Growing the M GROWING THE MOMENTUM
Accumulated
breakthroughs led us to emerge as a national
powerhouse in degree programs, sports, and medicine in the mid-1900s. Expansion continued and WVU doubled. We flourished as the state’s medical epicenter with the creation of the University Hospital. The first open heart surgery in the state was performed at WVU. In sports, the legendary Jerry West took the basketball team to the NCAA Championship game. The College of Business and Economics and the state’s first community college also
Governor Clarence Meadows
opened. These successes pushed us all to face
Photo courtesy of West Virginia State Archives
new challenges. Jack Hodge, the first black graduate of WVU (journalism, ’54), in a Woodburn Hall newsroom. The other students are Robert Rine, ’52, and Margaret Wayt, ’51.
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Two students display their paintings, c. 1962.
The College of Business and Economics has been ranked as number 90 in the Best Undergraduate Business Schools of 2011, in Bloomberg Businessweek. College of Agriculture and Forestry creates four-year forestry program.
School of Social Work established, and Journalism School becomes independent.
Land for Evansdale campus is purchased; Core Arboretum established; student enrollment reaches 8,069.
WVU selected as site of the state’s new medical center.
College of Business and Economics established.
WVU Foundation established. Jack Hodge, from McDowell County, is the first black undergraduate to receive a degree from WVU, which had immediately desegregated after Brown v. Board of Education decision from US Supreme Court.
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2011
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West Virginia University Alumni Magazine
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