From Down the Hall

We’re in full-swing summer mode at the Alumni Association. Our chapters across the country are holding family picnics, pig roasts, crab feasts, beach parties, shrimp boils, pepperoni roll bake-offs, and many other activities. Some chapters are going to baseball games and others are heading to the amusement park. You can discover what’s happening in your neck of the woods by visiting the events page on our website or downloading the WVU Alumni app for your smart phone.

Last week, I was spending time with a group of alumni and they were asking me about the alumni association, what we do, how we’re organized, etc. This discussion and their questions made me realize that perhaps we need to do a better job of discussing the fundamentals of our Alumni Association.

Spring is a great season in Morgantown! We’re seeing more sunshine, the trees and flowers are coming alive, the Gold-Blue Spring Game is just around the corner and in just over a month, the Class of 2019 will be celebrating commencement.

I was visiting our alumni chapter in The Villages, FL, last week and to my great surprise, Dr. Don Lyons and his wife, Dr. Migri Lyons, attended our events. Don was the Chair of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department when I attended WVU in the 1980s and Migri was a faculty member in the Civil Engineering Department.

As students head to their last classes and prepare for final exams, we celebrate the close of another great semester at West Virginia University! The last four months have been busy for us with an exciting football season, a trailer tour that took us halfway across the country, a very successful Day of Service where our alumni volunteered in their local communities, and most recently, a monumental Day of Giving. Thank you for your support in making this season an exciting adventure!

Yesterday was a big day in the Frisbee household! Before I could even say hello, my daughter jumped right in with “Dad, I’ve got great news! I got into WVU!” The excitement in her voice put a huge smile on my face and instantly brought tears to my eyes knowing that she, too, would find a home at West Virginia University just as I had. There is something special about your children wishing to attend your alma mater and next year when she joins her brother at WVU, I’ll be grinning from eer to eer!

How many of you remember Taylor Runner? The student who used to bring his German Shepherd to old Mountaineer field during pregame to entertain fans with his frisbee catching prowess.

In a recent conversation, a friend who is not a WVU alum was telling me how he likes to hire WVU graduates. He told me that compared to graduates of other institutions, his experience is that WVU graduates are more humble, technically competent with the added benefit of common sense and application focused, exhibit stronger work ethic, and lack entitlement. I was grinning ear to ear!