Eberly News

Whether improving rural infrastructure, advancing public health, preserving cultural heritage, or expanding agricultural education, the 2026 Hazel Ruby McQuain Graduate Scholarship recipients are pursuing graduate study with one goal in common: making a lasting difference for West Virginians. 

Thirty-eight graduates were inducted as lifelong members into the WVU Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, a national honor society that recognizes outstanding achievement in the liberal arts and sciences, and champions freedom of thought. 

WVU Foundation Scholar Laya Chennuru is graduating this month with degrees in neuroscience and psychology. She credits the Foundation Scholarship for expanding her horizons and shaping her educational journey at WVU. Watch her feature above. 

For the first time, West Virginia University has four recipients of the Goldwater Scholarship, the nation’s premier undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, engineering and natural sciences that supports students with a strong commitment to research careers.

Four students from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences were selected to receive the WVU Foundation Distinguished Doctoral Scholarship and the Carl del Signore Foundation Graduate Scholarship. The merit-based scholarship awards help students defray education and research costs as they complete their theses and dissertations.

WVU graduate students are advancing research with WVU Foundation scholarship support. Recipients of the WVUF Distinguished Doctoral Scholarship from Eberly College of Arts and Sciences include: Destinee Harper, Esha Azhar, Ciara Rodriguez, and Jailyn Wilson.

Isabella Linton, a senior in the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, is a Mountaineer from way back. Her family has deep roots in West Virginia, and she grew up in the house her grandparents built. Linton has turned a lifelong curiosity about the brain into meaningful, hands-on research. Through lab work and faculty mentorship, she has explored how maternal stress impacts development while building a strong foundation in scientific inquiry.

First-generation faculty from West Virginia University’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and FirstGen Initiatives, housed within REACH Student Success, are playing a central role in expanding mentorship and support systems for first-generation students, contributing their expertise to a statewide initiative funded by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

Neuroscience is about the human condition.” And for Kathleen “Katie” Morrison, an assistant professor specializing in behavioral neuroscience psychology in the West Virginia University Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology, the human condition is defined by resiliency.

Eberly College professors featured as "power couples that are colleagues by day and spouses after hours." These faculty couples have made their relationships work thanks to their willingness to embrace each other’s passions.