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West Virginia University is an institute of higher learning based in Morgantown, West Virginia, with off-site campuses in Parkersburg, Montgomery, Keyser and Charleston, West Virginia. WVU was founded in 1867 as a land-grant university with the help of the Morrill Act, and was originally called the "Agricultural College of West Virginia." The university gained its current name in 1868. Enrollment for Fall semester of 2005 was 26,051 with school projections estimating enrollment reaching 30,000 before the year 2010.

The university offers 171 different majors in 13 different colleges and has produced 25 Rhodes Scholars, including current WVU president David C. Hardesty. There are only 6 other public universities with more. The university has also produced 29 Goldwater Scholars, 16 Truman Scholars, 5 members of USA Today's All-USA College Academic First Team, and 2 Udall Scholarship winners.

Colleges and schools

West Virginia University is organized in 13 different colleges or schools. They are:

Forensics program

In addition to the above listed colleges/schools, WVU also has a nationally recognized forensic science program. Originally created through a partnership with the FBI, the program is fully accredited by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and is the official library holdings repository for the International Association for Identification.

The program focuses on several aspects of forensics including:

Forensic facilities include special "crime-scene" houses and vehicles that can be altered and adapted to give student investigators hands-on experience, as well as traditional laboratories and classrooms.

Institutional advancements

In addition to the high technological advancements the university has made, there is currently over $800 million in new construction processes pending on the Morgantown campus. These include a joint venture with the Johns Hopkins University that involves the creation of a new research institute devoted solely to the study of human memory and neurological disease called the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute. The Institute BRNI will be housed in a state-of-the-art facility priced at $87 million. It is scheduled for completion in mid-2007.

The University has also received growing national recognition for its engineering programs. Upcoming projects include an engineering research park, advancements to the NASA/WVU IV&V Facility, as well as combined research with the Institute for Scientific Research *, who is building its national research headquarters within 20 miles of WVU's Morgantown campus in Fairmont, West Virginia (A move from the University of California, Berkeley).

Also located on campus is the West Virginia and Regional History Collection, the world's largest collection of West Virginia related research material. It is located in the Wise Library on the Downton Campus. According to the university, the collection includes over 4,500,000 manuscript documents, 30,000 books, 15,000 pamphlets, 1,200 newspapers, 100,000 photographs and prints, 5,000 maps, and 25,000 microfilms, oral histories, films and folk music recordings. It is often called simply the "West Virginia Collection."

Campus

An interesting aspect of the West Virginia University campus is the fact that it is actually split into three smaller sections or sub-campuses. The original main campus, typically called the Downtown Campus, is located in historic downtown Morgantown. Because expansion of the downtown area was virtually impossible, a newer campus, called the Evansdale Campus, was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s about a mile down the Monongahela River from the historic Downtown Campus. The third campus is the Health Sciences Campus, which, although located relatively close to Evansdale, functions as its own area (it lies well above the Monongahela Valley).

PRT system

Because of the issue of WVU's split campuses (Downtown, Evansdale, Health Sciences) one of the major icons at the school is the Personal Rapid Transit system that links them.

In 1974, Boeing began construction on the major PRT project in Morgantown, West Virginia, designed to shuttle students between WVU's three campuses. The Downtown and Evansdale campuses, both located in the valley of the Monongahela River, were already fully developed. Because it proved impossible to develop any more valley land, WVU expanded to a separate parcel a couple of miles away on the other side of a ridge (today's Health Sciences campus).

The WVU PRT has been in continuous operation since 1975, with about 16,000 riders per day (as of 2005). The system uses about 70 vehicles, with an advertised capacity of 20 people each (although a more practical number is more like 15). The system has five stations (Walnut, Beechurst, Engineering, Towers, and Medical) and a 4 mile (6 km) track. The vehicles are rubber-tired and run along electrified rails. Steam heating keeps the elevated guide way free of snow and ice. Most students habitually use it. This system was not sold to other sites because the heated track has proven too expensive. The system will occasionally break down, yet it is usually only for about ten minutes. Otherwise, it reliably transports students between Downtown, Evansdale and Health Sciences.

The PRT has also been the recipient of favorable recognition. The National Society of Professional Engineers named the WVU PRT one of the top 10 engineering achievements of 1972, and in 1998 The New Electric Railway Journal picked the WVU PRT over Walt Disney World's monorail as the greatest people mover in the United States.

Each autumn during the annual Mountaineer Week celebrations, a special PRT car is brought in front of the MountainLair student union where students participate in the "PRT Cram." The purpose of the event is for student organizations to organize groups who attempt to squeeze as many people into the PRT car as possible. The current record was set in 2000 with 97 people.

Residential education

One of the flagship programs of the University is the Residential Education (ResEd) program also enacted in 1995. This program works hand-in-hand with other University initiatives to promote a healthy and responsible living environment for students while focusing on academics and responsible decisions. As part of Operation Jump-Start, the current ResEd program focuses primarily on "promoting student success by easing the transition from high school to college and to personalize the freshman experience. *" Other Operation Jump-Start programs include FallFest, WVUp All Night, Freshman Convocation, and the Festival of Ideas, a lecture series featuring different speakers.

Although a campus-wide plan, the ResEd and Operation Jump-Start programs are primarilly focused on residence halls. The 11 residence hall have an intricate administrative network that works to improve the life of student residents and provide them with guidance and academic support. Each individual hall is assigned a Resident Faculty Leader (RFL, pronounced riffle), that oversees all programming aspects of the hall and lives in a house (usually next door to the hall) where students meet for Hall Council meetings and other planned events. Each hall is also assigned a Residence Hall Coordinator (RHC) who works closely with the RFL to oversee hall programming and is responsible for more hands-on daily operations of the hall. Along with these two positions is the Resident Assistant (RA), who is either an undergraduate or graduate student who has lived in the residence halls for at least one year and who take responsibility for the daily operations of one floor each. This three part system or RFL, RHC, and RA have signifcantly improved the day to day lives of students living in the residence halls and have been nationally recognized and duplicated.

Athletics

The school's sports teams are called the Mountaineers and compete in the Big East Conference, a member of the NCAA's Division I. The school has teams in 13 college sports and has won several national championships (including multiple NCAA Rifle team championships, track, and wrestling.)

Mountaineer sports were started in 1891 when a group of students organized the first football game at the school.

Some of the most notable athletes at West Virginia University are; Jerry West (NBA Logo), Sam Huff, "Hot Rod" Hundley, Rod Thorn, Joe Stydahar, Jeff Hostetler, Major Harris, Jerry Porter, Kevin Pittsnogle, Marc Bulger, Avon Cobourne, Mike Vanderjagt, Todd Sauerbrun, Adam "Pacman" Jones, Greg Jones (Three-time national champion in wrestling), Nate Carr (wrestling), Georgann Wells (1st Woman to dunk in league competition), Amos Zereoue, Quincy Wilson.

School traditions

One of the reasons WVU has such a strong history in athletics is perhaps because of the many traditions at the university. Several of the school traditions and icons are listed below:

Flying WV

The logo of the university is known as the "Flying WV," which is one of the most popular items to emerge from the Don Nehlen era of Mountaineer football. The logo was quickly adopted as the official university logo.

The Mountaineer

The Mountaineer was adopted in 1890 as the official school mascot. A new Mountaineer is selected every year by the school's senior honorary, The Mountain. The new Mountaineer is given a custom tailored outfit and carries a traditional rifle which is fired to mark the opening of sporting events. Male Mountaineers traditionally grow a beard and wear a coonskin cap.

Take Me Home, Country Roads

The John Denver song Take Me Home, Country Roads, which has become a de facto anthem for the state, has also been adopted by WVU as its unofficial theme song. It is commonly played at most home sporting events as well as other occasions on campus. John Denver himself showed up in 1980 to help dedicate the new Mountaineer Field, now called Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, and led the crowd in Take Me Home, Country Roads. It is now part of a new tradition: After a victory, fans are encouraged to stay in the stands and sing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" along with the football team.

The Pride of West Virginia—The Mountaineer Marching Band

The WVU Marching Band, nicknamed the Pride of West Virginia, was formed in 1901 as an all-male ROTC band. The band performs at every home football game and makes many other appearances on- and off-campus throughout the year.

During its traditional pre-game performance, the band enters Milan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field from end-zone tunnels to a spirited, 220-beats per minute "run on" cadence. The band plays several university songs and favorites including: "Fight, Mountaineers," "Mountain Dew," "Simple Gifts" (from Appalachian Spring), "West Virginia University's Alma Mater," "The Star Spangled Banner," "Country Roads," and "Hail West Virginia!" The band also forms several iconic images during its pre-game show including the Flying WV, WVU, expanding circles, and an outline of the state of West Virginia. Each season's pre-game show is similar but unique.

The Mountaineer Marching Band is renowned for its high energy performances, outstanding musical arrangements, and innovative drill moves. Because of its tradition of excellence, the WVU Band was recognized in 1997 as the country's outstanding collegiate marching band by being named recipient of The Sudler Trophy awarded by the John Philip Sousa Foundation.

Fight song

"Hail, West Virginia" is the fight song for the university. It was composed by WVU alumni Earl Miller and Ed McWhorther in 1915. The lyrics were written by Fred B. Deem, who later became a lawyer in Clarksburg. The Mountaineer Marching Band performs the second verse of "Hail, West Virginia" as part of its pregame performance at Mountaineer football games. The lyrics are available at the WVU Alumni page.

Notable alumni

Trivia

  • In 1997, WVU was named the #1 party school in the nation by The Princeton Review.
  • WVU students staged a riot against the National Guard in the spring of 1970, shortly after the shootings at Kent State.
  • In early August 2005, Jessica Lynch, a rescued prisoner of war in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, announced that she would be attending West Virginia University; she received a full scholarship.
  • Over 300 student organizations exist on campus, ranging from the Astronomy Club to a Gaming Club to a Community Service Club.
  • The Mechanical Engineering, Athletic Training, Nursing, and Physics programs have 100% job placement rates.
  • Before the University was officially designated to be built in Morgantown, the town of Moundsville, West Virginia was offered the option to either host West Virginia University or a major state prison. Moundsville ultimately chose to host the West Virginia State Penintentiary.

Points of interest

See also

External links

1867 establishments | Big East Conference | Land-grant universities | Monongalia County, West Virginia | Nursing schools in West Virginia | Schools of Medicine in the United States | Space-grant universities | Universities and colleges in West Virginia | West Virginia University

West Virginia University

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "West Virginia University".

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