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"April showers bring May flowers," so the classic saying goes. At Virginia Wesleyan, May will also see a historic event as we welcome the Class of 2018, their families, and friends to University Commons for the first-ever
Commencement Ceremony
in front of our beautiful Greer Environmental Sciences Center. First Lady of Virginia Pamela Northam, an educator and environmentalist, will serve as our Commencement keynote speaker, and the
Rev. Dr. Karla M. Kincannon, a 1976 graduate of Virginia Wesleyan, will lead our Baccalaureate service.
Commencement will mark the end of an incredibly busy year in the life of our institution --- a year that brought unprecedented growth and transformation, new construction, expanded community outreach, record enrollments and fundraising, and the rebranding of Virginia Wesleyan as "Coastal Virginia's Premier University of the Liberal Arts and Sciences."
As we celebrate the conclusion of this productive year, we pause to remember one who was here at the very beginning; one who shared and promoted the vision for what Virginia Wesleyan could and would become.
Trustee Emeritus Robert F. Boyd, the last surviving founding Trustee of our institution, passed away on April 7 at the age of 90. Bob led the delegation that took the charter for the institution to the State Corporation Commission, and at the organizational meeting of the Board of Trustees in November 1961, he was elected the first secretary of the Board. For over 40 years, during Virginia Wesleyan's formative years, he served variously as secretary, treasurer, vice chairman, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board. He received an honorary degree from Virginia Wesleyan in 2009, and continued to serve as a Trustee Emeritus until his passing.
A prominent local attorney and community leader as well as a man of deep faith and personal integrity, he is the namesake of our annual Robert F. Boyd Institute for United Methodist pastors. He and his late wife, Sara, were at the heart of the institution, as are the Boyd Dining Center and the statue of John Wesley that they generously bestowed. The Boyds' son, James M. Boyd, is a 1984 graduate of Virginia Wesleyan, and their grandson, James M. Boyd, Jr., also attended the University. Bob was a living connection to our early history and establishment, and he will be missed dearly by our community.
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Amid the excitement of Commencement and the promise of busy summer months ahead, I would like to take a moment to share some recent updates.
Last month I shared with mixed emotions that Joanne Renn, Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics for the past 11 years, will retire at the end of the current academic year. A good friend and colleague, Joanne played an instrumental role in the implementation of several important initiatives during my early tenure at Virginia Wesleyan. Read more about her active leadership in the expansion, updates, and improvements of our athletic facilities, as well as the many successes the VWU athletic program achieved on her watch. Joanne will be succeeded by Tina Hill, who is currently in her 10th year as athletics director at Randolph College and also chair of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Board of Directors. Tina will join the Marlin family this summer and serve as a member of the President's Cabinet.
Virginia Wesleyan keeps getting greener. I am proud to share that the University has been selected through the PepsiCo Recycling Zero Impact Fund program to receive funding for two solar-powered umbrellas and two human-powered desk bicycles that will function on campus as sustainable cell-phone charging stations for students. The umbrellas and bicycles are expected to arrive this summer and will be situated in and around the Greer Environmental Sciences Center. Associate Provost Maynard Schaus and Katrina Henry, Assistant Professor of Physics and Earth and Environmental Sciences, were featured in a recent Inside Business article about the award.
A great time was had by all at our Spring Alumni Weekend in April. The campus community relaxed and reunited at our very first Spring Pig-Pickin' Picnic, cheered on old friends in a Pie Eating Contest, and rooted for former classmates in athletic events and alumni games. A special scroll-signing ceremony commemorated the 25th graduation anniversary of the Class of 1993, and the weekend also included the 36th Annual Seafood Party in the Dell. View a photo gallery from this wonderful weekend on the Virginia Wesleyan Flickr page.
For the third time in less than six months, Virginia Wesleyan has received national recognition for innovation and transformation. The University is featured in a recently-released report on independent colleges that have implemented meaningful change. In "Innovation and the Independent College: Examples From the Sector," the Washington, D.C.-based Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) highlights selected universities' responses to challenges they face. The report is designed to be a guidebook for leaders who want to push for change on their campuses. Virginia Wesleyan was recognized for innovation in the areas of curricular reform and experiential learning. The University was also featured in a Dwyer Strategies publication last fall as one of the most "amazing transformational stories" of the past 13 years. And in February, Virginia Wesleyan was honored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation with its 2018 Conservationist of the Year award.
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The CIC report mentioned above highlights the heart of our enterprise --- teaching our students to be change agents themselves by equipping them with leadership skills for lives of meaningful purpose and continued personal and professional development. During this period of progress and momentum on our campus, with new construction and enhancements of many facilities, we are honored to be recognized for the strength of our curriculum, our emphasis on student success, and our commitment to leadership.
With that said, we will send off our first graduates of Virginia Wesleyan University, the Class of 2018, with the knowledge to succeed, the strength to lead, and the character to make the world a better place.
Sincerely,
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