Come Feb. 7, don’t forget to sing a few bars of “Happy Birthday to U.”

That’s right: West Virginia University is turning 137 years old.

WVU Libraries will mark the occasion with a month-long exhibit featuring memorabilia from the school’s bygone days when homework was done with pencil and paper and a mouse was something that scurried across the floor. WVU’s Dining Services, meanwhile, will treat students to cupcakes and cookies on the actual birthday, which falls on a Saturday.

The library exhibit, “Some West Virginia University Firsts,” opens Monday, Feb. 2, in the J. Horner Davis Gallery 2 of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection and will remain on display throughout the month, curator John Cuthbert said. The collection is on the sixth floor of the renovated Charles C. Wise Jr. Library.

The display will include the deed to Woodburn Circle, upon which WVU was located; the first diploma issued by WVU; photographs of assorted first graduates; an oil painting of the Rev. Alexander Martin, WVU’s first president, and a copy of his inaugural speech. Also included are photos of WVU’s first buildings; a montage of early facilities no longer in existence; and mementos from the University’s early swing at sports.

“One of my personal favorites,” Cuthbert said, “is an amateur photo of an early football game on what was likely the first WVU football field, located where the Mountainlair parking garage and plaza are today. If you look really closely, you can see what may have been the first WVU Marching Band – a handful of musicians seated in the stands.”

And what is a birthday party without a cake, of sorts?

Dining Services will celebrate the University’s sweet success with cupcakes and cookies for students, said David Master, assistant director. Staff will prepare 2,200 “Flying WV” cookies and 1,400 blue-and-gold cupcakes for the dining rooms at Boreman Hall and Towers residence halls.

It will take about 32 hours to make the sweet treats, Master added.

WVU came into existence Feb. 7, 1867, by an act of the West Virginia Legislature. The school was founded under the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862, which offered grants of 30,000 acres of federally owned land to states that agreed to establish colleges to teach agriculture and the mechanical arts (engineering).

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© WVU News and Information Services – Division of Institutional Advancement
Post Office Box 6688, 200 Clark Hall – Morgantown, WV 26506-6688

West Virginia University librarian and administrator Carroll Wilkinson knows that simple curiosity will always be the key to complex learning – even in today’s high-tech classrooms, where pixels can be more common than ink pens.

And just how that basic thirst for knowledge melds with the digital age will be the subject of Wilkinson’s Wednesday (Jan. 28) talk in WVU’s Fireside Chat Series, presented by the Center for Women’s Studies.

She’ll discuss “Curiosity and Cognitive Maps: Fresh Insights into Information and Women’s Studies,” from 3:30-5 p.m., in Room 104 of WVU’s Downtown Campus Library.

Wilkinson, head of access services for the library, will recount the six months she spent last year developing a new course for the center: SPTS 493, Women’s Studies in the Information Age. The three-credit course will be taught for the first time this year during the Summer I term.

She’ll present the course syllabus and sample assignments, and she’ll also illustrate her talk with a prop: a large model of what she calls a “preliminary cognitive map” – a walk-through maze of sorts, crafted with toys.

“You’ll have to see it to believe it,” she said.

The map imagery didn’t just happen, she noted.

“Student curiosity has to be the central navigational device to any learning,” she said. “We’re going to talk about ways to spark that curiosity, and how to point it in the right direction for learning.”

Wilkinson is the staff bibliographer for the center, and also received that organization’s 2003-04 Stitzel Endowment for Teaching and Learning. She’s the first librarian at WVU to ever be granted a leave of absence for professional development, which led to the creation of her course.

The series is co-sponsored by WVU’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, with contributions from the Women’s Studies Development Fund.

Admission is free, and refreshments will be served.

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov used his books to explain the complicated world of science to readers around the globe. The West Virginia University Libraries are now using the Internet to share his works with the masses.

WVU Libraries recently launched an online exhibit celebrating their Isaac Asimov Collection.

The collection, donated last year by WVU alumnus Larry Shaver, contains works by Asimov, who has been called one of the greatest science fiction writers of the 20th century. Many critics, scientists, educators and readers praised Asimov for explaining complex scientific concepts in a clear, digestible way.

“We often think of rare library books as old books,” said Beth Toren, Web services librarian. “It is exciting to see something really different: a late 20th century science fiction collection, the complete works of one author, which include many first editions, autographed copies and great visuals. The sci-fi art lends itself to a graphic display, as do the hardcover editions with their book jackets intact.”

The online exhibit features digital images and descriptions of some of the more than 600 books, games, audio recordings, videos and wall charts included in the Libraries’ Asimov Collection.

Creating the exhibit required long hours. Toren relied on help from Alicia Myers, an art student and Web services assistant, who scanned and processed each image in the exhibit. Myers also photographed several posters, games and other items.

So far, the exhibit has attracted a fair amount of visitors, and those who signed the guest book reported that they found the Web site informative and entertaining.

Toren said now is an ideal time to spotlight Asimov because she expects a renewed interest in the writer to spark with the release of the upcoming movie “I Robot,” based on Asimov’s work.

“This is a great time to let people know about our Isaac Asimov Collection,” Toren said. “A new generation is about to learn a little more about him.”

That thought pleases Shaver, who spent about three decades building his collection.

“Putting them together, I’ve had the pleasure of reading every one,” Shaver said.

“But as the collection grew, it seemed such a waste to keep them on my shelf.”

The Fairmont native and 1974 WVU graduate developed an interest in Asimov when he spotted one of the author’s paperbacks in a Pittsburgh bookstore more than 30 years ago.

He quickly finished the book and began looking for more titles by Asimov. After reading 100 of Asimov’s books, Shaver set the goal of reading all 600 of his books.

Rather than trying to assemble a collection, Shaver simply intended to read the author’s books. He just held onto each book as a reminder that he had read it.

It was about 10 years ago that Shaver accomplished his first goal and set his next challenge as replacing the paperback with better editions.

Since then, first editions account for nearly 75 percent of the collection, and 20 of the first editions are signed. Shaver also got Asimov’s wife, Janet, to inscribe a first-edition of the late author’s autobiography, “It’s Been a Good Life,” to WVU.

There are also a few rare items, such as two college textbooks. The voluminous collection contains all but 25 titles on the most comprehensive lists of the writer’s work.

“Isaac Asimov was not only one of the most prolific authors of all time, but also one of the most diverse,” said John Cuthbert, special collections curator. “In addition to being one of the pillars of science fiction, he wrote often about history, religion, literature, theater, chemistry, physics, mathematics, humor – the list goes on and on. Thus, there is literally something for everyone in this marvelous collection.”

The prolific storyteller who propelled readers throughout the universe wrote from a foundation of science fact. He held a doctorate in chemistry and taught biochemistry at Boston University’s School of Medicine. His scientific research included work in kinetics, photochemistry, enzymology and irradiation.

Shaver, now an air traffic control instructor at the Federal Aviation Administration Academy in Oklahoma, credits Asimov for stirring his interest in academics. He said Asimov incorporated an easy-to-understand writing style in explaining fairly complicated topics, like the sciences.

“I didn’t know those things were so interesting. I thought they were things to be avoided,” Shaver said. “I think he earned the title of the Great Explainer. He explained it to me, and now he’ll explain it to other people.”

Visit the online exhibit at http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/exhibits/asimov/.