West Virginia native singer-songwriter Bill Withers died Monday, March 30, in Los Angeles from complications related to heart disease. 

Known for such songs as “Lean on Me,” “Just the Two of Us,” and “Lovely Day,” Withers was born in Slab Fork, West Virginia on July 4, 1938, and spent much of his young life in Beckley. Withers received an honorary doctorate from West Virginia University in 2017.

When students return to campus, the beloved home of the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts will have a new name in honor of a leadership gift from the Valerie Canady Charitable Foundation. Beginning today, the former Creative Arts Center on WVU’s Evansdale campus will be known as the Loulie, Valerie and William Canady Creative Arts Center.

The newly established Canady Fund for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts will provide for arts programming, educational enrichment opportunities, building improvements and discretionary support to benefit students, faculty and staff within the College of Creative Arts.

Three students from West Virginia University in February participated in The Mid Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra.

MACJO is the premier performing and networking honor group for select collegiate jazz musicians in the Mid-Atlantic region. MACJO was founded in 2009 as an initiative of the Cumberland Jazz Society.

The Canady Chamber Series was established by the Valerie Canady Charitable Foundation in 2018 in order to bring in professional chamber musicians to perform and teach for WVU students and the Morgantown community.

“The Canady family has long supported artistic presentations of the highest quality to benefit the CCA and broader Morgantown Community,” said Dean Keith Jackson. “As with previous initiatives, the importance of guaranteeing significant interactions between artists and CCA students is what makes the Canady Chamber Series unique as it includes tremendous performances and the opportunity for our students to work with full-time performers that are outside of their normal sphere of influence.”

Students who have a passion for music but also want a career in healthcare can now study both disciplines with a new degree program at West Virginia University. WVU will be one of the first universities in the nation with a music and health undergraduate program.

The Bachelor of Science in Music and Health is unique in that it provides students with an opportunity to be a music major while pursuing one of six tracks in the health sciences. Music and Health majors can select a medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, dentistry or physician assistant track within the program.