Photo Provided Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown is a sea of old gold and blue during a West Virginia University Mountaineers home football game.

MORGANTOWN — Nearly as old as the Mountain State itself, West Virginia University has become the state’s academic, economic and emotional heartbeat over the last 150 years.

Opening in 1867 as the Agricultural College of West Virginia, WVU started out as an all-male, all-white institution with six faculty members, six college students and 118 high school students in college prep programs.

It goes without saying that WVU has come a long way since then, as the university now stands among the nation’s leaders in health care, research and academic excellence.

Today, more than 31,000 students from 100-plus nations attend West Virginia’s flagship university — yet its Mountain State roots remain strong, as 51 percent of its students are residents of West Virginia. Those students are taught by more than 2,600 faculty members, many of whom are recognized as leaders in their various disciplines.

The activity at WVU’s various campuses — Morgantown, Parkersburg, Beckley, Keyser — adds up to a total annual economic impact of more than $1.4 billion for West Virginia. And WVU has left its mark all over the world, with almost 200,000 alumni scattered among 135 nations.

From the deafening chants of “Let’s go, Mountaineers!” heard at athletic events to the emotional response of students upon hearing the strains of the John Denver classic, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” a strong argument could be made that “Mountaineer Pride” is second to none.

Health Care

The six college students and six faculty members of the Agricultural College of West Virginia in 1867 likely could not have envisioned that their school would one day become the state’s largest health care provider.

But it’s done exactly that, and the impact can be felt right here in the Northern Panhandle. Last year, WVU Medicine acquired Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale and announced an affiliation with Wetzel County Hospital in New Martinsville.

Statewide, WVU Medicine operates J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital and WVU Children’s Hospital in Morgantown; Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg; United Hospital Center in Bridgeport; Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg; Jefferson Medical Center in Ranson; and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Buckhannon, in addition to the Northern Panhandle facilities.

It also runs Garrett Regional Medical Center in western Maryland, and offers services at WVU’s Cancer Institute, Eye Institute, Heart and Vascular Institute and Bone and Joint Hospital.

In fact, the WVU Cancer Institute has undertaken a massive expansion to meet the demand for cancer services in West Virginia, with a goal of recruiting 38 new cancer specialists by 2020 and increasing space for patient care.

“We want to make the cancer experts available here in Morgantown available to a bigger population,” said Dr. Richard Goldberg, director of the institute. We are anxious to provide the kind of expertise some people feel compelled to leave the state to find.”

Research and Academic Excellence

WVU faculty members generate $127 million annually in sponsored contracts and research grants. WVU researchers are responsible for 471 patents and patent applications, including one earlier this year for an invention designed to help structures better withstand earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters.

The university last year was classified as a “R1” research institution from the Carnegie Classificiation of Institutions of Higher Education, making it one of 115 such universities in the nation with the top designation.

Another emerging field in which WVU is striving to be a leader is that of autonomous, or “driverless” vehicles. Last week, the university hosted a forum on driverless vehicles that included representatives from General Motors, Toyota, Tesla and Uber, among others.

“With autonomous vehicles, the car is essentially a robot – an agent that perceives the world and understands what is happening in it,” said Victor Fragoso, a WVU professor who served as a panelist for the forum. “There is a lot of variability in the world, so we derive algorithms that take that into account and help the vehicle understand the world as robustly as possible so that it can take action.”

WVU also boasts 25 Rhodes Scholars, putting it among the top 30 U.S. institutions in terms of number of students to achieve that prestigious honor. WVU’s Rhodes Scholars include a member of the first-ever group to earn the award, C.F. Tucker Brooke in 1904. The university’s most recent Rhodes Scholar, Carolyn Seepersad — who earned the award in 1995 — is now a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas.

‘Extending’ to Every Hill and Hollow

West Virginia may be one of the smaller states in America, but its topography can make getting from Point A to Point B a mountainous challenge. As such, some parts of the state would have little or no connection with their flagship university were it not for the dedicated individuals of the WVU Extension Service.

With offices in every one of the state’s 55 counties, the WVU Extension Service helps the university fulfill its duty to further agricultural education under the federal Morrill Act of 1862. In addition to hosting 4-H youth programs, extension agents around the state offer resources in beekeeping, farm management, livestock and horticulture, to name a few.

But it’s become so much more.

Today, its programs have expanded to include nutrition, parenthood and substance-abuse recovery. Its Energy Express summer reading program keeps children in low-income communities engaged and ready to learn when they return to school in the fall.

And the extension service also serves as the caretaker for one of the most picturesque, rustic locales in the state.

A special-mission campus of the university, Jackson’s Mill serves thousands of 4-H’ers each summer and throughout the year. The historic location is also home to the West Virginia Fire Academy, a one-of-a-kind training facility for volunteer and professional firefighters from around the state and across the country.

Athletics and the ‘Pride of West Virginia’

WVU offers seven men’s sports — football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf, swimming and diving and wrestling; and nine women’s sports — basketball, soccer, tennis, track, cross country, volleyball, gymnastics, rowing, swimming and diving.

But its one co-ed squad, the rifle team, is the most successful of all, having won 19 NCAA championships — including the last five — in its 67-year history. WVU rifle team members have earned nine Olympic medals since 1968, including three just last year in Rio de Janeiro.

Junior Ginny Thrasher made headlines by earning the first gold medal awarded during last year’s Olympics for Team USA, while WVU alum Nicco Campriani captured two gold medals for his native Italy.

WVU’s higher-profile teams have seen their share of success in recent years, too. The men’s basketball team made it all the way to the Final Four in 2010, while the women’s basketball squad upset the field by winning this year’s Big 12 Tournament. In 2011, the football team earned one of its biggest victories in recent memory, demolishing the Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl, 70-33.

And as any Mountaineer football fan can attest, the spectacle in pads and helmets is matched only by that in plumes and bibbers.

Known as the “Pride of West Virginia,” the WVU Marching Band has entertained generations of Mountaineers with its high-energy performances and outstanding music. More than 330 members strong, the band last year had the honor of leading off the 90th-annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Less than a week before, the band thrilled thousands from all over the Ohio Valley in downtown Wheeling during the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery Fantasy in Lights Parade.

“These … students–and the thousands who have preceded them–are truly the pride of West Virginia,” WVU President E. Gordon Gee said. “I have seen it in the faces of crowds at football games, along High Street in Morgantown at parades and at concerts the band has given throughout the state.”

West Virginia’s Future Tied to WVU

Gee has been an ambassador for the university during his second stint as president, and now he’s focusing WVU’s resources on helping make a better West Virginia.

That is being done primarily through an upcoming report, “West Virginia Forward.”

WVU joined with the West Virginia Department of Commerce and Marshall University for a comprehensive study on what could be done to leverage the state’s strengths and current businesses to turn the tide.

Those findings are expected to be out later this month.

“Together, we have blazed a path that we call West Virginia Forward,” Gee said. “And this path has three objectives. First, we need to reinforce the foundation that supports economic growth, including our infrastructure, talent base and business climate. The second objective is to identify potential sectors in which West Virginia can grow to diversify our economy. And, finally, we must draw a clear roadmap, helping partners around the state navigate these new pathways toward our shared destination: A prosperous West Virginia.”

Gee said much work must be done to make West Virginia attractive, such as improving infrastructure, including better broadband access; changes in tax law; realignment of the state Department of Commerce to create a one-stop shop that aligns current resources with business needs and directs businesses to the right offices for help; and addressing work force issues, including education and drug addiction.

“Our state is crying out for change, but change does not mean shifting funds around or raising our ranks in quality-of-life polls,” Gee said. “Change means elevating our vision of what is possible. It means recognizing our assets and exploring new opportunities for growth. Above all, it means abandoning our negative state self-image.

“In this pivotal moment, we must embrace our strengths and tackle our problems in the firm faith that we can make a difference. In a time when society seems more fragmented than ever, we are all working toward the same goal.”