Provost

Students will return to West Virginia University’s three campuses to begin fall classes on Wednesday, Aug. 19, the University announced Wednesday (June 3).

West Virginia University President Gordon Gee penned a letter to the Mountaineer family Wednesday, June 3, reflecting on the recent death of George Floyd, the other deaths in the Black community and the events of recent days.

From the mountains of West Virginia to cities and towns across the country and around the world, West Virginia University graduates and their families gathered around computers and other smart devices to attend Mountaineer Graduation Day on Saturday (May 16). The online experience, created due to social distancing restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, provided an opportunity for graduates to mark an important milestone and share familiar commencement traditions.

While West Virginia University’s 4,500-member Class of 2020 will graduate in various states and countries instead of Morgantown and in one ceremony instead of more than a dozen, graduates will be connected to each other and to Mountaineers around the world in WVU’s first virtual commencement ceremony.

Students who have exceeded classroom boundaries and demonstrated an unwavering commitment to solving complex global challenges and serving others—among them a distance learner with autism, a gymnast and an alternate Mountaineer Mascot—will receive West Virginia University’s highest student honor, the Order of Augusta.

Envisioning a return of students to its three campuses in the fall, the West Virginia University Board of Governors announced Friday (May 1) that base tuition and fees will remain unchanged for the academic year beginning in August.

A story of growth, family, survival and new beginnings will engross students, faculty and staff at West Virginia University as they encounter Clemantine Wamariya and her story of refugees from war and “the hope of the human spirit” in this year’s WVU Campus Read.

Tracy Morris, who has served as interim dean of the College of Education and Human Services since 2018, will serve as dean of the college for a two-year term, effective July 1. Jack Watson, who has served as interim dean of the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences since 2019, has been named dean of the college for a two-year term, also effective July 1.

President Gordon Gee sent a letter Thursday (April 23) to the West Virginia University campus community calling on Mountaineers to “stay the course and take pride in knowing that we are adapting in ways we never thought possible.”

A First Amendment expert with extensive administrative experience at West Virginia University will guide the College of Law as interim dean, an appointment that will likely encompass the next academic year. Jackson Kelly Professor John E. Taylor will step into the role on July 1, upon the departure of Gregory Bowman who was recently named dean of the Roger Williams University School of Law.