Congratulations to Justine Sessions, a member of Washington and Lee’s Class of 2005. National Journal, an online publication that covers the political scene in Washington D.C., has named her to its list of “Hill People” to watch. Justine is the majority communications director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Justine Sessions '05 […]
Archive ( Stories)
If you are in Lexington today (Wednesday, June 29), you can hear Larry Duffee, a 1983 graduate of Washington and Lee, give a presentation about Sudan. Larry, who lives in Fredericksburg, Va., sold his food-supply business to become an Episcopal missionary. He has been stationed at the headquarters of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, in Juba, […]
Rebecca Makkai '99 Sharp-eyed readers of the July issue of “O: The Oprah Magazine” may notice a familiar name in the magazine’s summer reading list: Rebecca Makkai. Don’t recognize her? By the end of the summer, you probably will, as this 1999 graduate of Washington and Lee University is poised to make a big name […]
While she was a student, Julia Pleasants, of Washington and Lee’s Class of 2008, belonged to the dance club and helped found the W&L Repertory Dance Company. An English major, she recently learned the business side of the dance world when she did a press and marketing internship with the famed Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, in […]
Sometimes you have to leave a place–or a job–to discover that's where you are meant to be. At least that's what journalist Kat Greene, a member of Washington and Lee's Class of 2008, recently discovered. Kat always wanted to be a reporter. As she wrote last fall on her Facebook page, which the Talking Biz […]
A historic Presbyterian church in Germantown, Tenn., has a new pastor, and he’s a W&L alumnus. The Rev. William Gray Jones, a member of Washington and Lee’s Class of 1992, now leads the 800-plus members of Germantown Presbyterian Church, which dates to 1838. Its Evans Chapel, built in 1851, is Germantown’s oldest public building. "It […]
Good luck to Allison Lemon, a brand-new graduate of Washington and Lee. This week, she is competing in the famed Roanoke Valley Horse Show, but it may be a long time before the former captain of W&L’s riding team sees the inside of a show ring again. As the Roanoke Times explains, Allison has been riding since […]
A new concept for legal assistance, LawyerUp, promises to provide legal assistance within 15 minutes when urgent legal help is required. A recent story in the New York Times (registration required) described the new service, which was co-founded by Alex Ruskell, a member of Washington and Lee's Class of 1994. Billed as "America's First Urgent […]
During its annual meeting in Ocean City, Md., earlier this month, the Maryland State Bar Association honored Judge John H. (Hamp) Tisdale, of Washington and Lee's Law School Class of 1974, with the 2011 Anselm Sodaro Award for Judicial Civility. Hamp has been associate judge of the Frederick (Md.) County Circuit Court, 6th Judicial Circuit, […]
With nine starters back on offense and nine on defense from the team that won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference last fall, Washington and Lee's football team is not going to sneak up on any opponents this fall. And now the Generals have been ranked nationally by The Sporting News in its 2011 College Football […]
Washington and Lee alumnus Reuben Munger, co-founder of a company designed to bring green-tech automotive solutions to market, has just been named one of the "Electrifying 100" by Automotive News magazine. The 100 people comprise the magazine's assessment of the key players driving vehicle electrification. Reuben, a member of the Class of 1995, is CEO of […]
Brant Phillips, a 1997 graduate of the Washington and Lee School of Law, was part of a small team of lawyers from his Nashville firm, Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, that spent more than two-and-a-half years and invested more than 2,500 hours in a clemency petition effort on behalf of Edward Jerome Harbison, a Tennessee […]
"Henry Clay and the Struggle for the Union," a documentary on Henry Clay and his role in the events that led up to the Civil War, is airing this month on Kentucky's PBS affiliate, KET. The hour-long program was written and is hosted by Kent Masterson Brown, a 1974 graduate of Washington and Lee's School of […]
After some months away because of technical problems, Colonnade Cam is back, or so we hope. The live webcam located in Lee Chapel and pointed toward the Colonnade is online again. It's a full-motion camera, so if anything is happening on the Front Lawn, it'll be captured on air. (Fair warning!) There are, however, some issues […]
Last month, on his way home to Brattleboro, Vt., after performing and teaching at Washington and Lee, blues guitarist Scott Ainslie, of the Class of 1974, took a detour—all the way to Clarksdale, Miss. His destination was the Delta Blues Museum, where he dropped off more than 100 instructional DVDs — the bounteous beginning of […]
William F. Connelly Jr., the John K. Boardman Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee, appeared on Harrisonburg NPR affiliate WMRA's "Virginia Insight" program on Thursday, June 9, to discuss the history of congressional partisanship on Capitol Hill. The author of James Madison Rules America: The Constitutional Origins of Congressional Partisanship (Rowman and Littlefield, 2010), […]
The lone W&L win in the match came at No. 2 doubles, where senior captain Will Hall teamed with junior Jeremy Becht for an 8-6 win. This was not just another match. It marked an amazing comeback that seemed unthinkable seven weeks earlier when Will, playing in the tiebreaker of a doubles match against Christopher […]
<p>Washington and Lee University economics professor Mike Smitka combined his expertise on Japan and the auto industry into a pair of high-profile presentations in June.</p> <p>Smitka was a featured panelist at the <a href="http://www.chicagofed.org/webpages/events/2011/automotive_outlook_symposium/index.cfm" target="_blank">Eighteenth Annual Automotive Outlook Symposium</a> of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The event was held at the Detroit branch of the Chicago Fed on June 2, 2011, and focused on the near-term automotive outlook and the long-term structure of the industry.</p> <p>Smitka was joined by Thomas Kurfess, professor and BMW chair of manufacturing at Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research; James A. Buczkowski, Henry Ford Technical Fellow, and director of electrical and electronics systems research and advanced engineering for Ford Motor Company; and Thomas Klier, senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Smitka's remarks were on innovation in the supply sector.</p> <p>On June 7, 2011, Smitka participated in the <a href="http://www.bloomberglink.com/gatherings_overview.php?gathering=104">Bloomberg Japan Conference</a> at the Japan Society in New York City. He was a member of a panel that examined the global impact of the supply chain interruption in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March. The panel was moderated by Michael McKee, economics editor of Bloomberg Television.</p> <p> </p>
After four terms as commonwealth's attorney for Shenandoah County, Va., Washington and Lee law alumnus Albert T. Mitchell, of the Class of 1967, has announced he won't seek re-election in November. Al was appointed to the position by the judges of the 26th Judicial Circuit in 1999 and then was elected to the position in […]
Dr. Charles Niemeyer, a member of Washington and Lee's Class of 1962, suffered two broken legs before he was 10 years old. That, says his wife, Carolyn, is what led him to his chosen profession: orthopedic surgeon. “He’s wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon since he was 7-years-old,” she told the Gaston Gazette. Charlie is […]
Renee Pratt, assistant professor of business administration at Washington and Lee, has recently co-authored a study entitled "The Role of Enterprise Architecture in the Quest for IT Value" appearing in MIS Quarterly Executive (see <a href="http://misqe.org/ojs2/index.php/misqe/article/view/369" target="_blank">http://misqe.org/ojs2/index.php/misqe/article/view/369</a>). The research looks at value creation through the use of enterprise architecture. Enterprise architecture (EA) is the term used to describe the way in which a business logically organizes its IT infrastructure and business process capabilities to address its needs for IT and business process integration and standardization.<br /> <br />The research study examined responses from 140 chief information officers in U.S. hospitals. According to the study conducted by Pratt and her colleagues, more mature enterprise architecture initiatives enhance firm value in three ways:<br /> <br />1. managing firms' external relationships more effectively and efficiently<br />2. lowering firms' operational costs<br />3. providing firms with greater strategic agility<br /> <br />Additional connections were found between enterprise architecture maturity and improved business-information technology alignment and risk management.<br /> <br /> Pratt joined the Williams School faculty in 2008. She has taught several information technology classes during that time, including management information systems, e-commerce development, and computer forensics. She holds a doctorate in management information systems from Florida State University, an M.S. in management information systems from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, and a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Florida. Her industry experience includes working with both government entities and businesses to design and develop intranets, extranets, and websites.<br />
Washington and Lee alumnus and trustee Warren Stephens, of the Class of 1979, and his wife, Harriet, were honored in their hometown of Little Rock, Ark., last week by none other than former President George W. Bush. The occasion was the 10th anniversary of The First Tee of Little Rock Jack Stephens Youth Golf Academy. President […]
Washington and Lee junior Jonathan Stutts, the starting shortstop on the Generals' baseball team, is scheduled to make his Rockbridge Rapids debut this Friday night, June 3, when the local team in the Valley League begins its third season at Smith Field. Stutts, who batted .318 in 31 games for W&L this spring, is the only […]
In the eight years that Washington and Lee alumnus Roscoe B. Stephenson Jr. served as judge of the Alleghany County Circuit Court, his decisions were never reversed. That is surely one of the reasons that Stephenson was elevated to the Virginia Supreme Court in 1981. He served as a justice for 16 years before retiring […]