MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — A $1.6 million gift to West Virginia University will help support the growth of the Global Supply Chain Management program. The gift was made in memory of Henry B. Wehrle Jr., former chairman and CEO of McJunkin Corp.
According to a release, this gift will “position future Mountaineers on the cutting edge of supply chain management through experiential learning and career-ready skill development.”
The $1.6 million gift comprises commitments from the H.B. Wehrle Foundation; H. Bernard “Bernie” Wehrle, III; his wife, Cecilia; Stephen and Laura Wehrle; and E. Gaines and Annie Wehrle.
“The Wehrle family has been a key driver of the success of our Global Supply Chain Management Program,” said Javier Reyes, Milan Puskar Dean of the Chambers College, in a release. “Their latest gift will allow it to grow and accelerate to position our students to stand out in a competitive job market with Fortune 500 companies on the other side of COVID-19.”
The student-centered gift will enable GSCM majors to engage in experiential learning — cultivating in students a global perspective through study abroad and giving the program bandwidth to grow with the addition of a faculty position.
It will also fund an innovative global supply chain lab in Reynolds Hall, the new hub for business education on the WVU campus and the Morgantown waterfront that will open in 2022. In addition to the lab space, it will support the necessary equipment and a director to oversee its activities.
“We are pleased with the progress of the Global Supply Chain Management program and happy to support its continued growth,” said Bernie Wehrle in a release, whose 2013 gift initiated the original global supply chain program.
The donation is a continuation of the Wehrle family’s vision to create a leading Global Supply Chain Management program at WVU. Their initial $1 million gift kick-started the program and brought John Saldanha, Sears Chair in Global Supply Chain Management, to WVU in 2014.
“This gift allows us to expand our efforts, bring more minds to the game and change the way we approach things — and do it much faster,” Saldanha said in a release.
