2001 Recipients

• William R. Haden
  President, West Virginia Wesleyan College
  
  William R. Haden assumed office as the 17th president of West Virginia Wesleyan College on Feb. 1, 1995. A West Virginia native, he was born in Beckley and grew up in Morgantown. He graduated from WVU with a degree in political science in 1964 and attended The George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., as a Scottish Rite Fellow, earning an M.A. in government in 1965.
  Following service in the U.S. Army as a military intelligence officer, he returned to West Virginia in 1967 and began his career in educational fund raising as a development officer with WVU. In 1970 he moved to the University of Rochester as a development officer for the medical center and then held several positions at the University of Chicago from 1979 to 1987, when he was hired as vice president for public affairs for Reed College, in Portland Or., a position he served in until assuming the presidency at WVWC, except for a term of 15 months from 1991-1992, when he served as acting president of Reed.
  President Haden has been involved nationally in efforts to improve undergraduate education, and he has directed West Virginia Wesleyan's efforts to become one of the most technologically sophisticated liberal arts colleges in the nation. Students at the college use laptop computers liked by a wireless network, and last year it became the first college in the nation to require prospective students to apply online.
  He and his wife, Elizabeth Flanagan, raised two children, Laura, who lives in Moundsville, W.Va., and Douglas, who is completing his final year of medical school at WVU.



• Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera, Ph.D.
  President, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
  
  Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera became the second president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute in October 1999. Previously, she had been head of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology, at the Lawrence Berkleley National Laboratory, in Berkeley, Calif.
  The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, with headquarters in Rockville, Md., was established in 1985 by the Maryland General Assembly to conduct research and training and provide excellence, expertise, and facilities to advance the state's scientific and economic development in biotechnology. A separate and unique component of the University of Maryland System, UMBI consists of several interactive research centers, including the Center for Marine Biotechnology located in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore; the Medical Biotechnology Center and the Institute of Human Virology, both located in Baltimore; the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, located on the University of Maryland, College Park campus; and the Center for Advance Research in Biotechnology, located in Shady Grove, Md.
  The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University, is currently in negotiations with UMBI and Frostburg State University, in Frostburg, Md., to create a joint Ethnobotanical Studies Center, which would examine the relationship between plants and people, especially the medicinal and other uses of native plants in Appalachia.
  A West Virginia native, Dr. Hunter-Cevera earned a B.A. in biology in 1970 and an M.S. in microbiology in 1972 at WVU. She earned her Ph.D. in microbiology at Rutgers University, in 1978, while working full-time as a researcher at E.R. Squibb and Sons, Inc., in Princeton, N.J. She has worked at numerous other companies and labs, and co-founded a scientific consulting company, the Biotic Network (1990-1994). She has published some 25 journal articles and book chapters and has given nearly 50 invited presentations throughout North America and Europe.



• Eugene P. Salvati, MD
  Surgeon, Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center
  
  Eugene P. Salvati was born in Pursglove, W.Va., in 1923, and graduated from Morgantown High in 1941. He graduated from the WVU College of Arts and Sciences with a B.A. in 1944 and a B.S. in 1945, at a time when students could earn a pre-med degree and a two year degree in medicine at WVU. He went on to the University of Maryland in Baltimore, and earned his medical doctorate in 1947.
  After graduation Dr. Salvati spent two years as a resident at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, in New Jersey, and then traveled to Indiana to begin a five-year surgical residency, which was interrupted from 1951 to 1953 by the Korean War. Dr. Salvati served as a medic and earned the Combat Medic Badge and the Bronze Star for his service.
  After completing his training, he returned to Plainfield, N.J., and went into active practice in 1956. He remains in active practice today at the age of 77. He also returned to Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, continuing a relationship that has now spanned some seven decades.
  Dr. Salvati was recognized in 1992 by his peers and Good Housekeeping magazine as one of the "400 best doctors in American." He has authored more than 80 articles for professional medical journals, established the only residency training program in colon and rectal surgery in New Jersey in 1970, has served as a clinical professor of surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and has been highly active in numerous professional associations and on the Board of Governors of Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center.
  He and his wife, Laura, a former nurse, raised eight children and have 14 grandchildren.



• Cecil H. Underwood
  Governor of West Virginia
  
  Cecil H. Underwood was first elected governor of West Virginia in 1956. At the age of 34, he was the youngest governor in state history. In 1996, the people of the state re-elected him despite a 40-year spread between elections. Underwood attended Salem College for his B.A. and received his M.A. in political science from WVU. His wife, Hovah, earned her bachelor's degree in social work from WVU. During the second Underwood Administration, the crime and unemployment rates in West Virginia dropped to among the lowest in the nation; welfare enrollment was reduced by 60 percent; and schools, libraries and senior centers were outfitted with computers. Prior to being elected governor, Mr. Underwood served the state with six terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates from his home county of Tyler. During the last four terms he served as the minority leader.
  Underwood has given back to the community as a member and supporter of several organizations and institutions, including the American Cancer Society, Salem-Teikyo University, West Virginia State College, West Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, Appalachian Regional Health Care, WVU, and the Huntington Foundation.