Heather Harlan, a Bowles Rice partner, has been named the 2010 Alumnus of the Year by West Virginia University Institute of Technology from the College of Business, Humanities and Social Services. She is an attorney and Certified Public Accountant and practices in the law firm’s Charleston office in the areas of state and local tax planning and litigation, estate planning and litigation, commercial transactions and small business development.
In announcing Ms. Harlan’s selection, Stephen Brown, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, said, “Heather was an exemplary student and is a strong supporter of the College of Business, Humanities and Social Sciences and the accounting program. We are delighted that she was selected as the Alumnus of the Year.”
She is a 1994 summa cum laude graduate from then West Virginia Institute of Technology, where she received a bachelor of science degree, with a major in accounting and a minor in political science. While at Tech, Ms. Harlan served as treasurer of the Student Government Association, was a member of the executive board of the Delta Zeta Sorority, was a staff writer for the Tech Collegian and served as a tutor for the WV Tech Learning Center. She also served as an intern for the Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV, United States Senator for the State of West Virginia, in Washington, D.C. and for the Internal Revenue Service.
Ms. Harlan earned her doctor of jurisprudence degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 2001, graduating in the top 20 percent of her class. During law school, she served as Issue Editor of the West Virginia Law Review, clerked for the Honorable Irene P. Keeley, United States District Court Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia and for Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love LLP.
Ms. Harlan is a resident of Montgomery, West Virginia, where WVU Tech is located, and is the daughter of Norman “Whitey” Harlan and Gail Dillard Harlan. Her father, a 1961 Tech graduate, was 1977 Alumnus of the Year, 1988 Hall of Fame inductee, former president and current member of the Golden Bear Athletic Club, former president of the West Virginia Tech Alumni Association and former member the WVU Tech Foundation.
Ms. Harlan is admitted to practice law and has litigated cases before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern District of West Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, United States Tax Court and the United States Supreme Court.
She is a member of the West Virginia State Bar, the West Virginia Bar Association, the West Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Charleston Estate Planning Counsel. She has served as treasurer of the Friends of Avampato Discovery Museum and is a member of the Montgomery United Methodist Church.