West Liberty University

West Liberty University is a public institution in West Virginia’s north west corner. The small town of West Liberty, near the much larger city of Wheeling, was so named after the Declaration of Independence to mark its status as the westernmost town in the newly-independent United States.

WLU, which was founded in 1837, more than two decades before the state joined the Union, is the oldest in West Virginia.

The state borders with Ohio and Pennsylvania are five miles west and five miles east of the university respectively. The nearest major city is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s second largest, 45 miles north west of West Liberty. Columbus, Ohio’s capital and largest city, is 140 miles west of the university’s campus, which is spread across more than 290 acres.

There are more than 60 different courses to choose from. Business administration, professional studies, education and criminology are among the subjects available at master’s level. There are a number of evening, Saturday and online courses primarily aimed at adults.

Alumni include Rick Schneider-Calabash, a film writer, director and producer who has mainly worked on animation productions like 101 Dalmatians and Mickey Mouse, and Joe Niekro, a pitcher who played Major League Baseball for 22 seasons, winning the 1987 World Series with the Minnesota Twins, becoming an all-star in 1979.