Establishment Under the terms of the 1862
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, the
West Virginia Legislature created the "Agricultural College of West Virginia" on February 7, 1867, and the school officially opened on September 2 of the same year. After a fire destroyed the Woodburn Seminary building in 1873, the centerpiece of what is now Woodburn Hall was completed in 1876, under the name New Hall. The name was changed to University Building in 1878 when the College of Law was founded as the first professional school in the state of West Virginia. The precursor to
Woodburn Circle was finished in 1893 when Chitwood Hall (then Science Hall) was constructed on the bluff's north side. In 1909 a north wing was added to University Building, and the facility was renamed Woodburn Hall. Throughout the next decade, Woodburn Hall underwent several renovations and additions, including the construction of the south wing and east tower (in 1930) housing the
Seth Thomas clock. The three Woodburn Circle buildings were listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1899, the
Vance Farm was acquired for the West Virginia University Experiment Station. The Reymann Memorial Farm was given to West Virginia University in 1917 by the family of Anton Reymann of Wheeling in memory of Lawrence A. Reymann. The farm consisting of 990 acres located in Wardensville in Hardy County, comes until the Davis College of Agriculture. WVU was required to have a Cadet Corps under the terms of the Morrill Act of 1862, which allowed for the creation of
land-grant colleges. The
United States Department of War—a predecessor of the
U.S. Department of Defense—offered military equipment to the university at no charge, forming the basis of the school's Military Tactics department. The heavy military influence led to opposition of female enrollment that lasted through the first decade of the university. The trend changed in 1889 when ten women were allowed to enroll and seek degrees at the university. In June 1891, Harriet Lyon became the first (white) woman to receive a degree from West Virginia University, finishing first in the class ahead of all male students. During the university's early years, daily chapel services and roll call for all students were mandatory, limiting time for student recreation. Following the removal of these obligations, students became active in extracurricular activities and established many of the school's first athletic and student organizations. The first edition of the student newspaper known as the
Athenaeum, now
The Daily Athenaeum, was published in 1887, and the
West Virginia Law Review became the fourth-oldest law review in the United States when it was founded in 1894. In 1897, E. Eva Hubbard (1858–1947) became the first head of WVU's new Department of Art. Of Hubbard's students was renowned Modernist
Blanche Lazzell.
Early 20th century The university's outlook at the turn of the 20th century was optimistic as the school constructed the first library in present-day
Stewart Hall in 1902. The campus welcomed U.S. President
William Howard Taft to the campus for WVU President Thomas Hodges's inauguration in 1911. However, the university's efforts to attract more qualified educators, increase enrollment, and expand the campus was hindered during a period that saw two
World Wars and the
Great Depression. With a heavy military influence in the university, many students left college to join the army during
World War I, and the local
ROTC was organized in 1916. Women's involvement in the war efforts at home led to the creation of Women's Hall dormitory, now
Stalnaker Hall, in 1918. Despite its wartime struggles, the university established programs in biology, medicine, journalism, pharmacy, and the first mining program in the nation. In 1918,
Oglebay Hall was built to house the expanded agriculture and forestry programs.
Elizabeth Moore Hall, the woman's physical education building, was also completed in 1928.
Men's Hall, the first dormitory built for men on campus, was built in 1935 and was funded in part by the
Works Progress Administration. The Mountaineer mascot (based on the
mountain man) was adopted during the late 1920s, with an unofficial process to select the Mountaineer through 1936. An official selection process began naming the mascot annually in 1937, with Boyd "Slim" Arnold becoming the first Mountaineer to wear the
buckskin uniform. On March 16, 1922, West Virginia University was issued the state's first radio broadcasting license, for station
WHD. The person primarily responsible for its establishment was Dr. Chauncey W. Waggoner, the head of the physics department. In late April, the projected schedule was announced as evenings, daily from 4 to 6 and 7 to 7:30 p.m., except for Sundays, when the schedule would be 10:45 to noon. The station was mainly used for experimental purposes, and made few entertainment and informational broadcasts. The university soon determined that the cost of running a broadcasting station exceeded its benefits, In the early 1930s, a local commercial station,
WMMN, established a studio in Morgantown, and assigned a daily 20 minute time slot to the university for its School of the Air programs. they also garnered national attention as solutions for reducing alcohol consumption and partying on college campuses across the country. In 2001, a $34 million, recreation facility opened on the Evansdale campus, providing students with exercise facilities, recreational activities, and personal training programs. WVU reached a new level of athletic success to start the new millennium. The football team featured a 3‑0
BCS bowl record, ten consecutive bowl game appearances, a #1 ranking in the
USA Today Coaches' Poll, three consecutive 11‑win seasons amassing a 33–5 record, 41 consecutive weeks in the top 25, and 6 conference championships. In the aftermath, the university determined Bresch's degree had been awarded without the prerequisite requirements having been met. They subsequently rescinded it, leading to the resignation of President
Michael Garrison, provost Gerald Lang, and business school dean Steve Sears. Garrison had been profiled as a trend toward non-traditional university presidents by the
Chronicle of Higher Education and
Inside Higher Ed, but the faculty senate approved a vote of no confidence in the search that selected him. C. Peter McGrath was named interim president in August 2008.
James P. Clements became WVU's 23rd president on June 30, 2009. He had previously served as provost at
Towson University. On September 16, 2009, Michele G. Wheatly was named provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. In November 2013, James P. Clements was selected to be Clemson University's 15th president.
E. Gordon Gee served as interim president; this was Gee's second time in this role, having first served as president of WVU in 1981. On August 11, 2023, facing financial difficulties, university leaders proposed to cut 7% of the university's faculty and eliminate 32 major programs offered at the Morgantown campus. These cuts would affect some humanities disciplines, including the entire Department of World Language, Literature and Linguistics, as well as some non-humanities programs, such as pharmacy and engineering. Within the first week of fall classes, on August 21, 2023, hundreds of students staged a walkout and held rallies on Morgantown's Downtown and Evansdale campuses to show opposition to the proposal. Participants wore red in honor of the striking coal miners who fought in the
Battle of Blair Mountain. The event was organized by the
West Virginia United Students' Union, which began organizing in response to potential reductions and discontinuations while the program reviews were still in process. Shortly thereafter, the WVU Faculty Assembly approved a vote of "
no confidence" in president Gee. ==Campus==