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Updated: August 27, 2025 @ 1:19 pm
Scholarship gifts from longtime WVU supporters Gary McKown and Jill Meuser have benefited nearly 30 students pursuing degrees in education and chemistry.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — For many years, longtime West Virginia University supporters Gary McKown and Jill Meuser have connected with their latest scholarship recipients and their family members over dinner in Morgantown.
Scholarship gifts from longtime WVU supporters Gary McKown and Jill Meuser have benefited nearly 30 students pursuing degrees in education and chemistry.
At one memorable get together, Meuser recalls the mother-in-law of one student thanking them with tears in her eyes. The recipient was a first-generation college student from a large family in rural McDowell County with limited means.
“We don’t give to change lives,” Meuser said. “But sometimes it doesn’t matter what you intend, it’s what the effect is.”
In all, McKown and Meuser have contributed nearly $100,000 to WVU, providing scholarship support for nearly 30 students within the WVU College of Applied Human Sciences and the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. They have also committed to generous planned gifts that will provide additional support for scholarship and research upon their passing.
The couple made their first gift over 20 years ago, when they established the Leon and Mae Newell McKown Scholarship. The scholarship goes to West Virginia residents majoring in education in honor of McKown’s late parents, who valued education and encouraged both Gary and his brother to attend college.
McKown received bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in chemistry from WVU.
“I managed to get through college with a PhD and no debt thanks to several small scholarships and the sacrifices of my parents,” he said. “That was part of it. That’s how I got through. Let’s help somebody else.”
Their gifts were also motivated by Meuser’s family tradition of philanthropy.
“You can’t pay it back,” she said. “You can only pay it forward.”
Creating possibilities
John Sprouse Jr. is grateful for their generosity. A native of East Bank in Kanawha County, he completed his bachelor’s degree in math in 2012 and a master’s degree in secondary education in 2018. He most recently taught seventh grade math at Van Devender Middle School, which closed this June in Wood County.
“WVU helped me see the world,” Sprouse said. “If it weren’t for that scholarship, I don’t know what I would have done. I would have never been able to go to school. The basic necessities that people take for granted are really hard to come by when you come from a poverty stricken area.”
Scholarship recipient Melissa Livengood came to WVU as a first-generation college student from Preston County. She teaches third grade at Ridgedale Elementary in Monongalia County.
“If I hadn’t gotten scholarships, I’m sure the impact would have been, financially, very hard on my family, because we were a single-income family,” Livengood said. “I did thankfully come away from college with a master’s degree, and I was not terribly in debt like some of my counterparts who had to figure things out with loans and whatnot.”
As she enters her 17th year as an educator, Livengood said it’s been rewarding to see her former students grow up, enter college and choose careers. She noted that scholarships are often critical to their success.
The impact of teachers
McKown almost didn’t go to college. He was on track to attend vocational-technical school for carpentry until a high school teacher took note of his impressive IQ score and steered him toward college. He graduated from Parkersburg High School at 15 and entered WVU at 16.
Post-graduation, McKown conducted explosives research for the U.S. Army for seven years and then joined a company doing environmental clean-up work, ultimately running a team of 90 people focused on environmental restoration.
Meuser earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Capital University, in her native Columbus, Ohio. She met McKown in the field, where she was the quality assurance officer for a project he managed.
She later earned a Master of Business Administration from Virginia Tech and became vice president for a firm, managing large projects. She ended her career working in a U.S. Army laboratory, analyzing samples of chemical warfare agents for quality assurance.
She credits her high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Andre, for sparking her interest in the field. Her parents were teachers, and she noted that educators play a pivotal role in steering students toward chemistry and other STEM fields.
“The sciences get one shot at kids,” Meuser said. “You take English, math and history all four years of high school. The sciences have one shot, and if you don’t have a good teacher, they’ve lost you. There may even be feelings of anger toward the sciences. Teachers are so important.”
In recent years, McKown and Meuser also established a namesake scholarship that benefits undergraduate students in the WVU Eberly College C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry.
Creating a ripple effect
Zach Gouzd followed the same path as Meuser, inspired by teachers who nurtured his love for science. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and considered a career in research, but he ultimately found his passion in teaching science to others.
He teaches chemistry at Bethlehem-Center Junior/Senior High School in Fredericktown, Pennsylvania.
“Having scholarship support allowed me to focus entirely on my studies as a graduate student,” Gouzd said. “The secondary education program was very rigorous, especially with commitments to field work and student teaching, so it was a great benefit to be supported financially. Post-graduation, this also meant that I could pursue the positions I wanted without worrying about the burden of student loans.”
At each dinner they host, McKown and Meuser encourage their scholarship recipients to give back, starting the summer after graduation with a small gift.
“It’s not the size of the gift but the act of supporting WVU and building an attitude of generosity,” McKown said.
They hope their gifts create a ripple effect via their recipients.
“If we’re able to touch their lives so that they graduate not burdened by debt, with a positive attitude toward education, WVU and the state, then each one of them touches many people,” Meuser said. “It’s a small way of making the world better, especially with our recipients, for folks who may not have seen that path forward and now they can see it.”
Gouzd recalls meeting McKown and Meuser as a student, almost 15 years ago.
“I remember being struck by their kindness and commitment to furthering the education profession at WVU,” Gouzd said. “Without folks like that, we wouldn’t have students succeeding in becoming teachers.”
The gifts from McKown and Meuser were made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.
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