Recognizing Rupp’s Giant Impact

It is August, and school will be starting soon. Students will make their way back to Buckhannon, but there will be a big difference.  For the first time in over three decades, Professor Robert O. Rupp will not be there! It hardly seems possible to the many students he has inspired and the colleagues who have depended on his honest and steady leadership.

Talk about a very well-deserved retirement!! 

When Rob arrived at West Virginia Wesleyan in 1989, he hit the ground running. That very year he had served as a co-producer of a documentary for PBS (The Front Porch President: Warren G. Harding). This 30 minute documentary can be seen on Turner Classic Movies by clicking here.  An article about this documentary can be found in the Spring 1990 Sundial.

In 1990 he Co-Hosted a Symposium, The Primary That Made a President,  with the West Virginia Department of Culture and History with assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Kennedy visit to West Virginia in the 1960 primary. The symposium included Kennedy’s campaign manager, Sargent Shriver. (Sundial, Summer 1990)

In 1991, he organized a pair of panel discussions on the Gulf War, bringing in people to discuss Desert Storm from many perspectives including moral and political implications. More than 90 students also signed up for the course he developed on that very current topic.

At the Awards Assembly in the spring of 1991, Community Council awarded him the Outstanding Faculty Award, and he also received the Faculty Excellence Award from the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. (Sundial, Summer 1991, p.13)

Rob has never slowed down since. 

• For more than 30 years, he has been a leader, an inspiration, a mentor, an author, and a friend. 
• He has inspired students who now serve in government at all levels, and brought many well-known and timely guests to class. The speakers:  government officials, aids to presidents, writers, historians, and more have often commented about how impressed they are with the preparation of the students!
• He has inspired students who now teach at all levels – and who reflect his passion and energy, sharing them with new generations.
• He has been a leader in the faculty (Faculty Chair four different times!) His thoughtful, steady, and considered comments have been powerful in that role through the years.
• He has been a voice far beyond campus as well, serving as a commentator and election analyst with the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and on Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval.

  

• He has been a leader in the community, serving as President of the Upshur County Board of Education, Rotarian, active leader at First United Methodist Church, and more.
• He has even played Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street with the Buckhannon Community Theater (2018) in order to spend some great quality time with his grandchildren!

Photo by Katie Kuba (2018)                      Well done, Professor Robert O. Rupp!!! A true WVWC Giant.