Timeline of the College
1993
C.Eugene and Edna P. Bennettestablish endowments creating the C.Eugene and Edna P. Bennett Careersfor Chemists Program and the C.Eugene Bennett Chair in Chemistryat WVU. In fall 2003 in recognitionof their ongoing philanthropy, theDepartment of Chemistry was renamedthe C. Eugene Bennett Department ofChemistry
1994
As part of The Campaign for West Virginia University, the Eberly Family Charitable Trust and The Eberly Foundation commit substantial financial resources to WVU’s College of Arts and Sciences to provide a wide range of support for faculty, student and academic programming, renaming it the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
1995
The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences celebrates our centennial as a college.
1998
The Forensic and Investigative Science Program is established. The program since grew to become the Department of Forensic and Investigative Science in 2014 and is the only department at a Carnegie Research 1 university to offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in forensic and investigative science.
The West Virginia Dialect Project is established. Focusing on language variation in Appalachia, members of the project investigate the native, natural conversion of English in Appalachia by exploring regional divisions in language, social characteristics of language patterns and potential language change.
2001
The $50 million Life Sciences Building opens as the new home to Department of Biology and Department of Psychology. It includes an Ecotron and greenhouse on the penthouse floor, and the WVU Herbarium is located in the basement. It is also home to the Quin Curtis Center, which provides general mental health services as well as treatment in specialty areas such as anxiety, trauma, depression and childhood behavior problems.
2002
The WVU Center for Writing Excellence opens, supporting faculty, students and staff in the improvement of writing and the teaching of writing.
2003
The School of Social Work’s Summer Institute on Aging celebrates 25 years of continuing education for professionals working with aging populations.
2004
The Appalachian Prison Book Project is founded out of a course taught by Katy Ryan, an associate professor of English and an Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Outstanding Teaching. It is a nonprofit organization that sends free books to individuals imprisoned in the Appalachian region and facilitates year-round book clubs inside a federal prison in West Virginia.
2006
At $2.9 million, the Department of Physics and Astronomy is named among the top 100-funded National Science Foundation programs.
The Department of Philosophy launches “THE QUESTION.” The initiative used banners hanging from the pedestrian bridge connecting the Beechurst PRT Station to Stansbury Hall as a springboard to answering life’s biggest questions.
The Criminology Program offers the first course for WVU students and incarcerated individuals at Pruntytown Correctional Center in Marion County based on the national Inside-Out Exchange Program.
2007
Following a $28.8 million renovation, Brooks Hall reopens as the new home for the Department of Geology and Geography featuring smart classrooms, new computer and virtual reality labs, a 350-seat auditorium, wireless computer access and a “green” roof.
The Department of Geology and Geography receives an in-kind software gift from Schlumberger Information Solutions, a world leader in geophysical and subsurface technology development. Additional in-kind gifts were made in 2013 and 2017.
2008
Representatives from the education office of the embassy of the People’s Republic of China visited WVU and the Chinese Studies Program. A unique, all-expenses-paid, language immersion scholarship was established.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosts its first Pulsar Search Collaboratory summer camp for high school students at West Virginia’s Green Bank Telescope.
2010
The first Children’s Chemistry Show is organized by the Department of Chemistry, offering hands-on activities to children and families from across north-central West Virginia.
WVU receives $3.2 million National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant to advance diversity hiring in the sciences, conceived by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences in partnership with the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
2011
WVU hosts its first forensic science day camp, a predecessor to today’s Next Generation Forensic Science Initiative.
2012
Following a $35 million renovation, White Hall opens as the new home for the Department of Physics and Astronomy and WVU Planetarium.
Established in fall 2012, the Department of Communication Studies Interaction Lab in Armstrong Hall features an observation room and data chamber that provide the faculty and graduate students a secure and robust environment to collect data. The space is designed to accommodate research on media uses and effects as well as interpersonal communication and relational dynamics research.
2013
The Food Justice Lab is founded in the Department of Geology and Geography. This experimental space for research and action focuses on challenging food system inequalities by collaborating with research partners and mentoring geography students.
2014
The John D. Rockefeller IV School of Politics and Policy is established, formally linking the existing departments of Political Science and Public Administration and the degree programs in International Studies, Leadership Studies and Legal Studies. It is the only multidisciplinary, degree-granting policy school linked to a robust political archives collection in the country.
Dedicated to publishing scholarly work to prevent and control violent behaviors, the Research Center on Violence is established in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
The SpeakWrite initiative is founded. It is committed to helping students develop effective written, verbal, visual and mediated communication skills across disciplines. A SpeakWrite designation may apply to an individual course and may also be earned by an undergraduate degree program.
2016
>WVU achieves the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education’s R1 Doctoral Universities ranking.
2017
WVU celebrates 125 years of women on campus, and the Women’s Centennial Time Capsule is reburied in Woodburn Circle.
The Native American Studies Program celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Peace Tree Ceremony.
2018
The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences celebrates the 25th anniversary of its naming in gratitude for the generous support from the Eberly family, the Eberly Family Charitable Trust and The Eberly Foundation.
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