Anna Schein Helping the Students of West Virginia University

Anna M. Schein is who she is because the people who've so gracefully, lovingly and effectively stroked her being. Foremost, she embraces peace and tolerance - living and teaching a pacific existence from the streets of Morgantown to West Africa.

Significantly, Schein's a descendant of Johanna Jacob Barb, who reached Appalachia in 1749 so that he and his family could escape religious persecution largely because of warfare engaged in Germany so long ago.

And perhaps because of the torment that her ancestors endured 250 years ago, leniency seems to run directly into Schein's veins.

For it's what comes quite naturally for her as well as what she's learned from others that's prompted Schein to give in abundance to people in need.

Specifically, Schein labors to assist West Virginia University students. Often, they happen to be international young people who at times can't afford to make the trip to places as far away as India, China and Mali in West Africa when the university shuts down for various breaks.

Worse, many of them find that financial resources often run short during their educational experience in the Mountain State.
With a fervor for learning, some have had to give up higher learning at a time when it should have been peaking. Too many times, an international student will complete his or her undergraduate program when the financial well runs dry.

Sadly, some are forced to leave, knowing there's much more to do in terms of the degrees they want to achieve and the learning that's involved in the meantime.

Schein, who in August celebrated her 30th years at West Virginia University, fortunately is sometimes in the position to help, she said.

Schein heads the periodicals department at Wise Library - an undertaking in itself. But in doing so, she's offered dozens of qualified students positions that will enable them to make ends meet as they finish their chosen curriculum.

They're quite often indebted to her kindness.

Kwasi Yewboah, for instance, told Schein in a letter dated July 2004, that he's been amazed at how thoughtful she's been - how genuine Schein is in making students' problems her problems.

With Schein's help, he received a position that allowed Yewboah to continue his program at WVU.

"I don't think I can ever stop thanking you," he wrote. "I will never forget this beautiful mental picture, how you jumped for joy when I told you about the assistantship. You were like a 16-year-old going on her first date."

"You have a way of touching people in a very personal way with your love," he continued.

Schein's responsible, in its purest sense, with much more than could ever be universally listed, for a vital facet of the university experience - research. She guides and/or directs students to information that they need to succeed in the classroom today and, well into the future, their professional lives.

"You are indeed a gift to humanity, and I join hands with all your children to say, 'we love you,'" Yewboah wrote.

Schein's father never had a negative thing to say about anyone, she says.

"He was a very gentle, positive and respectful man," Schein said.

She recalls that her father, the late Ray Coffman, enjoyed watching the news on television - "every single night," Schein said.
He'd tune in to learn about details relative to the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s. Coffman watched as America battled communism in the jungles of Vietnam. He, himself, dealt with World War II, she said.

And during all of the controversy, aware of a number of different cultures from all over the world that he heard and read so much about - after all of that time, "I never heard him speak one ill word about another human being the whole entire time I ever knew my father."

Schein learned different things from her mother, Goldie, but that was in a way that truly served to affirmatively groom Schein in yet another way.

"My mom was very extremely honest," Schein said. "I think my mother was one of the most resourceful people that I ever met."

Like many children dealing with the Great Depression after the market crashed in 1929, Mrs. Coffman had to quit school in the fourth grade, Schein said. Mrs. Coffman was able to make it through the seventh grade.

But, through it all, Schein's parents learned to live without the means - undoubtedly a characteristic they passed to she and her sister.

Her parents, she knows, dreamed that both of their daughters would attend and finish college one day, Schein said.

Her mother, she said, began putting money away to help with that.

Schein actually began a life of giving back around that time, she said.

Schein completed a degree at WVU. She ended up in the University of Kentucky at Lexington, Ky., and had to return to Morgantown while earning her first masters degree in library science at the U of K., she said. While home, Schein visited with Dr. Robert Munn about a position with the university.

Later, she finished the degree at Lexington, and returned to Morgantown. Almost immediately, her mother that she needed to return a call to Munn. When she did, she learned that she was offered a position with WVU libraries.

That, she said, was another example of receiving something special from someone who cares. That position led to so much more for Schein and so many who've grown to love her.

"I have always been so appreciative to Dr. Robert F. Munn," she said. "I was always to grateful for the opportunity that he gave me to be a librarian at West Virginia University."

Schein met Ibrahim Iba N'Diaya of Mali, West Africa, when she was teaching an intensive English course in the early 1990s, she said.

During that time, he spent a lot of time reading journals from his part of the world. Schein knew, in addition, he became fascinated with the Appalachian region.

The two began to engage in casual chat, Schein said. She had thrown out to N'Diaya the idea of working in periodicals at the library, she said.

Three months later, he accepted and ended up working in that position for more than two years while completing his program. That relationship grew into a student assistant position that's gone on there for the last 10 years, Schein said.

Their friendship cracked wide open when N'Diaya left for a couple of years in the late 1990s to work on a doctorate degree.

When he returned, he had a message to share with Schein, who by that point was already a dedicated traveler, enthusiast and activist serious about promoting the Iroquois nation and the Mexican culture.

When N'Diaya was in Tombouetu, Mali, during Christmas 1998, he became aware of plans for a millennium festival.
The event would sponsor an underlying peace message.

And there were plans for a peace tree planting, a practice Schein had become accustomed to in working with Chief Jake Swamp, a Mohawk Chief with who she coauthored a book about the Iroquoian Tree of Peace several years prior.

"Every week, he would come in and say a little more about it," Schein said.

At the time, the itinerary was being put together and an international documentation team was sought for Mali's event. Schein decided that she wanted to apply to become a member of the panel.

N'Diya went back to Mali briefly for spring break. When he returned, he came with great news.

"I was accepted as a member of the International Media Documentation Team for the event, sponsored by the Mali Ministry of Culture and Tourism," Schein said.

She was in Tombouetu as 1999 turned to 2000, she said.

In that time, Schein was able to archive more than 300 photographs of that event, she said.

"The number one thing that I really appreciated, and was amazed, is the fact that she would make herself available to people - get them to understand what West Virginia is all about," N'Diya said.

There's a lot to learn when attending a large university such as WVU for the first time, let alone for those who may already have a difficult time communicating the English language, he said.

It takes a special person to help in a way that Schein has during the last three decades and, particularly, the last 20 years.

"First, to me, it takes somebody first and foremost ... really dedicated to her work," N'Diya said. "Second, it takes somebody with a big heart - believes in doing good. She was a very kind and very generous person."

She picked that up from another person who had a reputation for being around for a lot of people in the past - the late Ann Dinardi, who was the Morgantown "mom" to many basketball players for more than 50 years.

Dinardi helped many players, including National Basketball Association Hall of Fame inductee and West Virginia native Jerry West, through feeding them or keeping them company during their time at the university.

Mrs. Coffman named her daughter after Ann Dinardi, who never married, Schein said.

"I like to think that we come to somehow grow to manifest some of the same qualities as those we have been named for," she said. "I often think of Ann as many of the students whom I have helped through the years have come to call me their sister, and their 'little mom.'"

Indeed, many have outwardly recognized the incredible roles Schein has played in so many lives, using her position at the library.

Holly J. Patchell thanked Schein for such an outstanding letter of reference in June this year.

"Anna, it is people like you who make our world a better place, simply by taking the extra time to ensure that work is more than just a paycheck," she wrote. "As a student assistant, work was more a refuge away from academia, but still a foundation for learning and a place from home where I found support."

Patchell went on to say that Schein was sincere and really cared about what Patchell was going to do with her life.

"Thank you again for your kindness and also being a wonderful role model," Patchell wrote. "I wish you the best personally and professionally. It was truly a pleasure to work with you."

Another former student, Rahkeem Cook, called Schein a "true leader at work."

He wrote that he hopes to one day be half the leader that Schein is.

"I admire how you are not afraid to speak your mind when you see fit, and and how you are always trying to help better someone," Cook wrote.

He summed up his experience with Schein with a line that he borrowed from the university itself.

"I guess it is true what they say about West Virginia University, 'Where Greatness is Learned.'"

Schein is well-rooted with no plans of ever leaving, at least permanently, she said.

Her 30 years with the university have led her, an the people with whom she's become personal, onto different paths to which have given them all unique opportunities in life.

Schein's heritage lends itself to follow through with all of the things she stands for - simplicity, peace, leadership, travel, preparedness, rightness and a genuine character.

"I may do research," Schein said. "I may do training in other places, if those opportunities arise, but I will always come home.."
She's forever obliged.

"The fact that my role as the periodicals librarian in a public service unit has given me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful students and people, and serving them has made my career outstanding," Schein said.