Eberly News

Log cabins in West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains have a story to tell: when people leave, the forest takes over. Researchers at West Virginia University are using tree-ring dating to determine not only when trees were cut down to build historic log buildings in the region but also what the forests were like before European immigrants arrived. This could help researchers shed light on when Native Americans abandoned the area and how their absence altered the landscape. Geography graduate student Kristen de Graauw and her mentor, Professor Amy Hessl, uncovered evidence of the significant growth of trees in what may have been a previously cleared area. That growth in the late 17th century coincided with the estimated timing of Native American population decreases following the arrival of European immigrants. This corroborated the hypothesis that a change in the land’s use caused forests to regrow, they explained.

If trees could talk

Eberly News /

Log cabins in West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains have a story to tell: when people leave, the forest takes over.

Pat Moline

Pat Moline joins Eberly College as assistant dean for development

Eberly News /

The Eberly College has hired a fundraiser with more than 25 years’ experience to lead its development efforts.

For more than a decade, astronomers across the globe have wrestled with the perplexities of fast radio bursts — intense, unexplained cosmic flashes of energy, light years away, that pop for mere milliseconds. Despite the hundreds of records of these enigmatic sources, researchers have only pinpointed the precise location of four such bursts. Now there’s a fifth, detected by a team of international scientists that includes West Virginia University researchers. The finding, which relied on eight telescopes spanning locations from the United Kingdom to China, was published Monday (Jan. 6) in Nature.

In a nearby galaxy, a fast radio burst unravels more questions than answers

Eberly News /

For more than a decade, astronomers across the globe have wrestled with the perplexities of fast radio bursts — intense, unexplained cosmic flashes of energy, light years away, that pop for mere milliseconds. 

A West Virginia University history alumnus is the recipient of the nation’s top award for his dissertation research in Italian history. Luke Gramith (PhD History, ’19) received the 2019 Cappadocia Award from the Society for Italian Historical Studies in December.

Gaps in the Iron Curtain

Eberly News /

History alumnus Luke Gramith (PhD History, ’19) is the recipient of the nation’s top award for his dissertation research in Italian history.

2019 Year In Review

2019 Year In Review

Eberly News /

As we look back on the past year, we’re reflecting on the triumphs of our students, faculty, staff and alumni. Here's our top stories from 2019.

Students from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will walk across the stage on Saturday, Dec. 21 as they graduate from West Virginia University, ready to take on the world. As Commencement is upon us, several of our Eberly College graduates reflect on their time at WVU and their plans for the future. Meet Kassie Colón.

Meet the Grads December 2019: Kassie Colón

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Eberly College students walked across the stage on Saturday, Dec. 21 as they graduate from WVU, ready to take on the world. As Commencement is upon us, several of our Eberly College graduates reflect on their time at WVU and their plans for the future. Meet geography, Latin American studies and women's and gender studies grad Kassie Colón.

Students from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will walk across the stage on Saturday, Dec. 21 as they graduate from West Virginia University, ready to take on the world. As Commencement is upon us, several of our Eberly College graduates reflect on their time at WVU and their plans for the future. Meet Regents Bachelor of Arts student Antonio Jenkins.

Meet the Grads December 2019: Antonio Jenkins

Eberly News /

Meet the December 2019 Grads: Antonio Jenkins

Students from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will walk across the stage on Saturday, Dec. 21 as they graduate from West Virginia University, ready to take on the world. As Commencement is upon us, several of our Eberly College graduates reflect on their time at WVU and their plans for the future. Meet biology major Marlee Dinterman.

Meet the Grads December 2019: Marlee Dinterman

Eberly News /

Meet December 2019 graduate Marlee Dinterman

Dylan Vest in a red button-up shirt

WVU Eberly College student awarded prestigious State Department fellowship

Eberly News /

At West Virginia University, where students are encouraged to “Go First,” Dylan Vest has taken that mantra to heart. He was the first in his family to go to college, to travel abroad and even get on a plane. Now he’s one step closer to his dream of becoming a Foreign Service Officer by becoming the first WVU student to receive the highly competitive Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Fellowship from the U.S. State Department. 

West Virginia University geographers are linking the political and human rights issues at borders today to the legacies of foreign and domestic policy across the globe since World War I. Karen Culcasi and Cynthia Gorman, of the Department of Geology and Geography in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, have studied more than 100 years of international laws that have led, perhaps unintentionally, to the existing hostile climate for refugees.

Beyond borders

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Geographers link formation of international laws to refugee crisis