WVU’s FirstGen Initiatives invites the University community to help celebrate its first-gen faculty, staff and students through Friday (Nov. 11), part of the National First-Generation College Celebration.
WVU defines first-generation as neither parent earning a four-year degree in the United States.
President Gordon Gee and Mary Roush, the Mountaineer Mascot, were on hand as the celebration kicked off Monday at the Mountainlair.
Other campus events will be hosted by the Chambers College, Statler College Academic and Student Performance Office, Purpose Center, Department of World Languages and Davis College, as well as Study Abroad and Health Sciences Research and Graduate Education.
Find a full schedule of events.
“I'm excited to see so many campus partners are participating in our FirstGen celebration this year,” Michelle Paden, program coordinator for FirstGen Initiatives, said. “With close to 4,000 self-identified first-gen students, it really does take a campus to truly celebrate them and their accomplishments.”
The inaugural National First-Generation College Celebration launched in 2017 to honor the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and help level a playing field weighed against Americans from minority and low-income backgrounds.