West Virginia University President Mike Garrison invites faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents to join the conversation at a specialComing Homegathering at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 15, in the Vandalia Lounge of the WVU Mountainlair.

Participants will celebrate WVU as their home and have the opportunity to share what WVU means to themalso how individuals serve the state and each other through the University.

The event will include a presentation of selected poems and short prose pieces written on these themes by WVU students in a writing contest organized by James Harms, professor and coordinator of creative writing in the WVU Department of English.

Since coming home to WVU this year, Ive heard from hundreds of people at our forums, in informal meetings around campus and in e-mail messages about how much WVU means to them, and how it is their home,Garrison said.This event will bring some of those conversations into the inaugural week and help kick off the Homecoming celebrations.

The gathering is open to the entire WVU community; people who participated in transition forums across campus and around the state are especially encouraged to attend.

The event compliments Mondays inaugural theme ofValuing Our People.It is free and open to the public. No registration is required.

Those who cannot participate in the discussion may view a live webcast and blog athttp://president.wvu.edu/conversation.

For a complete schedule of Inauguration Week activities, go tohttp://inauguration.wvu.edu/.