WVUToday on the Radio

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first.

Pam Pritt: I'm Pam Pritt, the executive editor of WVU Magazine.

Shauna Johnson: Out now, the new issue of WVU Magazine, sharing the stories of West Virginia University with a worldwide audience, a publication that brings together all Mountaineers.

Pam Pritt: WVU Magazine is everyone's connection to the West Virginia University campus. Whether you've been here as an alumni, or as a sports fan, as faculty or staff, it's a way to keep connected to all the good things that go on here at WVU.

Shauna Johnson: That includes the local to global impact of campus thought leaders, creating a trusted source for information and insights into the university's student focus. It's a land grant mission and what makes it unique.

Pam Pritt: You'll read about students, you'll read about faculty, their research. You'll read about the fun things like color guard and cheerleaders and athletics. You'll read about the work that goes on here. You'll read about alums who have gone on to accomplish great things in their communities and who give back to West Virginia University. You'll read about Mountaineers.

Shauna Johnson: You can see WVU Magazine online at magazine.wvu.edu. In 2024, the publication will be available quarterly in print.

Pam Pritt: It is solely about the Mountaineer family, from the people who are here currently, to the people in our past, and it's certainly an outreach to the people in our future.

Shauna Johnson: So let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first.

Mikel Hager: Hi. I'm Mikel Hager and I'm the WVU's 69th Mountaineer mascot.

Shauna Johnson: The Mountaineer mascot, who is now nominated for two awards from the Mascot Hall of Fame Best Live Human Mascot, which the Mountaineer won last year and greatest community impact.

Mikel Hager: The Mountaineer is really special and different than pretty much every other mascot in all of college sports. As the Mountaineer, you're the representation of 1.8 million people.

Shauna Johnson: Of the more than 320 events, Hager has participated in so far as the Mountaineer

Mikel Hager: Only about one-fourth of those have been athletics-related. 75% of everything I do is out in the community, whether it be at a school, a parade, at a festival. And that's what's so cool about it to me is I can go be a face to people. I can go talk, I can go give speeches, I can go read stories. That's what's really unique about the Mountaineer that no other mascot can really do.

Shauna Johnson: It's a role that comes with a lot of responsibility.

Mikel Hager: As the Mountaineer, you're always Mountaineering. Whether you're in-suit or out-of-suit, you're still that role model and that person that people look to.

Shauna Johnson: Voting for the Mascot Hall of Fame Awards continues through Tuesday at mascothalloffame.com, mascothalloffame, all one word, dotcom. Winners will be announced on December 1st. So let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first.

Shauna Johnson: For Penny Lipscomb, interim director of the WVU Center for Veteran Military and Family Programs, the work she does every day for the university's 1,100 military connected students is personal.

Penny Lipscomb: I came from a military background. I joined when I was 17. I was also an Army spouse for 23 years. Being able to serve this population is exactly what I want to do.

Shauna Johnson: Based at the Bunker, a support center at the mountain layer, specifically for military connected students, Lipscomb and her team oversee veteran certification services, assist with military educational benefits, provide dedicated study areas, and more, help, in many cases, for the transition from military life to civilian life.

Penny Lipscomb: They're going from a life where they were responsible for millions of dollars of equipment, they were in charge of many people, into a life where a lot of times they don't feel as if they have a purpose anymore. Trying to find that purpose for them and trying to build the community that they lost in the military is something that we foster here.

Shauna Johnson: It's work Military Times is recognizing by putting the university in spot number 14 on its latest Best for Vets: Colleges' list, the university's highest ranking, and first place in the Appalachian region rankings. WVU is also listed as a Best for Vets employer.

Penny Lipscomb: A lot of times our military students are in the background, not at the forefront of people's minds when they think of higher education. Mostly, we always think of traditional students. I really like to bring our veterans to light and show what they have to offer. They have a lot of experience and a lot of background knowledge that they're bringing with them.

Shauna Johnson: So let's go follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University Mountaineers go first. Mountaineer Week, the university celebration of its Appalachian roots, wraps up its 76th year this weekend. Rachel Johnson, student events booking intern with WVU Arts and Entertainment, is the creative force behind many Mountaineer Week events.

Rachel Johnson: My favorite part of Mountaineer Week is probably the music. I just feel like music is such a fun way to get people excited about Appalachian culture. I think it's a really great way to connect this to our heritage. We have students who are performing songs that have been written and played for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Shauna Johnson: The week itself dates back to 1947 and a football game between the Mountaineers and Kentucky.

Rachel Johnson: It was a way for students to create some school spirit around that football game, and since then it's evolved into this week long celebration of school spirit and all things Appalachian.

Shauna Johnson: A campus tradition that will continue.

Rachel Johnson: Mountaineer Week is so important to celebrate because it gives students a chance to connect with the Appalachian culture and the West Virginia heritage that's so rich on our campus. We have a lot of out-of-state students at WVU, and so any chance we can highlight some of the wonderful things about going to school in West Virginia, we really want to be able to do that.

Shauna Johnson: So let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. Creating the Modern Land-Grant University is President Gordon Gee's vision for WVU when he detailed in his fall State of the University remarks.

Gordon Gee: No matter the major, every student who chooses West Virginia University will be afforded a wonderfully well-rounded education that provides excellent training in their field, as well as the opportunity to learn through student life experiences that prepare them for the ever-changing world. This vision for West Virginia University as the Modern Land-Grant University that serves its students and society can end the debate of whether a college education has value.

Shauna Johnson: To do that, the university will focus on four priorities, expanding access to education with a focus on existing strengths, advancing the R1 mission to deliver solutions to real world problems, and growing the Health Sciences Center to improve healthcare, all while remaining the economic engine of the state through partnerships with industry.

Gordon Gee: When we have the will, we can become the Modern Land-Grant University that our state and country needs. It will take all of us individually and collectively to take that step forward in a new direction. I believe in this university very deeply, and I believe we can lead in new ways that inspire innovation in higher education. It will take all of us moving forward to the future while honoring our past. And when we do, we will demonstrate that a university can transform while still providing a well-rounded, relevant, and meaningful experience for all.

Shauna Johnson: Let's go. Follow our at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. Founded in 1873, the West Virginia University Alumni Association is celebrating 150 years of service to WVU and its alumni family by focusing on the moments that make us Mountaineers, part of the Moments Everlasting campaign.

Kevin Berry: It highlights those unique experiences that our alumni have, the memories they create with fellow alums, classmates, students on campus. Those essentially become what we call Mountaineer moments.

Shauna Johnson: Kevin Berry is Vice President of Alumni Relations and CEO of the WVU Alumni Association.

Kevin Berry: When people think of moments, they tend to think of those large moments, commencement, the first day of class. It's also the small ones in between. Meeting a friend, a relationship that you build with a faculty member. Moments are large and small, and when you add them all together, they make up the unique parts of all of our students' and alumnis' WVU experience.

Shauna Johnson: Keeping graduates connected to that collective WVU experience through chapters based across the country, along with programs and services, is the goal of the Alumni Association.

Kevin Berry: The Alumni Association is probably the best avenue for individuals to remain engaged with WVU after they graduate West Virginia University, a relationship for life. The opportunity for individuals to have that community that supports them, not simply during the four years that they're here, but throughout the rest of their life. I look forward to 150 more years of the WVU Alumni Association supporting this great institution.

Shauna Johnson: So, let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. The Mountaineer Parents Club is now in its 28th year of connecting parents and families to the WVU student experience. Lisa Hanselman serves as Director of the Mountaineer Parents Club.

Lisa Hanselman: So I have been here close to 20 years now with the Mountaineer Parents Club. We have a lot of parents who are interested in their student's wellbeing and their student's future. I like to think that we're the primary way that WVU communicates with families. The more families are involved with us getting our emails and on our Facebook pages and reading all of our communications, the more they know about their student, and we are here to bridge that gap.

Shauna Johnson: About 18,000 people are already involved with dozens of local clubs.

Lisa Hanselman: Anyone can join. Anyone who wants to support a WVU student. The name might sound like it's just for parents, but we are absolutely open to any family member. We have a lot of grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends who want to be part of the Parents Club. Our whole goal is that families know that we are here to answer their questions, to help them navigate. And while it seems really big, we can help them understand it's much smaller than that, and we will be happy to help them stay connected to their student while their student is here at WVU.

Shauna Johnson: Families will get a Morgantown welcome during Fall Family Weekend, an annual event from the Mountaineer Parents Club, running from October 13th through 15th. Go to our website, look on the link that says Join. It's totally free. That website, parentsclub.wvu.edu. So, let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. What a WVU student learns outside the classroom is just as important as what they accomplish in class.

Matthew Richardson: There's 168 hours in the week, and we know that our students are in class for 15 to 18 of those hours. So what are they doing with the other 150 hours? That's where Project 168 comes in.

Shauna Johnson: Matthew Richardson, director of the Center for Fraternal Values and Leadership, also leads Project 168, a self-paced, co-curricular experience providing participating students a credential for logged extracurriculars to share with potential employers or graduate programs.

Matthew Richardson: Essentially, it just tracks everything that they've done outside the classroom and allows the student to be able to really talk about the things that have meaning to them that are not necessarily academic in nature.

Shauna Johnson: For Project 168, Society President, Chloe Coulter, a senior criminology major from New Boston, Illinois, it comes down to this.

Chloe Coulter: What makes you as an individual outside of the classroom. My favorite thing is just all these experiences and meeting the people. I could do one event and I know this person, I can see their face and they notice me and we wave at each other.

Shauna Johnson: Those kinds of connections have real-world applications.

Matthew Richardson: A lot of employers want students that have social maturity, responsible sense of social engagement, the ability to work with others, lead teams, and you really get those experiences by being involved in student organizations or doing things outside of the classroom.

Shauna Johnson: Let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. Ahead this week on campus, the second Week of Purpose.

Whitney Godwin: I think the best part of my job really is working with the students and having the students have that light bulb moment.

Shauna Johnson Whitney Godwin is the director of the Purpose Center. That moment she's referring to is what happens when students tap into their unique characteristics, what they're naturally good at, as identified through the science-based CliftonStrengths assessment, a helpful tool on a lifelong journey of purpose.

Whitney Godwin: These are skills that students can take and apply now during their college experience, but also moving forward as they go into their career and really their personal lives. We've had a lot of students say things like, "Oh my gosh, I knew this was me, but I didn't have words for it, and now I have words for it, and I can really communicate that to an employer. I can communicate that in a Greek life interview or maybe in a student organization or leadership position interview."

Shauna Johnson The 34 CliftonStrengths themes cover a range. Examples include analytical, intellectual, adaptability, connectedness, communication, belief, consistency, and focus. Beyond students, many other members of the university community have access to the Strengths assessment, along with resources to put their strengths to use effectively. A holistic approach taken in few other places.

Whitney Godwin: It's really knowing how you show up for yourself, how you show up for others, how you solve problems, and really getting the best experience out of that by leveraging your strengths instead of guessing.

Shauna Johnson So let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. To promote public safety, West Virginia University Police puts the community policing model to use on the Morgantown campus.

Steven Ciuni: I love it. I love talking to students.

Shauna Johnson: Steven Ciuni is one of the eight campus safety officers, part of the team of a non-sworn civilian officers formed under UPD Chief Sherry St. Clair in 2022. The team's task complimenting the work of the university's existing campus police officers allowing those officers to focus on responding to emergency calls.

Steven Ciuni: I like this job because each day you don't know what you're going to come into. Each day it could be different. That's what I liked.

Shauna Johnson: Ciuni and his fellow campus safety officers help with a variety of non-emergency needs, such as opening locked buildings, jump-starting car batteries, and safely walking students home at night. In emergency situations, the officers provide early assistance and can quickly summon extra support when needed.

Steven Ciuni: They like us to be out and about so the students feel safe. Community policing basically is what we do.

Shauna Johnson: Campus safety officers also assist on football and basketball game days during move-ins and move-outs at commencement ceremonies and at other large campus events.

Steven Ciuni: It's definitely fun being out there. I'm just really grateful for this job, grateful for the people I work with, and it's a really, really good job.

Shauna Johnson: So let's go, follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. Reinforcing its standing as a top research institution in the country, West Virginia University is logging a record year for externally supported expenditures, funds mainly designated for research, with $231 million recorded last fiscal year. Fred King is Vice President for Research.

Fred King: We've just come off of a banner year in terms of research expenditures, and I think as we go through academic transformation and focus the university on the future, that's only going to open up new opportunities for us.

Shauna Johnson: New opportunities in areas that include robotics, aerospace, astrophysics, and rare earth element extraction.

Fred King: I think one of the very attractive things about this university is how we integrate service and research and teaching, and truly, as President Gee would say, "When we do things, we do things with a purpose." We engage in projects and activity that have a direct bearing on the state, whether it's improving healthcare for the residents of the state or helping to diversify the state's economy.

Shauna Johnson: It's work that depends on input and engagement from the university's students.

Fred King: I think that's one of the very nice things about being at an R1 university for students, is they get to be on the front lines, they get to participate in the discovery process, and they get to learn from faculty who are really at the top of their game, at the front of their profession. I think we have some phenomenal faculty here. They could be at any place in the world. They choose to be at WVU, I think, because of the environment we have here and because they're committed. They're committed to the vision of the university that Dr. Gee has put forth.

Shauna Johnson: So let's go, follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first, and students are leading the way.

Madison Santmyer: Hi, I'm Madison Santmyer. I'm the student body president. I am a political science and international studies majors, and I'm from Purcellville, Virginia.

Brogan Dozier: Hi, I'm Brogan Dozier. I'm the student body vice president. I'm a journalism major, and I'm from Charles Town, West Virginia.

Shauna Johnson: The two lead the WVU Student Government Association, representing the voices of all Mountaineers, and facilitating communication between the student body and university administrators in a number of ways. Madison sits on the Board of Governors.

Madison Santmyer: Our big focus for this year is to bridge the gap between students, administrators and SJA. And then our main focus is fall under four committees: Strategic Initiatives, so focusing on the overarching long-term plans for WVU; Student Life, so that's your experience here as students; Academic Affairs, so all of your classes, programs, advising; and then Community Engagement, so how you can get involved on campus, how we can be supporting the community.

Shauna Johnson: First established in 1920, SGA gets credit for many major projects and initiatives at the university, including the construction of the student recreation center.

Brogan Dozier: By being in SGA, you're able to have a seat at the table where the decisions are being made and your voice is truly heard.

Madison Santmyer: We have a program called the Apprentice Program where you can get involved, especially as a freshman, but any age. Anyone can get involved. And you get paired with a mentor. Learn about SGA, WVU initiatives you can work on, different improvements on campus. You can also run as a senator, as a college senator, or be appointed as an executive, or also get involved in our judiciary court.

Shauna Johnson: Find out more at sga.wvu.edu.

Shauna Johnson: What is the best thing about being a student at West Virginia University?

Madison Santmyer: I think the community. I've just always felt really at home here.

Shauna Johnson: So let's go. Follow our stories at wvutoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. It is commencement season at West Virginia University. Lisa Martin from University Events has all of the details for us. Lisa, tell us about May commencement 2023. When does it start? How many ceremonies? Where are they going to be held?

Lisa Martin: Commencement 2023 will be on the weekend of May 12th through the 14th. We have 14 ceremonies overall between the Coliseum and the Canady Creative Arts Center.

April Kaull: As parents and families and loved ones and friends participate in commencement, what are some of the logistics information they need to know?

Lisa Martin: So at both of our venues, the Coliseum and the Canady Creative Arts Center, parking is open. We do have parking staff and our University Police Department on site to help with that parking and direct folks where to park. If anybody has any mobility issues, we will also have cart vans picking people up and dropping them to the closest entrance to either of those venues. We have adopted the clear bags policy. We highly recommend clear bags for everybody, or just bring as little as possible.

April Kaull: And you can find a lot of the details about commencement at that website, graduation.wvu.edu.

Lisa Martin: Have a wonderful weekend with all the graduates.

April Kaull: So let's go. Follow our story on wvutoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. With the passing of the rifle ceremony, Mikel Hager is now officially the Mountaineer mascot for the upcoming year for West Virginia University. Mikel's here with us to talk a little bit about what this means. Mikel, I'm curious, what are you most looking forward to as the Mountaineer?

Mikel Hager: The thing I'm most excited for... The past four years, I've got to see the athletics side of everything, so now I'm excited to make an impact in another way that I feel like only the Mountaineer can. I was lucky enough to get to go with Mary to a grade school and to see firsthand the impact she has on those kids, and how excited they all get, and how they all want to ask her questions. It's really, really overwhelming at first to think, oh man, that's going to be me, but I'm really excited for it and I know that everyone's super supportive.

April Kaull: As people are getting to know you this year, tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you want people to know about you?

Mikel Hager: So, I'm a huge sports fan, huge WVU fan. I played football my entire life, baseball my entire life. So, cheerleading was a little bit different for me when I first got there. When I didn't hit my growth spurt and be able to go play linebacker for Coach Brown, I wanted to find the next best thing. So, cheerleading was what got me closest. It's a dream come true. Boone County's never had a Mountaineer before. People grow up their whole life and I grew up my whole life hoping to be in a position like this and then you apply for it and just hope for the best. Then when it actually happens, it's wild how fast everything happens.

April Kaull: So, let's go. Follow our story on WVUtoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. Kristie Wood Turner is the director at the Center for Community Engagement at West Virginia University. Christie, tell us a little bit about what the center is. How does it work? What does it Do?

Kristie Wood Turner: It gives us an opportunity to really explore community engagement here in our land grant institution. Our role really at WVU is to highlight the knowledge and resources that support effective partnerships in our communities and enhance the discovery through community engaged teaching, scholarship, and action. We focus on supporting community agencies, faculty, staff, and students so that they can together tackle some of the critical needs that we are facing in our communities, providing reciprocal and mutually beneficial outcomes.

We are really happy to be only one of 33 institutions who are research one land grant and community engagement classified. It's a framework for categorizing the level of engagement demonstrated in our teaching, research, and service, and we are at the highest level, and it serves as a self-assessment and improvement tool. We're always looking to find ways that we can benchmark ourselves against other peer institutions to really be giving the most that we can to our state. It just is an amazing opportunity for students to really learn from our community and with our community, and our community gets that same energy back.

April Kaull: So let's go. Follow our story on wvutoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. In his March 27th State of the University address, President Gordon Gee outlined budget challenges, but said WVU is strong.

Gordon Gee: I believe we have an incredible opportunity to place our university in a position of great strength. Indeed, we are one of the few land-grant R1 one universities with a comprehensive health science portfolio that extends to a statewide healthcare delivery system. We are unique and we need to embrace that.

April Kaull: Gee announced a new scholarship program called the WVU Pledge. This last-dollar-in scholarship program will assist qualifying Promise Scholars who have an expected family contribution of zero with their cost of tuition, fees, university housing, and a meal plan.

Gordon Gee: It is imperative that we remove as many barriers as possible to allow our brightest West Virginia students access to higher education. Ensuring that their basic needs are met allows them to focus on their education and their future.

April Kaull: The WVU Pledge program will begin with the fall 2023 semester. No application is necessary. Students will be automatically reviewed for eligibility. So let's go. Follow our story on WVUtoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. Applications are being accepted right now for West Virginia University's Honors EXCEL program. Crissy Estep from the program is here with us to talk a little bit more about it. So tell us a little bit about this program.

Crissy Estep: Sure. So Honors EXCEL is the upper division Honors college program for juniors and seniors at WVU. So it's an experiential learning program, which means that students can design their own project. Maybe it's research, maybe it's internship based, a community based program that has an impact in the local area or in their home community. So they learn a lot of transferable skill sets, program implementation, program management, how to talk to various different stakeholder audiences. All of these are useful career benefits as well as perhaps applying for nationally competitive scholarships and internships.

April Kaull: So give us the idea on timeline here.

Crissy Estep: So April 1st is our deadline. We'll begin reviewing applications and letting students know if they've been accepted into the program. You can find that application on the Honors EXCEL website.

April Kaull: Is there anything else that you want people to know about this program, about students who've been through it, or feedback that they've provided about what the program has meant to them?

Crissy Estep: We have a lot of different programs. We currently have students from all of our different colleges and a variety of different majors. Maybe they're theater performances or perhaps they're music performances. If you have a program idea or project idea that you're really interested in, come and talk to us and we can help you take that idea to implementation.

April Kaull: So let's go. Follow our story on wvutoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, mountaineers go first. The annual Day of Giving is March 22nd. BJ Davison with the WVU Foundation is with us to talk about this special event and how it supports students, faculty, staff, and programs all across the WVU system. BJ, thanks for being with us. Tell us a little bit about this year's Day of Giving.

BJ Davison: So this is number six, our sixth Day of Giving on March 22nd. Our focus, of course, is always on benefiting people, first and foremost, both our students with scholarship support and sort of emergency need support, but also our physicians, our researchers, our athletes. Our Day of Giving includes all of WVU, our beautiful campuses in Beckley and in Keyser. WVU has a program to fit almost every potential donor interest you can name. So we are welcoming of all those gifts and all those discussions.

April Kaull: You talked about emergency needs. Over the last couple of years that really has been a focus, particularly among students. How does Day of Giving help people help students?

BJ Davison: A couple hundred dollars is what can make a determining factor as to whether or not a student stays enrolled and stays on track to complete their degree, or whether or not they have to step out. We have a Ken Gray Emergency Fund. We have a new fund within the President's office, the Wagner Student Assistance Fund. We have needs within the Carruth Center. The more unrestricted the dollar, the more nimble the institution can be in responding to the needs identified by our folks here on campus. Certainly a lot of people just make donations online during the Day of Giving, at dayofgiving.wvu.edu. Our theme this year is go above and go beyond, and we think that people who stretch to support us have the opportunity to help us as an institution go beyond and enhance our land-grant mission and our service to our citizens.

April Kaull: So let's go. Follow our story on WVUtoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. Chris Gilmer came to Potomac State College in April of 2022 as the interim president. He's just been announced as the new permanent president of WVU's Keyser campus, and he joins us to talk a little bit more about being the president of Potomac State College. Tell me a little bit about what you've learned about the Keyser campus.

Chris Gilmer: To be able to have that small town college experience but be still a part of a tier one research university is our real strength. It's really the best of both worlds. There's excellence in teaching. There's excellence in community service. We are the first choice for community service, we're the first choice for educating students, and then we mean to be a good and committed community partner.

April Kaull: What are some of the programs and the academic opportunities that really are unique to Keyser?

Chris Gilmer: The single program that I am the most excited about is the Sustainable Agriculture Program where we teach the next generation of small family farmers how to make small business entrepreneurial enterprises out of saving the family farm.

April Kaull: What's the best kept secret of Potomac State College?

Chris Gilmer: The very best kept secret, and I want it to not be a secret anymore, really the people.

April Kaull: So let's go. Follow our story on WVUtoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. Fred King is the Vice President for Research at West Virginia University. Fred, thanks for being with us. WVU is an R1 or the highest level of research institution. What does that mean?

Fred King: By the analysis of the Carnegie Higher Education Group, we are among the top 146 research universities in the United States. When you're an R1 university, it means that your faculty are the ones who are leading the research and scholarship within their disciplines, and what that means from students is they get to work with individuals who are at the forefront of their disciplines. And so that really helps prepare them to be current with their skills when they go out onto the market for jobs.

April Kaull: You mentioned undergraduate research opportunities for students, and the university is unique in that regard, right?

Fred King: Although you may engage in undergraduate research at some other institutions, it's not the same as engaging in it at an R1 university, which really is the place where the new ideas are coming from, the new innovation is emerging from, and new startup companies are coming out of.

April Kaull: And at every level, they're really working in areas that make an impact in communities, local, state, regional, and beyond.

Fred King: Everything that we're doing with respect to research and scholarship circles back to help the State of West Virginia improve the quality of life for its citizens.

April Kaull: Let's go. Follow our story on wvutoday.wvu.edu.

April Kaull: At West Virginia University, Mountaineers go first. Mary Roush is the WVU Mountaineer, and she's here with us to talk a little bit about being the Mountaineer. So, Mary, I have to ask, what is your favorite part?

Mary Roush: Every single part of being the Mountaineer is awesome. I'm very privileged and honored. There's no better feeling than running out on Mountaineer Field, with 60,000 fans, that's pretty awesome. But then, it's also the little moments too, like going to a small elementary school in rural West Virginia and seeing these kids light up to see me.

April Kaull: Do you have a favorite cheer?

Mary Roush: The Let's Go... Mountaineers! Where we split the stadium or the colosseum. It's definitely a surreal moment every single time I lead that cheer.

April Kaull: All right. Now, this question might trip you up a little bit. It's tough. Do you have a favorite WVU sport?

Mary Roush: I personally love basketball. I'm a big basketball girl. Football is also pretty awesome, just because I feel like that's the best atmosphere. I really enjoy volleyball. And I'm really excited for gymnastics. I love baseball. I really genuinely love every sport. The significance that the Mountaineer holds to the people of West Virginia, and even the people around the country, I never knew how famous the Mountaineer was. It's so awesome that the Mountaineer is so significant. Let's go.

April Kaull: So let's go, follow our story on wvutoday.wvu.edu.