Turning six score and 19 years will be a piece of cake for the state’s flagship university.

West Virginia University will celebrate its 139 th birthday Tuesday, Feb. 7, with a special announcement to go along with cake and cupcakes whipped up by the busy bakers of Dining Services.

The WVU Foundation plans to issue a WVU Day press release announcing a new scholarship program at the University. The WVU Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation that generates, receives and administers private gifts for the benefit of West Virginia University .

Meanwhile, Dining Services will serve 1,300 cupcakes with gold-and-blue icing and six cakes that sayHappy 139 th Birthday, West Virginia University ,said David Friend, director. The cupcakes and cakes will be served starting at 11 a.m. at Hatfield’s in the Mountainlair and residence hall dining facilities.

WVU was born Feb. 7, 1867, by an act of the West Virginia Legislature. The school was founded under the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862, which offered grants of 30,000 acres of federally owned land to states that agreed to establish colleges to teach agriculture and the mechanical arts (engineering).

The school was originally called the Agricultural College of West Virginia. The Legislature renamed the institution West Virginia University on Dec. 4, 1868, at the request of the Rev. Alexander Martin, WVU ’s first president.