Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

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.

Breastfeeding may “rewire” babies’ brains in ways that help them acquire language, suggests a new study from the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. Using MRI, the researchers scanned the brains of 4-to-8-year-old children and surveyed their parents about their breastfeeding history. They found that the longer a baby was breastfed, the more white matter he or she developed in language-associated parts of the brain.

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.

With the COVID-19 pandemic upending life as we know it, researchers in West Virginia University’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences are taking quick action to study how people from Appalachia to Europe are responding to the pressure this crisis has placed on their communities.

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.

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.

James Nolan, professor of sociology at West Virginia University and former police officer, believes the COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity for police reform that could break the chains of outdated, and perhaps ineffective, approaches to policing.

Engineers in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University are using their expertise and equipment in a campus-wide effort to create personal protective equipment to keep up with the needs of health care providers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

A leader and expert in process operations, risk assessment and food safety has been selected as the next dean of the West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. Darrell Donahue’s appointment as the dean of the Davis College was announced Thursday (April 9) by Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Maryanne Reed.