‘‘Alma, Our Alma Mater’’
WVU Alma Mater
WVU Alma Mater
"Alma, Our Alma Mater" has been sung since 1938 wherever Mountaineers gather to show their loyalty to West Virginia University. Louis D. Corson of the Class of '37 wrote the song, and the arrangement by Don Wilcox has been performed by the Mountaineer Marching Band for many years at WVU football games. Along with the song "Hail, West Virginia," the alma mater is a revered Mountaineer musical tradition.
Corson composed the song after
the Daily Athenaeum noted that WVU did not have an alma
mater and called on students to write one. (However, an earlier
song by A.F. Vierhetter also was titled "Alma Mater.")
Corson received his bachelor's and master's degrees at WVU, then earned a doctorate at Stanford University. Corson served as dean of men at Florida State and at the University of Alabama, and worked for the Ford Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Corson remained an active WVU alumnus throughout his life, and
served as national president of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He
died in 1982.
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