West Virginia Universty is an institute of higher learning based in Morgantown, West Virginia, with off-site campuses in Parkersburg, Montgomery, Keyser and Charleston, West Virginia. WVU was founded in 1867 as a land-grant university with the help of the Morrill Act, and was originally called the "Agricultural College of West Virginia." The university gained its current name in 1868. Enrollment for Fall semester of 2002 was 23,492 but has gone up by several thousand since then.

The university offers 170 different majors in 13 different colleges. These colleges are the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry, & Consumer Sciences; the College of Business & Economics, the College of Creative Arts; the School of Dentistry; the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences; the School of Social Work & Public Administration; the College of Engineering & Mineral Resources, the Office of Academic Affairs; the College of Law; the College of Human Resources & Education; the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism; the School of Physical Education; the School of Medicine; the School of Nursing; and the School of Pharmacy. Some of these programs, especially Nursing, Pharmacy, Engineering and Education, have almost 100% job placement rates after graduation. WVU also has one of the most respected forensic science programs in the United States.

Since the school's formation, 25 Rhodes Scholars, including current WVU president David Hardesty, have been chosen from WVU. There are only 6 other public universities with more. The university has also produced 24 Goldwater Scholars, 15 Truman Scholars, 5 members of USA Today's All-USA College Academic First Team, and 2 Udall Scholarship winners.