An organization that brings awareness to the nation’s coal miners has endowed a scholarship at West Virginia University to help educate the next generation of mining engineers.
Remember the Miners, LLC, has pledged $50,000 to WVU’s Department of Mining Engineering. The funds will be used to provide scholarships for undergraduate students majoring in the discipline. First preference will be given to students from West Virginia.
The organization was created by WVU Head Men’s Basketball Coach Bob Huggins after the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster in 2010. It provides support to miners, mining communities, dependents of miners, those in mining families and those pursuing higher education or additional job skills in the mining industry. This is the first award the organization has made to the Department. Huggins will announce the award on February 3 at the Fifth Annual Bob Huggins Fish Fry.
“We have been looking for a program at WVU that will have a long-term impact on the coal industry and coal miners,” said Erik Muendel, CEO, co-founder and executive committee chairman for the organization. “Our organization focuses on honoring the contribution of individual coal miners. It is important to us, whether it is engineering or public policy, that framers understand that coal miners are part of the equation and environment that must be integrated into any solution.”
“West Virginia University has a long history of educating leaders in mining engineering and mine safety,” said Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. “We are delighted to have this new scholarship in recognition of Remember the Miners. Our nation’s miners have sacrificed so much and worked hard to provide energy for our country. Scholarships such as this will allow us to continue to provide an outstanding education to the next generation of mining engineers.”
This gift was made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University. Conducted by the WVU Foundation, the fundraising effort will run through December 2017.
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CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086; Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu
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