West Virginia University alumnus Brigadier General Harley F. Mooney Jr. recently donated $30,000 to establish the Brigadier General Harley F. Mooney Jr. Student Award in History.
Mooney is a 1954 graduate of WVU with a degree in history. His wife, the late Mary Rowley Mooney, was also a graduate of WVU. Mooney served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars and has been awarded 34 medals for his service, including three Bronze Stars, two Silver Medals and three Purple Hearts.
“The university has provided me with the basis for success and I have particularly benefited from the history department,” Mooney said.
The endowment, administrators said, will allow the history department to attract premier students to its master’s degree program.
“Our department has always been proud of the bright graduate students we’ve attracted to our program,” said Joseph Hodge, history department chair.
“With this new scholarship, we’ll be able to offer competitive financial packages that support our students and the high-level scholarly research they’ll be able to pursue during their time at WVU.”
The recipient must be a student preparing to enter the first year of the history master’s degree program.
Chelsea Elliott, this year’s Brigadier General Harley F. Mooney Jr. Student Award recipient, graduated in the spring with a bachelor’s degree in history from WVU. She is pursuing her master’s degree in public history this fall.
“Words can’t even say how thankful I am for the opportunity I have been given,” Elliott said. “Without General Mooney’s Student Award in History, I would not have such an amazing road ahead of me for graduate school. He is an outstanding man with an incredibly interesting life full of stories and hard work.
“The love he still has for history inspires me and I hope I can make him proud during the remainder of my time at WVU.”
In addition to his stellar military accomplishments, Mooney has also found success in the civilian sector. He was managing and founding partner at the consulting firm Mooney-Osborne & Associates. Mooney also serves on the board of directors for Champion Industries, a commercial printing, office and furniture supply business based in Huntington.
Mooney’s other gifts to WVU include endowment of the Ellen F. Warder Memorial Scholarship through the WVU College of Law, and longtime support of the Mountaineer Athletic Club.
The gift was made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University. The $1 billion fundraising effort by the WVU Foundation on behalf of the University runs through December 2017.
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CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304.293.6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu
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