Susan Brown Hardesty

Susan Hardesty was inducted into the College of Applied Human Sciences Hall of Fame in the fall of 2025. She was previously inducted into the College of Education and Human Services Hall of Fame in 2007.

Hardesty earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from WVU in 1967 and a master’s in special education from in 1974. Her career included 16 years of teaching music and special education in England, Massachusetts, and West Virginia, followed by work as an educational diagnostician in Jackson County. In 1988, she co-founded Read Aloud West Virginia in Jackson County, a program that later expanded statewide.

Hardesty served as a charter member and chair of the College of Creative Arts Board of Visitors and as past chairperson of the Council of Presidents' and Chancellors' Spouses for the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. She chaired the 2004 and 2005 WVU United Way Campaigns and was included in The Dominion Post's list of the area's 100 Most Influential Citizens in 2001 and 2004.

In 1995, she launched the Mountaineer Parents Club alongside her husband, WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. The club expanded to include more than 18,500 families and over 70 local chapters nationwide. 

Her service to West Virginia University was recognized with induction into the Order of Vandalia in 2008, the university's highest honor for service. The West Virginia Society of Washington, D.C., named her Daughter of the Year in 1997, and the WVU Office of Student Affairs honored her with its first Outstanding Achievement Award.