$100K gift provides aid for engineering scholarship at WVU Statler College

The David F. ’68 and Linda L. ’85 Cooper Endowed Scholarship supports students in chemical and biomedical engineering (Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Photo).

When West Virginia University alumni couple David and Linda Cooper decided to support and empower future engineers through a $100,000 gift, they wanted it to be meaningful, impactful and available sooner rather than later. 

Story by WVU Today

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

When West Virginia University alumni couple David and Linda Cooper decided to support and empower future engineers through a $100,000 gift, they wanted it to be meaningful, impactful and available sooner rather than later. 

“Linda and I both feel like it is important to give now,” David Cooper, a 1968 chemical engineering graduate, said. “That way, we can see the creation and benefit of the scholarship in our lifetime.”

The David F. ’68 and Linda L. ’85 Cooper Endowed Scholarship is available to undergraduate students or incoming freshmen majoring in or intending to major in chemical and biomedical engineering at the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

The Coopers pledged $50,000 to support the endowment over time and contributed another $50,000 up front to ensure students benefit from their scholarship dollars immediately rather than several years later, after the funds invested in the endowment begin producing a return. 

“The Coopers have created an excellent opportunity to positively impact our chemical and biomedical engineering students' academic experience,” Pedro Mago, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College, said. “We appreciate their passion for expediting the process and ensuring that their immediate support makes a significant difference for deserving students. On behalf of the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and the Statler College, we are truly grateful for their invaluable contribution.”

David Cooper worked as a process engineer and later entered independent sales of process equipment, owning three different equipment sales organizations from 1976 to 2025.

“WVU gave me the opportunity at an engineering education, and with that came the instilled confidence to grow my professional career,” David said. 

Linda Cooper said WVU laid a similar foundation for her to launch a creative career. A nontraditional graduate student, she earned her master’s degree in nursing from WVU in Charleston in 1985.

“I was a young mother with three young children during those years of study,” Linda said. “My decision to be a lifelong Mountaineer was fed by my experiences with innumerable loving people I met and came to know during our more than 50 years living in West Virginia.”

Linda, a longtime adult psychiatric and mental health nurse and clinician, and two of her colleagues created Charleston Area Medical Center’s Family Resource Center, where she and the team offered support and mental health services to the community and CAMC employees. After 20 years with CAMC, she spent a decade offering psychiatric and support services to patients and their families with HospiceCare.

David attended WVU on a scholarship from Dow Chemical Company, which contributed to the couple’s decision to give back.

“The scholarship was financially very helpful, and it encouraged me to continue on for the four years of undergraduate school,” he said. “We are in a fortunate financial situation to give back to WVU and help other engineering students to be encouraged to carry on with their studies.”

Linda added: “We are keenly aware of the endless needs of many young West Virginia students and want to be part of supporting their growth and education, and hopefully they will share the love we feel for West Virginia.” 

To create an endowment or scholarship at WVU, donors may make outright gifts similarly to the Coopers. Outright gifts of cash or stock can be made by completing the endowment immediately, or through a pledge over a period of up to five years. Deferred or planned gifts such as bequests, income-producing gifts, life insurance and retirement assets can also be used to establish an endowment in the future when the gift is received.

Gifts are made through WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.

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