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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
Wheeling University, formerly Wheeling Jesuit University, was renamed by the university’s board of trustees in summer 2019. Wheeling University remains the only Catholic institution of higher learning in West Virginia.
It’s predecessor Wheeling Jesuit University was founded by the Most Reverend John Swint, bishop of what was then the Diocese of Wheeling, and was the youngest of the 28 Jesuit institutions of higher education in the United States. In 1951, Bishop Swint asked the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus to help him realize his dream of a Catholic college of liberal arts for West Virginia. Three years later, in September 1954, the college was incorporated, its cornerstone laid. On September 26, 1955, Wheeling College opened its doors to students. In 1988, its name was changed to Wheeling Jesuit College. It assumed university status in 1996.
In the beginning there were three modest two-story brick buildings, a student body of 90 men and women, three Jesuit administrators, nine teachers (eight of them Jesuits), and a handful of lay people as support staff. Because Swint had provided the $2.75 million start-up costs, the new college was debt free. Tuition was $215 per semester. The college had no endowment and no residence halls. Though chartered by the state of West Virginia, it had no accreditation.
By 2010, the 60-acre campus included six residence halls, nine additional buildings, and several athletic fields. Fall 2009 headcount enrollment was 1,317. A substantial long-term debt, a result of the building boom of the previous 15 years, was balanced by an endowment of nearly $21 million. The total enrollment was 1,170 students in fall 2018, 700 by fall 2021, and 749 in 2022.
Two modern buildings, the Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies and its companion, the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center, represent the university’s attempt to complement its traditional mission—‘‘to integrate learning, research and economic development with classical knowledge and Christian revelation’’—by new initiatives to develop the regional economy in partnership with government and business.
Between 1955 and 2010, eight Jesuit presidents served the institution. Lawrence R. McHugh, S.J. (1955–59) nursed Bishop Swint’s vision to a joyful first commencement in June 1959, when 20 women and 31 men graduated. William F. Troy, S.J. (1959–66) guided the school to national accreditation in 1962. His successor, Frank R. Haig, S.J. (1966–72), presided through the turbulent years of the Vietnam era. The fourth president, Charles L. Currie, S.J. (1972–82), introduced new programs, many curricular changes, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Rev. Thomas Acker, S.J. (1982–2000) inspired—and sometimes goaded—Wheeling Jesuit College forward. The present campus is a monument to his effort and to the substantial support of his educational initiatives by Sen. Robert Byrd and Congressman Alan Mollohan. The Reverend George Lundy, S.J., became president in 2000, and was succeeded by the Reverend Joseph R. Hacala, S.J., in 2003. On Hacala’s resignation in 2006, the Reverend Julio Giuletti was appointed president.
In 2009, the board of trustees ousted Giuletti, and Davit McAteer, who was not a member of a religious order, succeeded him as interim president. He was followed by Sister Francis Marie Thrailkill, who was the first woman to lead the institution during her tenure as interim president. Richard Allen Beyer, a non-Jesuit, was installed as president in September 2011. Beyer resigned in 2013, and the Reverend James Fleming was named the new president. Michael Mihalyo was elected the university’s president in August 2018.
In the spring of 2019, the university announced the end of its programs in theology and philosophy as part of an academic restructuring that included cuts eliminating history, literature, and engineering majors, as well as 20 of the university’s full-time faculty members. In turn, the Jesuits ended their academic affiliation with the school effective at the end of the 2018-19 school year. On July 26, the university officially dropped “Jesuit” from its name. Mihaylo and Senior Vice President Joseph Petrella were placed on administrative leave and eventually terminated. Board chairperson Ginny Favede was elected president. The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston gifted $2 million to the school in 2019 and an additional $5 million in early 2020 to provide financial stability.
Fees for room, board, and tuition are close to the national average for private colleges and universities, although higher than the comparable fees at West Virginia’s public colleges. But, in keeping with its specific mission to Appalachia, the university’s level of student aid exceeds national averages by about 30 percent. Almost all applicants for admission qualify for assistance, and almost all receive it.
The student body is a diverse one. In recent years between 31 percent and 37 percent of students have been West Virginians, and about two-thirds of those who acknowledged a religious affiliation were Roman Catholic. Of its 8,000-plus alumni, more than 2,000 live and work in West Virginia.
Written by Paul Orr
Fact Book: 2000-2001. Wheeling Jesuit University Archives.
Wheeling College Catalog: 1956-1957. .
America's Best Colleges-1999. U.S. News & World Report, 8/31/1998.