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Photo of the 2023 WV Business Hall of Fame inductees

Welcome to the Hall

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

Inductees for the 2023 class are Rusty Hutson Jr., CEO of Diversified Energy Company; Fred D. Clark, CEO and corporate secretary of IVS Group; and John Ebert, owner of J.W. Ebert Corporation.

Over the past 22 years, 80 business leaders across a wide variety of industries have been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame, hosted by the Chambers College.

Read more about the 2023 Hall of Fame inductees.

The Future is Innovative Females

In an effort to reach innovative and entrepreneurial females throughout the state, the WVU Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab hosted its Second Annual Women Innovate Pitch Competition. Ten women entered the virtual competition in October in hopes of winning prizes up to $5,000 to turn their idea into a reality. The contestants had to consider every aspect of their pitch – everything from production to advertising – and field questions from the all-female panel of judges. First place went to Anna Cummings, a business management major and entrepreneurship minor from Ashburn, Virginia, whose pitch identified an unaddressed need for a device to help earring-wearers attach their earring backtracks. “The Women Innovate Pitch Competition is an important opportunity for women entrepreneurs,” said Carrie White, executive director of the Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab. “The LaunchLab is here to provide support to all student innovators. However, historically we have seen fewer female clients as compared to male. This event is designed to level that field. The first year we held it, we saw our female entrepreneurs increase by 20 percent. We want to provide encouragement to all WVU students who wish to create something new!” 

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Learning Through Service

In the service learning unit of the Chambers College's on-campus MBA program, students design, plan and execute a project to benefit a local nonprofit or small business of their choosing. This year’s projects netted big results: 

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Anomaly Detector

While COVID-19 has forced us to pivot the way we work and play, the Robbins Center for Global Business and Strategy is no exception. In fact, two virtual activities alone in October saw more than 250 students involved in international lecture, case analyses and culture sessions in Hong Kong and Bahrain. “Framed in this way, that's very promising international reach between WVU and these two international partners,” said David Dawley, executive director of the Robbins Center. 

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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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Get Hyped

How did a global megacompany decide to invest in the Mountain State in developing the transportation of the future? Well, we have the Chambers College, Vantage Ventures and its Executive Director Sarah Biller to thank for helping land Virgin Hyperloop. The company announced it would build a certification center spanning nearly 800 acres in Tucker and Grant counties. When completed, the Virgin Hyperloop system expects to carry passengers in pods through a vacuum tube at speeds breaking 600 mph. Read more about it in an upcoming feature story in 2021 in WVU Magazine. 

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