Foundation

Carolyn Eberly Blaney, a loyal West Virginia University alumna who carried on a longstanding family tradition of philanthropy, passed away Friday (May 8) at the age of 96.

West Virginia University supporters donated more than $500,000 for students Tuesday (May 5) during #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and unity created to help meet the unprecedented need caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Access to industry-leading software – donated for more than a decade by Schlumberger, a worldwide provider of technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production and processing within the oil and gas industry – gives students at West Virginia University’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and Eberly College of Arts and Sciences an edge in coursework, research and the job market.

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.”

An anonymous donor’s gift will ensure that, although they aren’t on campus, students enrolled at West Virginia University can reach out to the Carruth Center for Psychological and Psychiatric Services through a 24/7 crisis text line to receive immediate assistance from a live, trained counselor – especially if they feel overwhelmed by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

West Virginia University supporters are being asked to step up for students Tuesday, May 5, during #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and unity created to help meet the unprecedented need caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The gift from Dr. and Mrs. John Mikita, of Hilton Head, S.C., will support a general radiology room on the hospital’s fourth floor, a diagnostic hub that will also house laboratory, CT, MRI, ultrasound and other imaging resources. The general radiology room will be named for the Mikitas in recognition of their gift.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered life for West Virginia University students and their families, many of whom are unsure how they will afford food, housing and education costs in the coming months.

As WVU Medicine prepares for a surge in COVID-19 patients, two Morgantown-area businesses donated 10,000 facemasks to help boost personal protective equipment supplies for healthcare providers.