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Shepherd University professor writes book about the school

By Staff | Aug 23, 2013

Dr. Dorothy E. Hively, director of Disability Support Services and associate professor of special education at Shepherd, has written the book “Shepherd University” which was released July 29.

As part of Arcadia Publishing’s Campus History Series, the book tells the story of Shepherd University from its beginning in 1871 through photographs.

“It features a historic overview,” Hively said, “beginning with all the early presidents and activities, and then moves on to the students, buildings, athletics, and what has happened here over time, written through the lens of teacher education since Shepherd began as a normal school.”

Hively said she thought to write the book after seeing the display of similar books about the history of Shepherdstown and surrounding towns in the university’s bookstore in April of last year. She spent last summer gathering photographs and stories from the Scarborough Library archives, Office of University Communications, and alumni. She said the staff at the library, where she did most of her work for the book, was quite helpful.

Using the publisher’s template allowed for a prescribed number of photographs, which Hively found the mostchallenging aspect of the process. She said she sifted through well over 500 photographs and had to scan nearly every one.

“To get the essence of Shepherd in a brushstroke, that’s hard when you’re trying to get more than 100 years in and do justice to the place,” she said.

Of interest, Hively learned that early on students from West Virginia attendedShepherd for free, that in 1903 the seventh principal of the school left with his family in the middle of the night after he forced a female faculty member to resign based on an anonymous accusation of criminal activity of which she was innocent, and that in 1925 the storytelling club had a “Good English” box in which they collected for amusement examples of misused grammar heard around campus.

“There are a lot of interesting history stories that come out of this that I learned along the way that made me appreciate Shepherd even more,” she said.

Hively said she hopes the book makes people smile when they think about their time at Shepherd and “think about the important contributions that students at Shepherd have made to the region for more than 100 years.”

The book, funded by the Shepherd University Foundation and the Office of the President, is available at the Shepherd University bookstore,local bookstores, and online booksellers. Hively is scheduled to do a book signing at Barnes and Noble in Morgantown August 10 and at the university bookstore (www.shepherdbook.com) on Family Day September 21. All proceeds from the book will benefit Shepherd students.