Following a year of missed milestones, celebrations and traditions, West Virginia University’s first in-person commencement ceremony since December 2019 ushered in a renewed sense of optimism for the nearly 4,500 graduates who walked across the stage to receive their diplomas in four ceremonies this weekend (May 15-16).
In mid-April, West Virginia University students were given the opportunity to participate in an international, multi-agency cyber competition, Locked Shields. This out-of-classroom exercise enabled students to use the skills they’ve learned in everything from engineering to cybersecurity, media and law in one of the most complex, technical, live-fire challenges in the world.
A West Virginia University tradition, although delayed by a global pandemic, was held Friday, April 23, as Timmy Eads passed the Mountaineer Mascot rifle to Colson Glover, who began his second year in the buckskins with the spring football Gold-Blue game on Saturday, April 24.
West Virginia University graduates will return to in-person commencement ceremonies this May; and although some restrictions will be in place because of COVID-19, the celebrations will be no less memorable for the 4,499 who walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Graduates from May, August and December 2020 are also eligible to participate in the exercises.
A $1.75 million gift from a West Virginia University alumnus and his wife will empower students from Allegany County, Maryland, to further their education at WVU’s main campus in Morgantown and WVU Potomac State College in Keyser.
Under the quiet surface of near-stilled campuses over the past year, West Virginia University researchers, faculty and administrators have scrambled to learn more about COVID-19 and mitigate its spread, calculated how to teach online and hybrid classes and figured out how to better ensure people on those campuses could remain safe from the virulent disease that has killed more than 500,000 U. S. citizens to date.
Eligible, degree-seeking students at any West Virginia University campus can receive emergency grants through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II, part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. WVU will continue distributing its allotted $10,087,116 in emergency grants to students who qualify.
An experienced academic leader and patent law expert has been selected as the next William J. Maier, Jr. Dean of the West Virginia University College of Law.
The first shipments of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived in West Virginia on December 14. As doses are administered, researchers from the West Virginia University Public Interest Communication Research Lab are focused on making sure West Virginians get timely, accurate and scientifically sound information related to the vaccine.
Bringing together families, friends and fellow classmates from across the country and around the world to celebrate the August and December Classes of 2020, West Virginia University will host 14 online commencement ceremonies for the 2,680 graduates on Saturday, Dec.19.