At the end of January, Virginia Wesleyan was acknowledged as one of the finest environmental stewards on the Elizabeth River, receiving two-star Achievement Level recognition during the River Star Businesses Recognition Luncheon. We are proud to be recognized by the Elizabeth River Project for our environmental commitment. Thank you to our entire campus community and the President's Environmental Issues Council for your continued efforts, and special thanks in particular to Professor of Political Science Dr. Bill Gibson for taking the lead on earning this designation for the College. More

The 2017 Class of the Virginia Wesleyan College Athletic Hall of Fame was honored February 4 with a reception and luncheon held in the Pearce Hospitality Suite inside the Jane P. Batten Student Center. Members of the ninth class represent the best of the best from Virginia Wesleyan's athletic history. The five inductees are: Rebecca Leedom Bradford '10, Volleyball (2007-10), Cara N. Byrd '06, Field Hockey (2003-06), Christine M. Clancy Davis '07, Field Hockey and Women's Lacrosse (2003-07), Gary W. DePalma, Men's Soccer (1994-97), and Megan E. Parris '06, Women's Lacrosse and Women's Soccer (2002-05). More Photos

Each spring, in partnership with the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church, Virginia Wesleyan hosts a workshop for UMC pastors that yields continuing education units. This year's Robert F. Boyd Institute will take place April 3-4 and will feature Dr. Ben Witherington III, Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He will discuss "A Singular Jesus in a Pluralistic Culture." Learn more about this year's program and register to attend.


The winter meeting of the Virginia Wesleyan College Board of Trustees was held on February 15. It was wonderful to welcome 22 Board members to campus, including new Trustees Mary C. Haddad, Lee T. Stevenson '85, and Michael J. White '81. In addition to the adoption of the Campus Master Plan, various progress reports were given. Among them were strategies for increasing enrollment, including the addition of two master's programs, online degree-completion programs at the undergraduate level, and early- and dual-enrollment initiatives; construction of the Greer Environmental Sciences Center and the Frank Blocker Youth Center at YMCA Camp Red Feather; and plans for the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center and a new track and field complex. The Board heard a presentation over lunch about the history and mission of Virginia Wesleyan's Center for the Study of Religious Freedom, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this academic year. Also during the meeting, Board Chair David Kaufman and I had the honor of dedicating two Board of Trustees plaques, made possible by Board member Tassos Paphites '79 and his wife, Dolores. The plaques are located in the Boyd Dining Center/Shafer Room lobby and in the Jane P. Batten Student Center near the entrance to the Convocation Center. They bear the names of our current Trustees and serve as visual reminders of the Board's historic and valuable role in the College's progress. The Board's spring meeting is scheduled for May.

Virginia Wesleyan student-athletes were honored for their academic accomplishments February 18 during a special State Farm/VWC Scholar-Athlete Recognition ceremony in the Convocation Center inside the Jane P. Batten Student Center. The scholar-athletes recognized were those who are a member of at least one NCAA Division III athletic team at VWC and who were named to the President's List or the Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester. Both indicate a careful balance among course work, co-curricular activities, and athletics, and I commend these students for their remarkable efforts. State Farm agents Larry Akers, Rhonda Floasin, Pierre Granger, Jessica Hester, and Joe Query made this event possible, and the College thanks them for their continued support of Marlin athletics. More

As I shared above, I am both proud and excited to share that nearly 70 prospective freshmen took part in our inaugural Batten Honors College competition on February 9-11 and February 23-25. I had the privilege during my State of the College Address in August to introduce the Batten Honors College, which is named for Virginia Wesleyan College Trustee Emerita and dedicated friends of the institution, Jane P. Batten H'06 and her late husband, Frank Batten, Sr. We will welcome our first cohort this fall. Photos

I am pleased to share the naming of two of our campus villages. With the start of the 2017-18 Academic Year, Village II will become Allen Village, named for the late Dennie Allen '70, Virginia Wesleyan's very first graduate, and Village IV will become the Honors Village. The College is currently separated into four villages over its nearly 300-acre campus. Bray Village and Village II feature residential space, classrooms, and faculty and staff offices. Brock Village and Village IV are solely residential complexes. Construction is expected to begin in 2017-18 on a fifth village, to be named Oxford Village, on College-owned land on the north side of Wesleyan Drive. Please join me as we integrate these special names into our campus culture.

Celebrating school pride and honoring our College's legacy is incredibly important to me. It is for this reason that I recently requested that our Frank E. Brown Campanile, known to many as "The Bell Tower," begin sharing songs of spirit and tradition. Visit campus this spring and you will hear our fight song, "On, Virginia Wesleyan!" playing at noon, followed by our Alma Mater at 5 p.m. Both of these compositions invoke in me, and I hope in you, a strong sense of pride and belonging. I am grateful to be here at Virginia Wesleyan at this momentous time in the College's history, and I look forward to continued celebration of our dearest traditions and creation of those that are still to come.