Dear Wheeling University Students, Faculty, Staff, Trustees, Alumni, and Friends: Our spring semester is off to a great start. All classes are in full swing and the campus has been bustling with the energetic activity of students. The weather has started to turn with temperates in the 30s on some days down from our spring like weather of the holiday season. It occurs to me that the information that many of you are seeking is simple. You want to know that the university is going to be ok. I can assure you it is! In the midst of complete chaos in August of 2019, we accepted a class of 124 over holiday break we saw 25 new students transfer in. Students want to be here. Repeatedly, I am asked Where are the Jesuits? They are here and with us, Father James Conroy, Father Richard McCouch and Father Hadi Sasmita are on campus with students, faculty and staff daily. Within this newsletter and those that will follow over the coming months, I hope to better address your questions filling the void and calming your angst. As I am often reminded and I beg of you to consider, patience is truly a virtue. I understand your frustration over the past year's tragic events but need you to know we have effectively and swiftly turned the ship around. We are doing well and Bishop Mark E. Brennan has been a tremendous source of support. I hope you will take the time to read the recent article where Bishop Brennan shares his support to Wheeling University as the only campus based Catholic institution of higher learning in West Virginia. Do not look to the past and see what is lost but look to the future and recognize the purpose we have to work collectively together to ensure our students have the opportunities to find their center, find their purpose and to find their direction in life. Our mission is rooted in a rigorous academic program characterized by engagement of ethical issues, in order to foster critical thinking, which undergirds moral and faith-based reflection and action. To truly support out mission of service for and among others we must live our mission. Please join me in that effort. Trust in your faith and work with me daily. Together we can all realize this truth.

Focusing On New Era in Life Of Diocese "I hope to see our only residential Catholic university, Wheeling University, thrive under the leadership of a new president, Ginny Favede. Wheeling Hospital carries on our centuries-old Catholic tradition of caring for the sick and should continue to be a model of Catholic health care," Bishop Mark E. Brennan Read More....

Wheeling University and Belmont College announce a Criminal Justice 2+2 Program Wheeling University and Belmont College in St. Clairsville, Ohio, have signed a formal articulation agreement to offer Belmont College students the chance to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice at Wheeling University.    Students who begin their educational career at Belmont College and complete an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice would have a guaranteed transfer to Wheeling University to complete the final two years and to earn a bachelor’s degree. Read More or See Highlights...

For Campus Ministry, the start of the Spring 2020 semester was kicked off in collaboration with the City of Wheeling for a community celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. The celebration consisted of a musical performance, interfaith prayer service, awards banquet as well as a march. The events were all well attended by students, staff, faculty, as well as the surrounding communities. T he Appalachian Institute has been working hard with campus leaders to create an on campus recycling program to better suit our ever growing campus. Campus Ministry will also be hosting a Restorative Justice conference in February for campus and local religious leaders.

Wheeling University's three Jesuits continue to be the heart of our campus and preside at two Sunday (11am and 8pm) and five weekday (12:15pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; 9:15pm Wednesday) masses in the Chapel of Mary and Joseph at Wheeling University. Two of the Jesuits are employed by the University in the mission department: Father Hadi Sasmita serves as Campus Minister overseeing Retreats and Small Prayer Communities and helping with intercultural and interfaith programming and Restorative Justice initiatives; Father Rich McCouch, S.J., is Director of the Appalachian Institute. Jim Conroy, S.J., is superior of the Jesuit community.

Wheeling University Gaudiosa 2020 Wheeling University will host its annual scholarship dinner Gaudiosa on Saturday, April 18 at Wheeling Park's White Palace. This event supports the many students that attend the University. Gaudiosa is an evening of fine food and entertainment with one single purpose - to raise funds to support scholarships at Wheeling University. Gaudiosa , Latin for "Joyous Feast," will begin at 6 p.m. with cocktails followed by dinner at 7 p.m. This year's committee, which is made up of alumni, board members, employees and community members includes: Lawrence Bandi '86, Robby de Andrade '72, Mary Smith de Andrade '72, Carlos C Jimenez, M.D., Joe Pangilinan '88, Carol Pangilinan, Mike Young, Carol Young and Joan Carrigan. For more information about Gaudiosa or to make your reservation, log onto www.wju.edu/gaudiosa or call 304-243-8166. If you would like to learn more information about how you can support this cause, please visit the  official Gaudiosa site. Your support and attendance at Gaudiosa will help us continue to educate our students in the tradition of St. Ignatius, as we prepare them for Life, Leadership, and Service with and among others.

Faith of Our People Is Strong The Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston recently assured members of the Wheeling Rotary Club that he is doing all he can to repair the damage left by former bishop Michael Bransfield, whose misuse of diocesan money has been well. Read More...

Nursing Majors Getting Hands on Respiratory Training in Simulations Lab Wheeling University junior and senior nursing students are receiving hands on, respiratory care training inside the simulation lab to learn how to best treat patients.  The nursing students spent several days a week last semester in the sim lab to learn and be comfortable placing patients on oxygen. To achieve this goal, the students received instruction in oxygen therapy and indications and contraindications for use of oxygen, how to properly use various oxygen devices, and how to take patient and device precautions. : Read More...

Student Services  The Office of Student Services were excited to greet the students back to campus for the start of the Spring 2020 semester with a number of activities. The Campus Activities Board hosted a grab and go breakfast for all students in Acker Science Center as well as events every evening, including trivia and bingo.  Student Activities also brought all of campus together for an involvement fair to highlight what clubs and organizations are available for the students this semester. The Residence Life Staff hit the ground with RA training and are now starting their selection process for next year's staff. The Student Services Staff is always staying on top of trends and the ever changing landscape to create impactful experiences for our students.

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   Wheeling University joined our city in remembering and celebrating the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The events, which spanned over a week included music, advocacy for justice, prayer, meals, honoring of local leaders, and fun for kids.  Celebrations kicked off on Sunday, Jan. 12, at 6pm, in Troy Theater with "A Celebration of Music, Liberty & Knowledge" featuring music by Ohio Valley's soul/R&B/pop group E zra & the Reletivs  and social justice skits by our Black Student Union and other WU students. An iconic march was held on MLK Boulevard at the top of Wheeling Hill, followed by an interfaith prayer service including readings of the writings of MLK by our BSU students at Fourth St. Methodist Church. This year's guest speaker was Mrs. Ivin Lee, the first African-American and female police chief in West Virginia.

New Roles at Wheeling University to Increase Outreach   As part of the University’s strategic plan for growth, Wheeling University’s Office of the President is pleased to announce the realignment of duties for several employees to form the Wheeling University Alumni and Family Engagement team that will focus on the overall communication efforts of the University.    One of my goals is to increase Wheeling University’s connection with our alumni, family and the community in general. This realignment of duties is meant to address that need and result in greater outreach to our region, alumni and families. Members of the Office of Alumni and Family Engagement include: Julia Cook, Kelly Klubert, Tessa Gretchen, Meggie Voll and Janet Nolan. Read More...

Wheeling Welcomes Aladdin and Starbucks While our students were home over the holiday break, the campus was bustling with activity! While they were catching up on some well-deserved rest and spending time with their families, we were busy making ca mpus better for them! Our students matter to every single one of us at Wheeling University and making sure they are happy, successful and well-fed is important. I'm excited to share we have welcomed a new food service provider for the first time in decades. Our new dining services partner, Aladdin  began services January 6th. The culinary team now offers contemporary brands that students love, have enhanced the culinary experience with freshly prepared food, and created a campus dining destination where students can eat, socialize and study! The students are thrilled and literally are raving about the food! The Benedum Room is packed daily at lunch with students, staff and even our campus-based Wheeling Hospital friends. There is something about eating together that simply brings people closer together. Aladdin has committed to improving and upgrading our dining hall to turn the Benedum (B-Room) into a place where our students can go and study, hangout and relax, but with food. Aladdin will be investing more than $600,000 into our dining facilities over the next few years. For now, you'll find a freshly painted dining room and serving area. The work is certainly not done, but we are well on our way! I am equally ecstatic to announce the re-opening of a Starbucks coffee shop in the lower portion of Swint Hall as well. In an effort to provide a variety of places for our students to hang-out and study we have opened Starbucks in the former Kiosk location.  A Wheeling University Apparel Shop is now conveniently located inside of Starbucks. Das Rathskeller, aka "The RATT" will return as Wheeling University's on-campus pub, where students can come together, relax, and enjoy a good time! Soon weekly events will be taking place, like Team Trivia, Themed Dance Nights, Pool Tournaments, Euchre Games, and watching sporting events. It's closed for now while it gets updated with new paint, stage returned and a pool table is moved in!

Wheeling University Dean's List Wheeling University has announced its Dean's List for outstanding academic performance during the Fall 2019 semester. Students must maintain a 3.5 grade-point average, and be enrolled as a full-time student by taking 12 hours or more of college credit to qualify. The list of students, along with their respective majors and hometowns, is available here. .

Admissions and Enrollment The current costs at Wheeling University reflect an affordable private university education. Our tuition for on-campus and off-campus students remains at $29,090, Room and Board is $9,900, and the Student Activity Fee is $200. For a total of $39,190 for an on-campus student and $29,290 for a commuting student. (A student’s tuition deposit of $200 is applied to their overall bill, so this would cover the Student Activity Fee.) Wheeling University also has the Learn Local Program for commuter students residing in specific counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Learn Local is an incredible opportunity for commuter students to have out-of-pocket costs similar to regional public institutions and a tuition rate of $12,000. In regard to our scholarship opportunities, depending on a student’s academic records, they may be eligible for our High Honors, Presidential, Dean’s, and Opportunity scholarships. These range from $8,000 to $16,000 on an annual basis. Our more specific scholarships are the Swint and Catholic High School awards for students graduating from the six Catholic high schools of the Dioceses of Wheeling-Charleston or students who graduate from a Catholic high school outside the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. We also have the Carrigan (Thomas F.) Alumni Scholarship, which was established by the WU Alumni Association, in memory of alumnus and first Alumni Director Tom Carrigan. This award is granted to a children or grandchildren of alumni who have at least a cumulative high school GPA of 2.5. Applicants who display compassion, commitment, and a work ethic, demonstrated by genuine friendship and loyalty, are eligible for consideration. (An application and an interview are required to receive this scholarship.) Finally, we have DII athletic awards offered by Athletic Coaches upon the eligibility and talent of the student athlete, which rounds out our overall scholarship opportunities. The Wheeling University Admissions Office works closely with prospective students so they are aware of the multiple awards that may assist them in funding their higher education.

Upcoming Admissions Event at Wheeling University! We are inviting any and all prospective students and their families to attend our Spring Open House  on March 7. Learn why Wheeling University may be the perfect place for you. Get your questions answered about academic programs, financial aid and how to apply. Join us at Wheeling University. Find out all Wheeling University has to offer you at our Spring Open House! Open House Events include: - A Campus Tour including Residence Halls - An Academic/Financial Aid Presentation - Interacting with current students - Q&A session to help you decide that WU is the best choice for you! - Wheeling University Swag, Gifts, & Snacks! Once you have completed a registration form for your specific event you will receive notification that you are registered for that event and you will automatically receive reminders via email leading up to the event.  If you have questions, need to reschedule or cancel your registration, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 800.624.6992.  Admissions Events are fun, engaging, and informative. That’ s  The Wheeling Way. Contact admiss@wju.edu for more details. Register here: https://bit.ly/2GwBm5F

Athletics Wheeling University Athletics has kicked off the 2020 year with a positive and fresh start. Not only have they been competing on the fields and courts, but they are succeeding in the classroom.  On Jan. 24, Wheeling University President Ginny R. Favede announced Garett Sherman as the Director of Athletics. Sherman most recently served as the Director of Athletics at West Virginia University Potomac State College in Keyser, where he oversaw 11 sports and provided strategic planning and policy development for the athletic program.   On the hardwood, the Cardinal basketball teams are off to successful start in 2020. The men’s team, headed by first-year Head Coach Will Ryan, has a 9-8 record. The Cardinals started 2020 with three victories over Glenville State, Concord, and Frostburg State. Leading the way so far this season has been sophomore guard Jordan Reid. His 17.1 points per games (ppg) is tops for the Cards and 11th in the MEC. Fellow Sophomore, Emmanuel Ansong is having a strong season. He is leading the team and is sixth in the conference with 7.3 rebounds per game and ranks third on the team with 15.2 ppg. Junior guard, Jarrett Haines has been a major contributor for the Cardinal offense this year. Haines is second on the team, averaging 15.9 ppg and leads the team with 3.0 steals per game. Wheeling is sixth in the conference, with nine games remaining in the regular season. The women’s basketball, under the direction of second year Head Coach Mike Llanas , hold a 7-12 record. So far in 2020, Wheeling is hovering around a .500 record and are carrying a two-game win streak into Saturday’s game against Davis & Elkins, with wins over West Liberty and WV Wesleyan. The Cardinals enter the weekend seventh in the conference with nine games left in the season. Sophomore forward Lilly Ritz has been a driving force for the Cardinals offense in the 2019-2020 campaign. Ritz leads the team in minutes played, as well as four other statistical categories. Ritz, ranks fourth in the Conference in points per game (20.1), second in rebounds (14.4), second in blocks (1.8) and third in steals (2.5). Wheeling’s supporting cast is led by a pair of seniors. Khira Burton and Taliah Cashwell are averaging 14.9 and 11.5 respectfully. Burton currently ranks fifth in the MEC in steals with 3.5 per-game.  Under Head Coach Patrick Stanton the Track and Field team has competed in two meets. On Jan. 17, Junior Liz Fleming established a new school-record and reached two NCAA provisional marks to lead the Wheeling University women's track & field team at the Youngstown State University Collegiate Invitational. Fleming established a new school-record in the shot put and NCAA provisional mark in the shot put with a toss of 46 feet, 5.50 inches. Senior Danielle Stewart finished fifth in the pole vault clearing 11 feet, 11.75 inches. Davina Norman placed eighth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.73, a new personal record. Wheeling traveled to participate at the SPIRE Institute Collegiate Invitational where Junior T.J. Tindal placed second in the 400 meters with a season best time of 49.79 seconds. Freshman Gerald Sapina and Avery Myles both qualified for the finals of the 60-meter dash with times of 7.02 seconds and 7.09 seconds, good for with seventh and ninth finishes respectively. Freshman Eli Young finished second in the long jump with a mark of 21 feet, 3.5 inches. Freshman Steven Eaton cleared 14 feet, 0.5 inches in the pole vault to place third. Sophomore, Zach Ekey finished fifth in shot put with a throw of 47 feet, 7.75 inches.

Wheeling places 74 on Fall Academic All-MEC Teams A total of 74 fall sport student-athletes from Wheeling University garnered academic honors from the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Read More...

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Annual Philadelphia Alumni Post-Holiday Party Thank you to Jim & Martha (Buckley) Shields for hosting another fabulous Post-Holiday Party on January 11th! It was great to see everyone.   Nearly 30 alumni and family members attended the annual Philadelphia event. This was my first opportunity to meet with alumni from the area and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. I told Fr. O'Brian on the phone - after waiting in line for the opportunity to chat with him - that although you all were calling it an Alumni Party, I was convinced I was at a family reunion. It is remarkable how close you all are. What a blessing. I updated the alumni on our new food service provider and the investment Aladdin will be making to the facilities in the future, return of the Ratt to the students and progress we have made. We discussed the recent partnership with West Liberty University and Bethany College, and how it will benefit students at each institution. I also had the chance to hear stories from alumni about each person’s time at Wheeling – something that helps me better understand why our University is so special to our graduates.

Save the date for Alumni Weekend 2020! A time to revel in nostalgia and Cardinal pride, Alumni Weekend is set for June 26-28. Whether you graduated five years or five decades ago, that’s an achievement worth toasting and we plan to do just that. Alumni Weekend is the best time to reconnect with old friends—face-to-face, all in one place—and share your accomplishments with Cardinals of all ages. If you were on campus last year or 60 years ago, we look forward to welcoming you HOME in June. This year we're celebrating milestone reunions for class years ending in 0 or 5, but as always, all alumni are welcome back to campus. We've planned a weekend packed with receptions, tours, children’s activities, fun, and, of course, food! Packages and Pricing information will be released soon.

Thank you for your incredible support of Wheeling University! This is truly a very special place and I look forward to engaging many of you over the course of this next year as we work on growing our university and improving our facilities. If the rest of the semester continues at the pace of this past month, we will certainly have one of our best spring semesters ever! I As always, feel free to write with your thoughts or questions to  president@wju.edu . Wishing each of you a wonderful week ahead with much joy and peace. Sincerely, Ginny R. Favede President