returned to Taiwan where he served as a site manager for a newly formed company, the Hung Chou Chemical Corporation. He later worked for Formosan Union Chemical Corp., where he rose to chairman.
While assisting his father with the family’s textile business, he realized that the technologies his family used were outdated and would soon make them uncompetitive on the worldwide market. Chen refocused his family business toward Taiwan’s emerging petrochemical industry.
He has since founded 15 chemical companies, including the flagship corporation, Ho Tung Chemical Corp., which produces alkyl benzene for use in chlorinated waxes, solvents and cleaning agents. In the early 1990s, Chen established the Jintung Chemical Corp., which was the largest investment on mainland China. Jintung then spawned five other companies that specialize in fine chemicals and detergents. In 2001, Chen founded Vita Genomics Inc., in Taipei, a genomics-based biotechnological and biopharmaceutical company that focuses on conducting pharmacogenomics research.
Chen has served as chairman of numerous organizations, including the Chinese National Federation of Industries, the Petrochemical Industry Association of Taiwan and the Taiwan Russia Association. He has served as a national policy advisor to the Office of The President of the Republic of China. Chen is a founding member of the Young Presidents Organization (Taipei Chapter) and of the Taipei Presidents Organization. He has also been a board member of Nanjing University.
Charlene Marshall
The College of Law will present Marshall with the doctor of laws degree during ceremonies on Saturday, May 16, at 1:30 p.m. in the WVU Creative Arts Center.
Marshall represented Monongalia County in the West Virginia House of Delegates for 14 years; she also served seven years as mayor of Morgantown.
Born in Osage, in 1933, she has lived her entire life in the Morgantown area. She is a graduate of Monongalia High School, the last all-black high school in the county, and attended Bluefield State College. Her father, and, later, her stepfather, died in mining accidents. After her stepfather’s death, she left Bluefield State and returned to Morgantown to help support her family. She worked in local industry, for the state of West Virginia and for WVU until her retirement in 1998.
In 1991, concerned about conditions in her neighborhood – not far from the WVU campus – she ran for and won a seat on the Morgantown City Council. On her first night as a city council member she was elected mayor, making her the first black female mayor in West Virginia. She and her fellow council members launched an energetic campaign to renew and revitalize the city and its neighborhoods, resulting in improvements like the Caperton Trail along the Monongahela River, which is used by thousands of citizens each year. Her seven terms as mayor set a record in the 200-plus-year history of the city. No one had served more than five terms prior to her election.
In 1994, she was selected as Mayor of the Year by the West Virginia Municipal League. During her final year as the mayor, Marshall, a Democrat, was elected to the House of Delegates. During seven terms in this office, she was an effective advocate for human rights and education, support for families and issues affecting the elderly and working people.
Beyond her official office, Marshall has held board memberships or leadership positions with Valley Health Care, the American Red Cross, the Morgantown Theater Company, the Morgantown Boys and Girls Club, WVU’s Staff Council, the West Virginia Human Rights Commission, the Morgantown Chapter NAACP (as past president), and is a lifetime member of the NAACP. Her hard work and dedication have led Marshall to be honored with the following awards: WVEA Effie Mayhan Brown Award, West Virginia Bar Outstanding Citizen Award, WVU Mountain State Bar Public Citizen, WVU Staff Council Advocacy Award, FBI Exceptional Service in the Public Interest Award, Dominion Excellence In Leadership: Strong, Men and Women Series, 2008, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award, 1992, from the WVU Center for Black Culture and Research.
Marshall and her late husband, Rogers Leon Marshall Sr., are the parents of Gwendolyn, Rogers Jr., and Larry Marshall.
Doug Van Scoy
The College of Business and Economics will present Van Scoy with a doctor of business at its ceremonies at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, at the Coliseum.
Van Scoy received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from WVU. After completing a stint in the U.S. Army, he began an investment career in Baltimore, Maryland in 1969 with Blyth Eastman Dillon. In 1974, he went to work with Smith Barney and stayed until his retirement in 2001. He held various positions during that period and ended his career as the deputy director and senior executive vice president of Smith Barney.
Van Scoy was on the management committee and was part of the team responsible for managing the Private Client Group with revenues of $7 billion, 500 branch offices and 12,000 financial consultants. He was also on the board of Robinson Humphrey and was given the leadership award from the Georgia Securities Association in 1994.
Van Scoy served as a trustee and chairman of the Galloway school in Atlanta, Georgia, and as a trustee of the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. He currently serves on the board of directors for Sterling Asset Management and Taziki Mediterranean Cafe Corp. In 2010, Van Scoy and his business partner opened Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe in the WVU Mountainlair. The restaurant serves as a training lab for the College of Business and Economics Hospitality and Tourism program. All profits from the restaurant go to support this academic program.
Van Scoy is very involved with his alma mater. He has played a key role in A State of Minds, the WVU Foundation’s $1 billion capital campaign, serving as chair for both the Southeast Region and the College of Business and Economics. In the past, he has served as a board member and chairman of the WVU Alumni Association and is a member of the Order of Vandalia. In 2011, Van Scoy was inducted into both West Virginia Business Hall of Fame and the Business and Economics Roll of Distinguished Alumni. That same year, he was inducted into the Bridgeport High School Hall of Fame. He was selected Most Loyal Alumni Mountaineer in 2012. He currently serves on the board of the WVU Foundation and was named the Foundation’s Outstanding Volunteer Philanthropist in 2013.
After retirement from Wall Street, Van Scoy became founder and partner of Pit Partners, a hospitality business in South Carolina. He and his partners own and operate several restaurants in West Virginia and South Carolina.
Van Scoy and his wife, Pamela, are graduates of Bridgeport High School, class of 1961. They have three married daughters and six grandchildren and reside on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina.
On May 9, West Virginia University also awarded its first honorary doctoral degree at a divisional campus, Potomac State College. Kenneth F. Haines, who dedicated his professional life to PSC and engaged in extensive service on behalf of both PSC and the community of Keyser, was awarded a doctor of humane letters at the college’s commencement exercises.
This weekend’s full schedule of events:
Friday, May 15:
School of Public Health, 4 p.m., Morgantown Event Center
_Speaker: Ron Stollings, West Virginia state senator, doctor, WVU graduat_e
Saturday, May 16
School of Dentistry, 9 a.m., Morgantown Event Center
Speaker: Daniel J. Strinkowski, dentist, WVU graduate.
College of Education and Human Services, 9 a.m., Coliseum
Speaker: Gregg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation.
Reed College of Media, 9:30 a.m., Creative Arts Center
Speaker: Rob King, senior vice president, SportsCenter and News at ESPN.
Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, 1 p.m., Coliseum
Speaker: Preston Chen, founder and chairman of Ho Tung Industries, WVU graduate.
School of Nursing, 1 p.m., Morgantown Event Center
Speaker: Elisabeth Shelton, associate dean of academics, WVU School of Nursing.
College of Law, 1:30 p.m., Creative Arts Center
Speaker: Arthur L. Rizer, associate professor of law, WVU College of Law.
School of Pharmacy, 5 p.m., Morgantown Event Center
Speaker: Lucinda Maine executive vice president and CEO, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
College of Creative Arts, 5:30 p.m., Creative Arts Center
Speaker: Jacob Lewis, director, Jacob Lewis Gallery in New York, WVU graduate.
College of Business and Economics, 6 p.m., Coliseum
Speaker: Doug Van Scoy, former Smith Barney senior executive, founder and partner of Pit Partners, WVU graduate.
Sunday, May 17:
School of Medicine (M.D. and Ph.D.), 9 a.m., Morgantown Event Center
Speaker: Michael Gaziano, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Aging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, 9:30 a.m., Coliseum
Speaker: Ralph Currey, board director at Iberdrola Renewables, WVU graduate.
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences (doctoral and master’s), 9 a.m., Creative Arts Center
Speaker: Julie Smith, founder, ChangePartner, WVU graduate.
College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, 12:30 p.m., Creative Arts Center
Speaker: Ken Herock, former NFL player and administrator, WVU football player.
School of Medicine (professional programs), 2 p.m., Morgantown Event Center
Speaker: Mike Schlappi, motivational speaker, Olympic gold medalist.
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences (Bachelor’s degrees), 2 p.m., Coliseum
Speaker: Sylvia Mathews Burwell, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, West Virginia native.
University College, 4:30 p.m., Creative Arts Center
Speaker: Kerissa Kuis, CEO and founder of the University of Wellness, WVU graduate.
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