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WVU Tech to honor alumni award winners at homecoming

ALumni awards


Plans are being finalized and excitement is building around welcoming alumni and the community to WVU Tech’s Homecoming activities.
 
Campus President Carolyn Long is looking forward to honoring all the alumni award winners.
 
“Our alumni awardees are those who go above and beyond and use their education, passion and experience to support their industries and communities. We are excited to celebrate these exceptional alumni for their achievements and service,” said Long.
 
Among the winners include Steve Claywell (’74), an engineering graduate and Fayette County native who is this year’s recipient of the Alumni of the Year Award for the Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering and Sciences. He spent his entire career with Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation in Charleston and has been a lifelong supporter of WVU Tech.

“Steve has many outstanding professional accomplishments and has willingly given much of his time and effort back to Tech to enhance its excellent reputation. He has supported Tech his entire career and life. We are so proud and grateful for his many contributions,” said Dr. Stephen Goodman, Interim Dean of the Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering and Sciences.  

Alumni of the Year for the College of Business, Humanities and Social Sciences is Kendra Prine (’01). Prine has been the director of human resources for Hospice Care since 2006, and in 2020 took on new responsibilities as the director of human resources and volunteer services.
 
Dr. Scott Fleming, Interim Dean of the College of Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, says Prine embodies all the qualities of an excellent Golden Bear alumna.
 
“Kendra Prine is a perfect example of a Tech grad who has leveraged her degree and passion to make a difference,” Fleming said. “She serves in an important role in a not-for-profit that directly benefits the citizens of West Virginia. We are proud of her work and her accomplishments!”
 
Tech is also honoring two winners of the Nelson Distinguished Young Alumni award.

Raúl Martín Valencia (’14, ‘15), a native of Valladolid, Spain and Caroline McKelvie (’11), a native of Drongan, Scotland are the 2022 recipients of this award.
 
Valencia holds degrees in civil and mechanical engineering. He lives in Antwerp, Belgium. His work centers on making offshore wind commercially viable in American waters. While studying at Tech, he played men’s soccer.
 
McKelvie is also a former Tech soccer player. She received her bachelor’s degree in athletic coaching education from WVU Tech and a master’s degree in sport management from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She currently teaches courses in sport management and athletic coaching education in the Sport and Recreation Department at Tech. She says teaching at her alma mater is a blessing and has been her dream job.
 
New to Tech’s homecoming this year is the Golden Bear Empowerment Faculty Award and the inaugural winner of this award is Thomas McGraw. Nominations came from current students and alumni who had McGraw in class or advised by him. McGraw is the current chair of the Department of Social Sciences and Public Administration and an associate professor of Health Services Administration. McGraw is retiring from his full-time duties this year but will continue to teach in a lesser capacity in the fall of 2022. McGraw is a Fayette County native and Tech alumnus (’78).
 
Complete biographies of the 2022 academic awardees are available at alumni.wvutech.edu/awards.
 
Tech Golden Bear Alumni Association President J. Michael Fry, ’84 shared that the recognition is well deserved.
 
“These awardees exemplify what it means to be a Golden Bear. Tech graduates are leaders around the world and these exceptional Golden Bears reiterate that fact,” said Fry.
 
The newest class of the Golden Bear Athletic Hall of Fame inductees are Scott Cowley (’02, ’03), Joe Kania (’76) and Tim Meyer (’93).
 
“These three embody what it meant and what it still means to be a Golden Bear. All of them achieved wonderful success on the court and the field as coaches and student-athletes, but they're also outstanding people,” said Kenneth Howell, Director of Athletics.
 
"Homecoming is a great opportunity to welcome back three people who have meant so much to WVU Tech and Tech Athletics. They will be wonderful additions to our Tech Hall of Fame, and we cannot wait to have them enshrined forever as three of the all-time greats of our institution. It is going to be a wonderful weekend!”
 
Cowley played football at Tech from 1997-2000 and is a 1997 graduate of South Charleston High School. He was selected to be on the 1998 and 1999 WVIAC 2nd Team All-Conference team and the 2000 WVIAC 1st Team All-Conference Team.
 
Kania played basketball at Tech from 1971 to 1972 and 1974 to 1976. He then coached women’s basketball at Tech from 1981-1993 and was the assistant men’s basketball coach from 1981-1983. He also served as the men’s tennis coach at Tech in the early 1990s.
 
Meyer played football at Tech beginning in 1992. He has also had an extensive coaching career in high school football, coaching at George Washington High School in Charleston and Herbert Hoover High School. He has taught at Herbert Hoover for 22 years and retired from coaching in 2019.
 
Complete biographies of the 2022 Hall of Fame inductees are available at goldenbearathletics.com/sports/general/hof.
 
The Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, the inaugural Golden Bear Empowerment Faculty award, Alumni of the Year, and Nelson Distinguished Young Alumni Award recipients will be recognized at a reception and dinner at The Resort at Glade Springs on Friday, February 18, 2022. The reception is made possible by the generous support from WVU Tech alumnus Paul Mattox.
 
On Saturday, February 19, they will be featured in the homecoming parade beginning at 11:00 a.m. and during the basketball games at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. at the Raleigh County Convention Center. 
 
The WVU Tech basketball games on February 19 are free to the public thanks to the generous support from our sponsors Raleigh General Hospital, the West Virginia National Guard and the Tech Golden Bear Alumni Association. 
 
If you have questions about homecoming, email Tech-Homecoming@mail.wvu.edu. The complete homecoming schedule is at homecoming.wvutech.edu.

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