Mountain Readers Week will be held Oct. 6-10, 2025! Sign up no later than Sept. 16 to guarantee a copy of this year's book!
Nominate an exceptional West Virginia teacher today!
On Demand
On Demand
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
Make WVPB part of your legacy.
Manage your membership account.
Learn how you can Protect and Sustain West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Marshall University announced Tuesday a $50 million gift from President Brad D. Smith and First Lady Alys Smith to advance the Marshall For All initiative. The Smiths’ lifetime giving to Marshall now surpasses $90 million, making them the university’s largest donors.
Launched in 2023, the program aims for students to earn their bachelor’s degree in four years and graduate with little to no debt by combining scholarships, grants, work opportunities and family contributions.
“We are honored to support Marshall University and the Marshall For All program with this gift,” the Smiths said in a press release. “Our ‘why’ is simple: to level the playing field in West Virginia and Appalachia. We hope this gift ensures that every student with the dream of an advanced degree has the opportunity and support to achieve it — while also showing what’s possible for the future of higher education in our region and beyond.”
Marshall aims to expand the program over the next decade with the goal of ensuring all students can graduate debt-free by the university’s bicentennial in 2037.
The program offers two distinct pathways:
• Marshall For All: Debt-Free – A debt-free bachelor’s degree plus real-world experience for randomly selected West Virginia and Metro-Area Students.
• Marshall For All: Tuition-Free WV – Covers full tuition and fees for West Virginia students with a family income below $65,000.
The university reports that there are now 400 Marshall For All: Debt-Free students, with many more enrolled in the Tuition Free-WV program. A majority of students in the program, 69% are the first in their families to attend college.
Pres. Smith – who graduated from the Lewis College of Business in 1986 – became Marshall’s 38th president exactly three years ago on Sept. 16, 2022. The Marshall University Board of Governors voted in June to extend his tenure as university president through 2029.
Smith is estimated by Forbes to be the richest person in West Virginia as of 2023.
Shepherd University President Mary Hendrix announced Thursday her intention to step down at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. She has been the president there since 2016.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsAhead of this weekend’s football game between West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh, Gov. Patrick Morrisey is promoting his economic “backyard brawl.”
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsPublic schools and districts receive a scorecard based on multiple indicators including academic achievement, academic progress and areas like chronic absenteeism and post-secondary outcomes.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThe Marion County Initiative is bringing together athletes and coaches with neurologists and equipment manufacturers to reduce sports-related head trauma in football and beyond.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
