News

Feeling disheartened after a meeting with his academic adviser in 1992, West Virginia University alumnus David Goldberg found himself walking the corridors of Woodburn Hall, pondering his future career path. He was surprised when then-Professor of Political Science Robert DiClerico approached him.

“I was shocked that he knew who I was,” said Goldberg, a 1994 political science graduate. “I told him about the conversation I had with my adviser, and I remember his face. It was empathetic; it was compassionate.”  

The West Virginia University College of Law and Marshall University have each received $1 million to launch a Joint Consumer Assistance Project for West Virginians. 

“This is great news for the state,” said Gregory Bowman, dean of the College of Law. “Using legal research, scholarship and outreach, we plan to provide publications on consumer rights and remedies that will help our state’s residents.”

The West Virginia University Foundation will honor donors on Tuesday, April 10, whose planned gifts over the past year will provide for the future of the University. 

The Foundation’s Irvin Stewart Society will welcome 39 new members during a lunch and induction ceremony at the Erickson Alumni Center. Membership in the Society is given to those who include a gift provision in a will or revocable trust, create a life-income gift, designate an after-death gift of a retirement account, make checking, savings or stock accounts payable upon death, donate life insurance, or make a gift of real estate with a retained life interest benefiting WVU and its entities.  

New software donated to the West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design – and created by one of its own alumni – will help forestry students cruise into their careers using the most up-to-date technology.

Cruise Control is a software program designed to aid foresters in data collection and processing for forest inventory.  Michael McWhorter, a 1986 forest resources management graduate, designed the software to assist his own employees at Landmark Forestry in 2000, but soon discovered the program could be beneficial for all timber cruising operations.

West Virginia University students in the energy land management program will be given an additional opportunity to thrive, th anks to the establishment of a scholarship fund that will honor the memory of WVU alumna and long-time oil and gas attorney Mary Sue Schulberg.   

Schulberg was a two-time graduate of WVU, receiving degrees from the College of Business & Economics and the College of Law. She had a long and distinguished career in oil and gas law practicing as a title attorney. She worked for many years with Columbia Natural Resources and NiSource before her passing in 2008.

Residents of Parkersburg, Katchur and his wife, Karen, are giving back to the College in the form of a $100,000 gift to help support the new B&E building complex project on Morgantown’s waterfront, as well as and other projects and programs at the business school.

“Our donation is a way of saying thank you to WVU and the College of Business and Economics for the role it played in my life, and I hope each can play a similar role in the lives of others. I am really excited about the idea of a new business school, and I look forward to seeing it built and occupied with future business students,” said Katchur, a 1978 B&E business administration graduate and Morgantown native. “I believe most alumni share a common goal of making the University a better place, a better school. To do so, you make the pieces better. My goal is help make the Business and Economics piece better, and this is our way of helping to do that.”

West Virginia University faculty and staff can invest in the University through the WVU Foundation’s Gold Blue & You Campus Campaign which kicks off Tuesday, April 3.

Through the Campus Campaign, WVU employees can give to programs or funds across the University they feel passionately about, including scholarship funds, specific departments/units, academic programs and special faculty/student support initiatives.