e Momentum Right: Jerry West was a two-time All-American who graduated with a 24.8 scoring average and became the Lakers’ first pick in the 1960 draft. He is known as one of the greatest players in NBA history. His silhouette is on the official NBA logo.
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(WVU) should be THE University both in theory and fact.
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—Governor Clarence Meadows, January 9, 1947
“ Brain surgery at WVU Hospital, c. 1960-1964.
I was truly surprised to learn that a small town is just as good a location as a large metropolitan area . . . What the usual state metropolis can offer in the way of hospitals and the economy of using them becomes less impressive when it is pointed out that a medical school must build its own teaching hospitals to supplement existing facilities, regardless of where it is located. The quality and value of a medical school vary more with the quality of the faculty than with the size of the town in any event.
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—Governor Okey Patteson in a highly anticipated report announcing his support for locating WVU’s medical, dental, and nursing programs in Morgantown rather than Charleston, June, 30, 1951
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WVU is one of only 11 schools in the country that are land-grant, doctoral research universities with a comprehensive medical school.
New medical center’s Basic Sciences Building opens and School of Dentistry is created, with School of Pharmacy moving in the next year; Annette ChandlerBroome of Morgantown is the first black female undergraduate to receive a degree.
Jerry West leads basketball team to the NCAA Championship, where it loses to California 71-70.
University Hospital opens, and School of Nursing and Department of Pediatrics established.
School of Dentistry awards first degrees, and the nation’s first fouryear dental hygiene program is created.
Parkersburg Center of WVU, the state’s first community college and later WVU-Parkersburg, was established. First open heart surgery in the state is performed by Dr. Herbert Warden at the School of Medicine.
President Paul Miller says his role in “presiding over the land-grant education movement recognized that all work was dignified and worthy of improvement by institutions and that citizens should have educational opportunities commensurate with their abilities, regardless of income or social position.”
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West Virginia University Alumni Magazine
2011
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