News

Gentrification doesn’t erase drug crime and gun violence. Instead, research from West Virginia University economist Zachary Porreca shows that when one urban block becomes upwardly mobile, organized criminal activity surges outward to surrounding blocks, escalating the violence in the process.

Porreca, a WVU doctoral student in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics, analyzed 2011-2020 data on shootings and real estate across various Philadelphia neighborhoods. His paper presenting the findings, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, is one of the first of its kind to study the impact of gentrification on crime displacement.

The West Virginia Entrepreneurship Ecosystem has received a $125,000 grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to support the expansion and infrastructure of the West Virginia Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (WVEE). This funding will connect and identify opportunities for improvement in aiding entrepreneurs across West Virginia by bringing together key providers and business development resources. Additional funded partners in this effort include The EdVenture Group, Inc.,and the Robert C. Byrd Institute.

The WVEE operates as a collaborative network by conducting monthly meetings of over 75 active members, convening over 150 registered entrepreneur serving organizations (ESOs) on the state’s engagement platform, WV BusinessLink, and providing outreach and engagement to more than 700 stakeholders. WVEE also hosts Bridging Innovation Week, a weeklong symposium packed with entrepreneurial events from workshops to vendor fairs to competitions. This year’s symposium will take place in Wheeling, WV from April 17-21, 2023. To learn more about the program, click here. 

Four students who are eager to represent West Virginia University and their home state as the 69th Mountaineer mascot will compete in a cheer-off competition during the men’s basketball game versus Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. Monday (Feb. 20) in the WVU Coliseum.

For Valentine’s Day, a holiday when anxieties about choosing the wrong presents can be high, a West Virginia University gifting expert is sharing lessons learned from his gift-giving research.

“Service-learning is a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities for reflection designed to achieve desired learning outcomes.” 

As a part of BCOR 199, First-year Honors students at WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics take part in a unique opportunity to utilize their academic background and individual skills while doing something that allows them to experience community needs and make a real difference.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Most gift givers likely won’t choose a digital gift card over a physical gift card, even though many recipients would prefer the digital version.

That’s the key finding from new research by gifting expert Julian Givi, an assistant professor of marketing at West Virginia University’s Chambers College of Business and Economics. With Farnoush Reshadi and Gopal Das, Givi conducted five studies on givers’ and recipients’ reactions to scenarios involving digital and physical gift cards, analyzing the results in a paper forthcoming in Psychology and Marketing.

(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of news releases highlighting ways WVU is serving the Mountain State. Access photos, video and additional resources in a Media Toolkit from WVUToday.)

“There’s an elephant in the room,” says Dick Riley, chair of the Accounting department at the Chambers College. “I’m not afraid to look it in the eye and say, ‘I know you’re there, and you’re wrong!”

Time for a thought experiment: imagine an accountant.

Two accomplished West Virginia University alumni, Veronique Vernot and Rodney Williams, are the newest members of the WVU Alumni Association Board of Directors. Elected during the November meeting, each will serve a six-year term expiring in 2028.