MORGANTOWN — Even if you didn’t recognize his name, you would absolutely recognize his music, Provost Joyce McConnell told the graduating students of the College of Creative Arts and their loves ones at the school’s commencement on Friday.
She was talking about Emmy-winning composer and WVU alumni Jay Chattaway. Don’t recognize him? Watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager or Enterprise and you’ll hear his music.
Chattaway started composing music for Next Generation in 1991 before and continued scoring the space epic for 16 years. He won an Emmy for his work on Voyager and was nominated for eight more.
But his journey to working on Star Trek began much earlier than 1991. The now-retired composer, who spends his days sailing in in the Pacific Ocean and listening to whales sing, told the soon-to-be-graduates that their career path starts forming early – in the first five years of their life.
Chattaway spoke of his own journey and life-long love of space. He advised his audience to listen to their childhood passions and influences and to pay attention to the many people they’ll meet on the road of life.
Chattaway also presented a little dissertation. McConnell awarded him with an honorary doctorate, so while it wouldn’t be as academic as some who would be crossing the stage today, Chattaway figured he should present something, he said. That dissertation was the story of the creation of County Roads.
Many on the stage and in the crowd were aware of Philip J. Faini/Falbo Family Dean H. Keith Jackson’s love of food metaphors and commencement would be no different, he said.
Jackson compared graduation time to desert after the main course that was the WVU experience. He encouraged the graduates to savor each and every moment.
