Presidential Honorary Degree (presented at School of Medicine ceremony)
Shelley Moore Capito was elected by the people of West Virginia to the United States Senate in 2014, and re-elected in 2020. Shelley became the first female Senator in West Virginia’s history and in 2020, was reelected with the largest margin of victory for a Republican in state history—winning more than 70 percent of the vote and all 55 counties, surpassing the previous mark she set in 2014 when she won more than 62 percent of the vote and all 55 counties. After serving West Virginia’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years, and as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for four years prior, Senator Capito decided to run for Senate to be an even stronger voice for the Mountain State. She also saw an opportunity to restore order to a Senate stuck in gridlock for far too long. She believes that today's challenges demand bipartisan solutions and cooperation across the aisle to advance legislation that benefits West Virginia and the country as a whole. Senator Capito is committed to being accessible and responsive to her fellow West Virginians and regularly travels, with proper health and safety precautions in place, to hear from and meet with West Virginians.
For the 118th Congress. Senator Capito serves on the Appropriations Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee as ranking member; and the Rules and Administration Committee. This committee portfolio puts her in a strong position to create new opportunities in the Mountain State and fight for West Virginia priorities, jobs, and families. Senator Capito also serves as the Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the number five position in Senate Republican leadership.
As a member of the Committee on Appropriations, Senator Capito works to ensure West Virginia’s priorities are represented when our nation’s funding decisions are made. During her time on the committee, she has served as chair of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, and the Homeland Security Subcommittee. Senator Capito currently serves as the top Republican on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, where she oversees funding across a large range of programs within the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), and other independent agencies. She has been a member of the Appropriations Committee since she became a Senator in 2015.
On the EPW Committee, the senator serves as Ranking Member. As the top Republican on the committee, Ranking Member Capito has advocated for policies that protect vital West Virginia energy and manufacturing jobs and encourage investment in West Virginia’s infrastructure. As a leader on the EPW Committee, Ranking Member Capito is committed to promoting a commonsense regulatory strategy and protecting affordable, reliable energy production; building our nation’s infrastructure, and encourage economic development. She has been a member of the EPW Committee since she became a Senator in 2015.
On the Commerce Committee, Senator Capito oversees ways to address many issues that are critical to West Virginia, most notably broadband expansion, which she has been a leading voice on since she came to Congress. This committee assignment allows Senator Capito to continue advocating for improved connectivity in West Virginia.
A lifelong West Virginian herself, Senator Capito was born in Glen Dale in the Northern Panhandle. She holds a B.S. in Zoology from Duke University and a M.Ed. from the University of Virginia. She and her husband Charles L. Capito Jr. reside in Charleston. They have three adult children: two sons, Charles (wife Laura) and Moore, and one daughter, Shelley (husband Colin Macleod). They have also been blessed with eight grandchildren: Celia, Charlie, Eliza, Rose, Arch, Macaulay, Lewis, and Thomas.
Honorary Doctor of Letters (presented at Reed College of Media/College of Creative Arts ceremony)
West Virginia University alum Dawn DeNoon is a television writer/producer living in Los Angeles, California. Within a few months of graduating summa cum laude from WVU with a B.F.A. in Theatre, the Moundsville native headed straight from Morgantown to Hollywood. The five-day drive was easy; “making it” once she got there was hard. For more than a decade she scraped by on day jobs and game show winnings (Scrabble and $25,000 Pyramid). Her big break finally came in 1999, when she was hired onto the original writing staff of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Over her twelve seasons on that show, she wrote or co-wrote forty-two episodes, advancing in title from Staff Writer to Co-Executive Producer. Living and writing in L.A., she traveled to New York, where the series is shot, to produce her episodes. In addition to stars Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Richard Belzer and Ice-T, she had the pleasure of working with countless guest stars, including favorites Martin Short, Jerry Lewis, Joan Cusack and Sharon Stone. Dawn wrote all three episodes of Marcia Gay Harden’s Emmy-nominated arc on the show, and she co-wrote the episode for which Cynthia Nixon won a Best Guest Actress Emmy. Looking to expand her range, Dawn has gone on to write for medical, action, thriller, crime and political dramas, including A Gifted Man, Blue Bloods, Crisis, Stalker, The Blacklist, and the Netflix reboot of Designated Survivor. Her writing has garnered honors including a Prism Award, the Sentinel Award from Norman Lear’s Hollywood Health & Society, and an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Dawn’s ties to West Virginia are still strong. As a Creative Consultant Mentor, Dawn meets throughout the year, by Zoom, with a WVU student selected by the College of Creative Arts, providing career guidance and happily giving notes on scripts. In 2019, she established a Student Showcase Endowment with the goal of facilitating the transition from academia to the professional world for WVU theatre majors. Dawn is honored and deeply humbled to be receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters degree this year from West Virginia University.
Honorary Doctor of Business (presented at John Chambers College of Business and Economics ceremony)
Karen S. Evans is the Managing Director for the Cyber Readiness Institute, which empowers small and medium-sized organizations with free resources to improve cybersecurity. As a three- time Presidential appointee and Senate-confirmed executive, Evans has over 30 years of experience in cybersecurity, national security, technology innovation, service delivery, and supply chain risk management. She served as the first Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response at the US Department of Energy, and has supported numerous agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Agriculture and Executive Office of the President at the Office of Management and Budget. Evans also established the US Cyber Challenge, a private-sector nonprofit that partners with universities to train hundreds of cyber experts, and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the National Cybersecurity Center and Advisory Boards.
Presidential Honorary Degree (presented at Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Public Health ceremony)
Cynthia Bissett Germanotta is president and co-founder of Born This Way Foundation, which she launched with her daughter Lady Gaga in 2012. Born This Way Foundation empowers and inspires young people to build a kinder, braver world that supports their mental health. Under Cynthia's leadership, Born This Way Foundation has reached millions of young people around the world and continues to demonstrate the transformative power of kindness and its impact on mental health through youth-driven initiatives, research-based programming, and strategic partnerships.
Cynthia and Born This Way Foundation have been the recipient of numerous honors, including a 2022 Anthem Award for the launch of the Be There Certificate with Jack.org, an honoree of the 2021 Webby Awards for their annual kindness campaign #BeKind21, the 2019 Behavior Research Foundation’s Honorary Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health for their advocacy work surrounding mental health, the 2018 Children Mending Hearts Global Changemakers’s Award for their commitment to positive change through empathy, and the National Association of School Psychologists Special Friend to Children Award.
Cynthia also serves as the World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health as appointed by the United Nations in 2019. In this role, she works to educate and promote healthier lives, improved workforces, and overall mental health on a global scale. Cynthia also served on the Board of the Empowerment Initiative at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is an alumni member of the Board of Governors for the Parsons New School of Design.
Cynthia is a former telecommunications executive whose career in sales and management spanned 25 years. A graduate of West Virginia University, she earned her master’s degree in public administration from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., which she considers invaluable to her work with the foundation.
Born and raised in West Virginia, Cynthia now resides in New York City with her husband, Joe Germanotta. Joe and Cynthia have two wonderful daughters, Natali and Stefani, and are owners of a charming NYC neighborhood restaurant, Joanne Trattoria. In her free time, Cynthia enjoys writing, walking, and practicing ballet, a lifelong passion. She is honored to work alongside young people, hear their stories, amplify their voices, and collaborate on ways to make the world a kinder and braver place.
Honorary Doctor of Engineering (presented at Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resource ceremony)
Ben Hardesty is the owner and CEO of Alta Energy LLC, a consulting firm focused on oil, natural gas and energy infrastructure based in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Prior to founding Alta Energy Hardesty was the President of Dominion E&P, Inc. and affiliated Dominion Energy companies from 1995 to 2010. Earlier in his career Hardesty was the President of Stonewall Gas Company and co-founder of Development Drilling Corp.
Hardesty has served on the Antero Resources Corporation since its IPO in 2013, and is the Lead Director. He was a member of the Board of Directors of KLX Energy Services from 2014-2020. He has served on the boards of many private energy and financial companies.
Hardesty serves on the Visiting Committee of the WVU Department of Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
A 1972 graduate of WVU, Hardesty was a member of Mountain, Sphinx and Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He was an elected member of the Student Legislature and the WVU Athletic Council. A Distinguished Military Student in ROTC, he went on to serve as an active duty and reserve Army officer. After military service, Hardesty was on the staff of a member of Congress and earned his MS degree from The George Washington University.
Hardesty has served as the President of the Independent O&G Association of West Virginia and West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association. He has been the President of the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce and currently serves as a board member of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Hardesty is a Trustee Emeritus and past chair of The Nature Conservancy of West Virginia. An Eagle Scout, he served as President of the Central West Virginia Council, BSA and as a Cubmaster. Hardesty serves on the Advisory Committee of the Mountaineer Area Council, BSA. He has served in leadership position with Christ Episcopal Church in Clarksburg and the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia. An active alpine mountaineer, Hardesty has climbed mountains around the world.
Hardesty has been honored as the West Virginia O&G Man of the Year and was inducted into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame and the WVU Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering Academy.
Hardesty and his wife Jeanie live in Clarksburg and are the proud parents of three children and five grandchildren.
Honorary Doctor of Law and Doctor of Business (will be presented at College of Law ceremony)
Tom is Chair of Business Development and the immediate past Managing Partner of Bowles Rice, a position he held from 2008 to 2022. Tom has significant experience in health care, banking and corporate/commercial law, and is frequently called upon by clients and community leaders for advice on business matters related to acquisitions, divestitures and other transactional matters. An experienced facilitator, he regularly assists businesses and organizations in the strategic planning process.
As a former Chief of Staff to the Honorable Gaston Caperton, Governor of West Virginia, Tom has extensive experience working with government officials at the federal, state and local levels, and is an active member of the Bowles Rice Government Relations team.
Tom serves on many charitable and non-profit boards, and actively participates in various business and economic development organizations and trade associations, including the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation, the West Virginia Roundtable, the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and West Virginia University Health System, Inc.
Tom is active as a leader in many civic initiatives and organizations, and has received numerous awards for his public service.
Speaker for Reed College of Media/College of Creative Arts
Rick Loughery is GoPro’s Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications overseeing GoPro’s brand and product marketing initiatives, communications as well as international marketing. He started working with GoPro at the end of 2009 and joined full time as the 13th employee in early 2010. During his time at GoPro, he has worked closely with teams to build and execute marketing programs that helped GoPro become one of the top brands in the outdoors sports and consumer technology industries.
Loughery has been at the forefront of the emergence of key shifts in marketing communications from UGC and social media to the evolution of earned media from traditional public relations to influencer marketing.
Prior to joining GoPro, Loughery spent 13 years in Silicon Valley working with various technology companies both in-house and at agencies. He co-founded Three-Forty Communications, based in San Francisco, where he worked with early-stage technology companies, such as Yelp, and helped launch Fitbit. The success of Three-Forty led to an acquisition by Dig Communications (now Olson Engage).
Loughery earned his bachelor’s degree in advertising from the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism (now the Reed College of Media) in 1994. He now works out of GoPro’s San Diego office and is raising three awesome kids in Carlsbad.
Speaker for Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) was sworn into the United States Senate on November 15, 2010 to fill the seat left vacant by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. For Senator Manchin, serving as West Virginia's Senator is truly an honor and a privilege.
Born and raised in the small coal mining town of Farmington, W.Va., Sen. Manchin grew up learning the values that all West Virginians share — family, common sense, fairness and hard work. As a small businessman, he learned firsthand from his grandfather, Papa Joe, who was an Italian immigrant and the town grocer, the importance of serving the public. As a young man, his beloved grandmother, Mama Kay, inspired Senator Manchin's belief in public service through her unflagging compassion and desire to help those less fortunate.
From his days as a state legislator to his six years as Governor to his current role, Senator Manchin has always been committed to his philosophy of "retail government" — in other words, connecting with all of his constituents and making service to them his top priority.
As a Senator, Joe Manchin is committed to bringing this same spirit of bipartisanship to Washington. As he has done throughout his entire life, he remains committed to working with Republicans and Democrats to find commonsense solutions to the problems our country faces and is working hard to usher in a new bipartisan spirit in the Senate and Congress.
Legislatively, job creation is Senator Manchin's top priority and he believes that government should act as a partner, not an adversary, in helping to create the environment that produces good American jobs. Senator Manchin also firmly believes that our nation can and must do what he did in West Virginia - put our fiscal house in order. He believes we must find commonsense ways to cut spending while keeping our promises to our seniors and veterans by protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Senator Manchin is strongly committed to developing a balanced national energy plan that utilizes all of our resources and recognizes that fossil fuels will be a vital part of our energy mix for decades to come. He believes that a balanced, commonsense approach that considers the needs of our environment and the demands of our economy, can and must be developed if we are to achieve energy independence within this generation.
Senator Manchin currently serves as the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and also serves on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs - four critical committees that tackle the important work of addressing our nation's energy needs, overseeing discretionary spending, defending our nation, and standing up for our Veterans.
Senator Manchin is an avid pilot, outdoorsman, hunter, angler and motorcyclist. He has been married for more than five decades to the former Gayle Conelly of Beckley. They have three children: Heather, Joseph IV and Brooke, and are the proud grandparents of Joseph V, Sophie, Kelsey, Madeline, Chloe, Jack, Carly, Vivian, Beaux and Knox.
Honorary Doctor of Music (presented at Reed College of Media/College of Creative Arts ceremony)
A member of the inaugural class of Steinway Legends chosen from over a century of Steinway Artists, and a recent inductee into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, pianist Barbara Nissman has performed with major conductors and orchestras on nearly every continent. She believes her mission is to inspire and uplift people through her music, and Barbara is still sharing her passion and joy with audiences around the world. She makes music relevant, connecting the composer to the listener, touching souls in the process.
Her recordings of Liszt, Prokofiev, Bartók and Ginastera are considered “definitive,” and she has garnered high praise for her series on 19th century composers, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Rachmaninoff. She is also in demand as a writer, lecturer, guest artist and clinician both in the US and abroad.
Long associated with the music of Argentine composer, Alberto Ginastera, Barbara is the dedicatee of the composer's final work, the Sonata No. 3. Regarded as a serious Prokofiev scholar, Nissman made history in 1989 by being the first person to perform his complete piano sonatas in a series of three recitals in both New York and London. Her recordings represented the first complete set of Prokofiev's piano sonatas made available on CD. BBC Magazine selected Nissman's recordings as the best recordings of Prokofiev's piano music. The Prokofiev Family Trust in the UK awarded Barbara a grant to film a video masterclass on his three War Sonatas.
Recently Barbara returned to Amsterdam and appeared before a live audience of 10-12,000 and a television audience of 1.2 million to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Prinsengracht concerts that she helped initiate in 1982. These concerts have remained a popular summer tradition with audiences arriving on foot or in their boats to listen.
In 2014, at Steinway Hall in New York, Nissman launched her record label Three Oranges Recordings. In 2017, the Three Oranges Foundation was established with the mission of making classical music accessible and relevant and supporting Nissman’s educational projects.
A West Virginian “by choice,” Barbara now makes her home on a farm in Greenbrier County.