Story Pitches

Philosophy is a little discussed area of our lives, but we live out our ethics in daily decisions. West Virginia University will host a three-day international conference focusing on the relationship of human beings to each other and also to the world. Beginning Thursday (June 20) the Department of Philosophy and the Emmanuel Levinas Center at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences will focus on existentialism in Oglebay Hall, from 9:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily.

West Virginia University Reed College of Media students interviewed formerly incarcerated women, most of whom had suffered from substance use disorder, over the last year. According to Mary Kay McFarland, West Virginia Uncovered Project Coordinator, the project challenged her students’ perception of people who are different from them, which in turn helped them become empathetic storytellers who can connect their audience with their subjects.

The Health Sciences & Technology Academy, West Virginia University’s unique tuition-free college program, should be replicated in other colleges and universities across the country, according to the program’s director, Ann Chester. The program’s success rate, proven in its high graduation percentages, has changed students’ lives, and Chester believes will change the state and could change the country.

A team-based model to diabetes care could be essential to helping patients in rural communities lower their blood sugar levels, according to a new study from a team of researchers at West Virginia University. Combining diabetes educators, case managers, pharmacists, nurses, family medicine residents, psychologists and board-certified family medicine attending physicians in the approach to care resulted in better outcomes for patients. Patients who participated in the program saw significant reductions in their HbA1c — or blood sugar— levels.

At West Virginia University, 4-H programming has adapted to include robotics and similar activities that help students be successful in STEM fields. A 4-H Lego robotics program guided Ethan Meighen’s decision on a major and a career path. Meighen’s leadership skills he learned through 4-H earned him the EQT Foundation’s West Virginia Students of Excellence scholarship.

The Health Sciences & Technology Academy at West Virginia University helps the state’s high school students attain the opportunity to attend tuition-free college. The rewards of the program go beyond the individual, however, and permeate their communities as they become advocates who work on a health problem there for four years.

The WVU LaunchLab Network hosts students and alum from West Virginia University’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources to participate in some of the world’s most prestigious and largest pitch competitions as they compete for funding opportunities to advance their business ventures, ICONIC EDU, which offers learning kits to bring modern technology into the classroom free of charge. James Carnes, Kyle Gillis, Lynnora Grant and Alan Brockman have been traveling to competitions across the country, having participated in the largest student startup competition at the Rice University Business Plan Qualifier back in February.

The Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life has announced a series new initiative aimed at diversity and cultural awareness, academic achievement, personal growth and alumni engagement as part of new community standards known as Reaching the Summit. Reaching the Summit was adopted in 2018 to serve as a strategic plan to better align each Greek organization with the University’s values.

A West Virginia University heirloom seed expert is working to increase access to Appalachia’s heirloom seeds through a new seed preservation library. Mehmet Oztan, a service assistant professor of geography, has created the Morgantown Seed Preservation Library in conjunction with the Morgantown Public Library, WVU Libraries and WVU Food Justice Lab.

Taking inspiration from Robert Frost’s, “Fire and Ice,” and Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” Nick Summerlin, a freshman engineering student at West Virginia University, blends his passion for poetry and photography with his future profession to create a different view of the world.