WVU Stories

12/01/2025

For years, Woodburn Hall has stood dark in December. Tomorrow night, that changes.

📍 1987: The first Woodburn Hall lighting ceremony.

🚧 2011: Renovations to Woodburn Hall took the iconic lights down "temporarily," and they never came back.

📣 2015: A student movement forms, hashtags trend on social media as SGA passes a unanimous resolution, yet the lights stay dark.

💡 2025: President Benson asks the right question, "Why did we stop?"

Join us tomorrow, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m., as the lights return. Don't miss it!
Discover the full history of this beloved tradition and how it found its way back:

The WVU Woodburn Hall lighting ceremony was first held in 1987. The effect of having white lights outline the windows, clock tower, and 3rd story roof lines was instantly magical.

11/27/2025

Grateful for Mountaineers, past, present and future.

For the students chasing dreams. For the faculty that inspires them. For the staff that keeps campus running. For the Alumni flying gold and blue across the world. For every tradition that brings us together and makes us special.

Happy Thanksgiving from WVU Stories!

11/26/2025

Looking back at this unforgettable moment from last year, The Pride of West Virginia at the 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Still gives us goosebumps. 💛💙

It's Thanksgiving Day, and before you've even had your morning coffee, these Mountaineers have been out rehearsing in full wardrobe ready to entertain the co...

11/25/2025

The greatest gifts of the holiday season aren't wrapped; they're held.

Mountaineers in alumni chapters across the nation are rallying behind Bears and Blankets, making sure every child at WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital has something soft to hold during scary moments.

Because a little stuffed monkey once got him through his own hospital stay, one alumnus understands first-hand just how important that comfort is. He's working to give warmth to young patients all year long.

Read more about the mission of Bears and Blankets and help support your local alumni chapter:

The memory never left him.At barely 12, Jared Dearth sat in a hospital room on the children’s floor of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital clutching a stuffed monkey he’d chosen from a selection a hospital staff member brought by his room. He didn’t know then, but he would carry that little stuffed an...

11/25/2025

It's Thanksgiving Day, and before you've even had your morning coffee, these Mountaineers have been out rehearsing in full wardrobe ready to entertain the co...

11/24/2025

Charles Wesley Godwin came to WVU chasing a spot on the Mountaineer football team. He tried out three times. Cut every time.
So, he picked up a guitar instead.

Now, the Morgantown native is creating music that reaches far beyond the hills, and his song "Cue Country Roads" has become an official part of WVU tradition.

His path shifted during a study abroad in Estonia, where friends pushed the nervous finance major onstage for the first time.

Today, he's not doing it alone. Four members of his touring crew are Mountaineers, carrying gold and blue to sold-out shows across the globe.

"I'm very proud of being from West Virginia," Godwin said. "Every day when I go out to play a show or make music, I'm trying to represent this place well."

Read the full story about Godwin and the Mountaineers who tour with him 💛💙

There is something ethereal about the moment you hear it. A clean, simple-chord progression carrying a gentle, country twang. “Almost heaven …” Arms lift. Mountaineers-for-life beam with pride. Strangers link shoulders. Players sway in unison. In Morgantown, victory doesn’t end with a whistl...

11/20/2025

More than 9,000 children receive medical care at WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s Hospital each year. Many face serious health challenges in unfamiliar surroundings while their families carry worry, fear and uncertainty.

Bears and Blankets meets them with comfort. Starting with the WVU Alumni Lone Star Chapter of the WVU Alumni Association, Inc., a simple act of care has grown into a coast-to-coast Mountaineer movement, determined to make those stays a little warmer.

It may seem small, but a bear to squeeze or a blanket to hold becomes a reminder that they’re supported, seen and surrounded by a community that believes in brighter days ahead. 🧸

Find out how to give a Bear or Blanket and read more on WVU Stories:

The memory never left him.At barely 12, Jared Dearth sat in a hospital room on the children’s floor of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital clutching a stuffed monkey he’d chosen from a selection a hospital staff member brought by his room. He didn’t know then, but he would carry that little stuffed an...

11/19/2025

For half a century, the Personal Rapid Transit system has been an iconic part of life at WVU, carrying students, faculty, and visitors across campus in retro-futuristic style. A transit system like no other, connecting the campus community as a moving piece of history.

And the ride isn’t slowing down! Born from bold ideas, shaped by challenges, and celebrated as a symbol of Mountaineer innovation, the PRT continues to be a living classroom and a reminder that ambitious dreams can endure.

On WVU Stories, we explore the maintenance crews who've kept it running, the students whose daily commutes became cherished memories, and the community that's embraced rails across their rolling hills.

Read more now:

https://stories.wvu.edu/prt50?fbclid=IwY2xjawN4RPlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeaAjgcsJNs2T6j83w5slM3Ha81yEtjlK-Z-beOryBDQMSRFeCA7UsUohpGzs_aem_zrWpnFEuo6SSohYsPznuzA?utm_source=facebook-magazine&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=research&utm_id=storytelling&utm_content=gen1145

The doors of the small gold-and-blue car slide open with a sigh. Inside, the seats are plain but familiar, and there exists a recognizable yet faint electrical whir. It smells a little like your grandparents’ house in the best possible way. Through the window, the Monongahela River curves like a r...

11/19/2025

11/18/2025

In a quiet attic-turned-office, WVU forensic science students are bringing fresh eyes and new technology to cold cases through the WVU Unsolved Case Project. Pairing students with regional law enforcement agencies, they digitize evidence, map crime scenes, and recommend modern forensic testing.

Led by Tiffany Edwards, teaching associate professor and a former death investigator, students take skills and determination beyond the classroom, applying them to real-life cases.

These Mountaineers aren’t just solving puzzles or doing simulations; they’re giving victims and families a voice.

The WVU Unsolved Case Project fills a void for law enforcement agencies stretched thin and seeking answers to cases that turned stone cold years ago. For a handf

11/17/2025

The story of a tradition lost and found.
📍 1987: A new WVU tradition is born with the first Woodburn Hall lighting ceremony. Choirs singing, hot cocoa flowing and 7,000 miniature white lights adorned the building.

For years, it brightened our Decembers. Students would return from break to Woodburn still glowing, welcoming them home.

💔 2011: Renovations to Woodburn Hall. The iconic lights come down "temporarily," as LED washes replace the magic, but it just wasn't the same.

📲 2015: A student movement. trends on social media and SGA passes a unanimous resolution, but the lights stay dark.

💡 2025: President Benson sees an old photo and asks, "Why did we stop?" Mark your calendars! The lighting ceremony returns on December 2, 2025.

Read more about the beloved campus tradition and the efforts to reignite it for new generations on WVU Stories:

The WVU Woodburn Hall lighting ceremony was first held in 1987. The effect of having white lights outline the windows, clock tower, and 3rd story roof lines was instantly magical.

11/13/2025

Who says you have to choose between art and science? One WVU graduate proved you can have both by reaching for the stars.

This is the story of Emily Certain's unexpected journey. It's about a creative mind who started on stages and studios and landed among engineers and astronauts, bringing a unique perspective to space exploration.

The journey ahead isn't always straightforward, but at WVU, education unlocks possibilities you never thought possible, regardless of whether you're drawn to the sciences, the arts, or something in between.

Read how Emily followed an unconventional path to a career beyond Earth's atmosphere on WVU Stories:

From theater dreams to flight test engineer: WVU alum Emily Certain wound up at NASA and now flies aboard the C-17 at a U.S. Air Force base.