Lt. Col. Nelson R. Bickley, Jr., who joined the military science faculty at WVU in 1966 and went on to become the University’s director of both foreign student coordination and minority affairs, died Saturday, Oct. 9, at 93.
Bickley, a 20-year Army artillery veteran, came to WVU as professor of military science after serving as an air defense artillery battery commander in Germany and Korea, eventually rising to the rank of sub-post Commander in Swienfurth, Germany.
During his tenure at WVU, Bickley served as an invaluable mentor to ROTC students and more broadly to Black students at the University at that time, both informally and in his role as faculty advisor to the Black Unity Organization.
A lifelong learner, Bickley completed a master’s degree in counseling while working at WVU and in 1972, he left WVU to become the head of counseling services at West Virginia State University, his alma mater. At age 49, he returned to WVU to get a law degree, graduating in 1980. He practiced law at Bland, Jacobs, Bickley, and Barkus in Charleston for the next twenty years. He was inducted into the ROTC Hall of Fame at WVSU in 1982.
Bickley is survived by his wife, Ancella, who earned her Ed.D. in English in 1974 from WVU. She also served as a faculty member in the English Department and taught the University’s first African-American literature courses.
Learn more about Bickley's life.
For more information, contact Rosemary V. Hathaway, Department of English, at Rosemary.Hathaway@mail.wvu.edu; Lori Hostuttler, University Libraries, at lohostuttler@mail.wvu.edu; or John Dowling, WVU Army ROTC, at jodowling@mail.wvu.edu.