Author and West Virginia native Homer Hickam will launch West Virginia University’s annual Festival of Ideas lecture series during Mountaineer Parents Club Winter Weekend Feb. 3-4.

Best known for his 1998 best-selling memoirRocket Boys,Hickam will speak at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, in the Mountainlair ballrooms.

Raised in the coal mining town of Coalwood , Hickam recently made headlines for his stirring remarks at a Jan. 15 memorial service for the brave miners who lost their lives in the Sago Mine tragedy.

Hickam’s fascinating life story includes being a decorated Vietnam combat veteran and a former engineer for NASA , where he trained astronauts for Spacelab missions and worked on such programs as the Hubble Space Telescope.

His memoirRocket Boyswas adapted into the hit movieOctober Skyand is quickly becoming a classicnow studied in hundreds of schools as an important literary work, as well as translated into eight languages. His latest novels include the popularJosh Thurlowseries of wartime adventure and romance.

The WVU presentation is free and open to the public. Seating is limited on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Academics, art and athletics

Whether families want to meet their son and daughter’s college friends, experience extracurricular activities their students participate in or cheer on WVU ’s fabulous student-athletes, the Mountaineer Parents Club Winter Weekend provides an opportunity for them to enjoy a couple of days on campus.

The Winter Weekend has become a popular event,said Sabrina Cave , Parents Club director.Many wonderful activities are planned for parents to participate in with their students, and we look forward to welcoming families back to campus.

On Saturday, Feb. 4, parents will be able to sit in on academic lectures taught by some of WVU ’s outstanding faculty, she noted.

Speech pathology professor Carolyn Atkins, named West Virginia Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, will share insights into WVU student-athletes that she has learned from teaching her public speaking class,Speaking to Communities.

Parents will impress others with their new-found knowledge of grape growing after they listen to assistant professor of horticulture Todd West’s talk aboutVines to Wines.

And in assistant professor of journalism Bonnie Stewart’sStarting Over: Loss and Renewal in Katrina’s Aftermathclass, families will learn about a cutting-edge, multimedia project that is challenging journalism students to tell the stories of hurricane survivors.

All three lectures are scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. in the Creative Arts Center . To reserve a seat, go tohttp://simpleforms.scripts.wvu.edu/htdocs/pcfacultylecture/. The deadline to register is Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Afterwards, families are invited to join WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. and his wife, Susan, at 10 a.m. in the Shell Building (adjacent to the WVU Coliseum) for a pizza party and pep rally,

complete with appearances by head basketball coach John Beilein and the Mountaineer men’s basketball team, pep band, cheerleaders, Mountaineer mascot and dance team.

David and I look forward to seeing many WVU families this weekend,said Mrs. Hardesty, a full-time volunteer with the Mountaineer Parents Club.We are so appreciative that

Coach Beilein brings the team to greet the students and their families before the game. I doubt this happens on other campuses.

Following the pizza party, families who purchased basketball tickets will gather in the Coliseum for the noon tip-off of the WVU -Cincinnati men’s basketball game, featuring many of the players from WVU ’s 2005 Elite Eight team.

Rounding out the weekend are a Davis College reception, student jazz group performance, theater tour, gallery talk, art show, WVUp All Night entertainment and free Student Recreation Center activities.

For a complete schedule, go tohttp://www.wvu.edu/~parents/winterWeekend06.html.

New siblings component

For the first time, the University will be holding Siblings Weekend, a new event designed for brothers and sisters of current WVU students, in conjunction with the Mountaineer Parents Club Winter Weekend.

Everything will get under way at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at the Visitors Resource Center . Self-guided tours and hourly prize giveaways are just a couple of the highlights.

Siblings Weekend is a great opportunity to visit campus and experience college life,said Regan Bruni, New Student Orientation coordinator.Future WVU students can tour campus, attend sample WVU classes, visit the Student Rec Center and learn more about WVU during an information fair.

To learn more, go towww.wvu.eduand click onSiblings Weekend.

A decade of family support

As the Mountaineer Parents Club celebrates its 10 th anniversary, it continues to shine among parent organizations.

Created by the Hardestys as one of several student life initiatives, the club is unique in that membership is free, WVU ’s first lady serves as the national chair, and it has almost 70 local club chapters.

Benefits include, among others, a toll-free parent helpline ( 1-800-WVU-0096), Parent Electronic News, newsletter and Web site (http://www.wvu.edu/~parents/) with links to transportation services, campus news, scholarship information and more.

Participation has increased dramatically every year since the club’s inception with membership nearing 14,000 families. Furthermore, the organization has been cited by CNN , USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer and many other national media outlets for its effectiveness in working with parents.

Jim Troha, vice president for enrollment and student affairs at Heidelberg College , recently featured the Mountaineer Parents Club in his doctorate dissertation about increasing parent involvement in higher education.

The Mountaineer Parents Club was conceived and implemented at a time when there were fewer than 15 of these established clubs nationwide,he said.Today there are more than 300 formal parent organizations at colleges and universities across the country. Clearly, WVU was ahead of the times when it came to the engagement of parents as a means for improving the student experience.