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Photo of Matthew Kinzer in front of a welcome sign in Japan

From West Virginia to Japan

From West Virginia to Japan

A May 2023 graduate in finance and economics earned a highly competitive U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to travel abroad to learn a new language and immerse into cultural experiences. 

Matthew Kinzer, of Princeton, West Virginia, spent the summer in Japan before returning to WVU to pursue a graduate degree at the Chambers College. 

The scholarship program seeks to expand the number of Americans studying languages that are essential for the United States’ engagement with the world. 

“I had the amazing opportunity to study Japanese at Okayama University,” Kinzer said. “My time in Japan was truly life-changing, and I'm so grateful to everyone who helped me make this dream a reality.

“In just two months, I made lifelong friends, learned so much about Japanese culture and improved my Japanese language skills immensely. I'll cherish my memories of Japan forever, and I'm excited to use the knowledge and skills I gained to pursue my career goals.”

First Pitch

Supported by Silicon Valley CEO Ray Zinn, the first ZinnStarter Pitch Competition, hosted by the LaunchLab, gave aspiring collegiate entrepreneurs an opportunity to win cash to build their ideas into the next groundbreaking product or business. Winners included: First place ($2,500): Emma Adams, WVU animal and nutritional sciences major, and her business idea PetRecord, which provides universal medical records for pets in emergency situations; second place ($1,500): Cameron Keefe, global supply chain management major, and her idea ThermoRoller, which combines physical massage with temperature control to relieve sore muscle pain; and third place ($1,000) to the team of Austin Davis, Anne Byer and Emily Thomas, from the University of Charleston, and their idea Second Chance, a program that helps give active control back to people with quadriplegia and paraplegia. 

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Welcome to the Hall

Three West Virginians with careers in energy, restaurant franchising and industrial service are the newest members of the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame

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Immersed in Indonesian

Jana El-Khatib, a Master of Business Administration student from Hurricane, West Virginia, was one of four WVU students to earn the Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. Over the summer of 2021, El-Khatib got to study Indonesian, a language she became interested in after spending time living in Southeast Asia as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She hopes to use the skills gained from the scholarship to improve her cultural competency for a future career as a healthcare provider. 

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Come One, Come All

This year, our College welcomed the highest incoming freshman class to date – more than 600 incoming first-year students. Our Undergraduate Recruitment team goes above and beyond to provide a personalized experience for our admitted students. “Call and letter writing campaigns are completed with the purpose of a) assisting with the application process, b) answering any questions students and their parents may have, and c) making students feel special. Many other colleges do not employ the methods that we do. The feedback we receive routinely mentions the personalized experience as a reason for choosing Chambers and WVU,” said Rebel Smith, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs. 

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