Did you know that West Virginia University's music faculty was nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award?
Did you know that WVU's online Software Engineering program was ranked in the top15 nationwide by U.S. News & World Report in its Best Online Program rankings for the second year in a row?
WVU has a lot going on that you may not know about. And that's why I decided to browse WVU Today and share a few stories I think are noteworthy, and maybe you will too!
WVU's College of Creative Arts will take its talents to Carnegie Hall as Wind Symphony will make its debut in one of the world’s most prestigious music venues a in March. The festival is held March 3-7, and will feature a showcase performance by the Wind Symphony March 6.
The Carnegie Hall performance will be one of the Wind Symphony’s three regularly-scheduled concerts each semester.
The general public, including all WVU alumni in the New York City area, is invited to attend the showcase performance at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 6. Tickets can be purchased through Carnegie Hall here.
West Virginia University has launched the nation’s only Master of Laws degree in forensics for white-collar crime.
The LL.M. in White-Collar Forensic Justice is designed for lawyers seeking expertise in financial fraud and forensic accounting.
The 14-month online program is a collaboration between the WVU College of Law and the Department of Accounting at the WVU College of Business and Economics. Classes start in August.
An Oscar nomination won’t entice Elaine McMillion Sheldon and her husband, Kerrin, away from their passion: telling the stories of their home state of West Virginia in hopes of bringing attention, and solutions, to its public health challenges – especially opioid addiction.
The couple has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject for their film, “Heroin(e),” which follows three women in Huntington as they fight the opioid epidemic and try to make a change in their community.
National media has covered the opioid crisis extensively, but Sheldon takes a different approach. She shares the viewpoint of the people on the ground who are providing resources and hope. Her goal is to help decrease the stigma surrounding the epidemic and increase empathy for those who are addicted.
A WVU researcher is uncovering how firearm evidence and latent fingerprint evidence helps solve crimes by finding the “perfect match.”
If a cartridge case was found at a crime scene, the investigator will compare cartridge cases to determine if they originated from a specific firearm. Keith Morris, the Ming Hsieh Distinguished Professor of Forensic and Investigative Science, focuses on the variability in the impressions that are created on the cartridge case from a particular firearm.
Before coming to WVU in 2004, Morris worked for a police forensic lab for 13 years. He believes forensic scientists are not working toward a certain outcome in a case, but are instead looking for the truth behind the evidence.
Laurie Theeke, a nurse practitioner in the West Virginia University School of Medicine and associate professor in the WVU School of Nursing, developed Listen to give lonely people the skills to explore what makes them lonely and devise strategies to feel more connected.
The results of the pilot test, which the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation funded, are promising: 12 weeks after the program’s conclusion, participants reported feeling less lonely, perceived more social support in their lives and had healthier blood pressures.
The 27 study participants—all lonely, chronically ill seniors from Appalachia—met two hours a week for five weeks and performed activities and writing exercises that touched on their experiences with loneliness.
Through the Listen program, lonely people may find new ways to belong—by staying connected to friends, by not hurrying or by keeping vigilant against the “thief” of loneliness.
Here at West Virginia University, we pride ourselves on our achievements. We hope you'll take a look at some of our accomplishments and decide if you want to be a part of a community that strives to make changes in communities and industries alike.