WVU College of Law to host naturalization ceremony March 9

MORGANTOWN -- The West Virginia University College of Law will host the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' naturalization ceremony March 9.

The event is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday in the Marlyn Lugar Courtroom in the College of Law.

A group of 72 new candidates from West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania, including 10 WVU students, will take an oath of allegiance and receive a certificate of naturalization, proof of their new U.S. citizenship. The celebration will include family, friends and other invited guests.

WVU President Emeritus and College of Law Professor David C. Hardesty Jr. will provide the keynote address. Hope Koehler, assistant professor of Voice at WVU's College of Creative Arts, will perform the national anthem, and members of the University's Army and Air Force ROTC units will participate.

Naturalization ceremonies typically are held in public courtrooms or USCIS offices but Michael Blumenthal, visiting professor at the WVU College of Law and co-director of the school's Immigration Clinic, invited USCIS to hold the event at WVU. It will mark the first time a naturalization ceremony will take place at WVU.

For more information on USCIS and its programs and services, visit www.uscis.gov.