WLU Columns to Campaign Feed of campaign-related stories for the campaign website. local-impact <![CDATA[Local Impact]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/local-impact/ https://columns.wlu.edu/local-impact/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:11:21 -0400 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:11:21 -0400 Washington Street in downtown Lexington[/caption]
“Not only have we interacted with the community in a new way, but we have also created a community amongst ourselves.” ~ Molly Coman ’27
Washington and Lee University’s Community-Based Learning (CBL) program placed a new student cohort with local nonprofits and businesses in Rockbridge County this summer, continuing a program built on mutual benefit. Local organizations gain motivated, skilled support on projects that might otherwise sit on the back burner while students gain hands-on experience and a deeper connection to the community surrounding W&L’s campus. This summer, students interned with Main Street Lexington, Rockbridge Conservation, Rockbridge Rock Steady Boxing and the Lexington-Rockbridge Chamber of Commerce on projects designed to expand their capacity and impact. Sascha Goluboff, director of Community-Based Learning and professor of cultural anthropology, and Alessandra Del Conte Dickovick, associate director of Community-Based Learning, worked closely with the interns to help them develop professional skills and effective workplace communication, as well as to reflect on the importance of community building. “The Office of Community-Based Learning is proud to continue to nurture and grow collaborative relations between the university and the community,” Goluboff says,“and it looks forward to offering another set of impactful internships next summer.” Main Street Lexington Main Street Lexington is a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping downtown Lexington, Virginia, vibrant through improvement projects, supporting local businesses and organizing community events. For her CBL internship, Simmons Lee ’27, a cognitive and behavioral science major with a creative writing minor from Charlotte, North Carolina, spent seven weeks immersed in almost every aspect of the small nonprofit’s operation. “I was super excited for the opportunity to contribute to the downtown that drew me to W&L in the first place,” Lee says. “Lexington is such a vibrant place with so much history, and Main Street’s mission to preserve that character and continue with beautification of the city is something that really stood out to me.” Lee’s day-to-day work touched nearly every part of the organization. She created social media content, managed MSL’s downtown business gift certificate program, dug into grant research and assisted with the Freedom Food Festival and Children’s Bike Parade. This summer, she also worked on fundraising and donor management and MSL’s upcoming website migration. “Something I really enjoyed about working for Main Street is that my tasks and assignments varied week to week, because working for a nonprofit requires skills in many diverse domains,” Lee says. “Having competencies in so many provinces is something that I think will continue to help me grow my career in the future.” Executive Director Jeremy Franklin ’04 says the organization has come to depend on its CBL interns. “Having W&L interns has been extremely beneficial to Main Street Lexington,” Franklin says. “The intensive seven-week CBL internship has allowed us to tackle several projects that otherwise would be beyond the scope and bandwidth of our small professional staff.” For Franklin, who has called Lexington home since he graduated from W&L in 2004, mentoring current students carries personal significance. “I’m very grateful for the CBL office’s work in helping integrate the university into our local community,” he says, noting that MSL has also benefited from the university’s work-study program and W&L Student Consulting projects. “On a personal level, it’s been rewarding to work with current W&L students and to see how much they’ve enjoyed getting to be a part of a community organization during their time on campus.” Lee says the best part of her summer has been the people. “I’ve gotten opportunities to make social media content, which has allowed me to communicate with business owners or vendors at the farmers market,” she says. “I’ve also had the opportunity to meet many important figures who make Lexington so special, such as board and committee members, chamber members, the mayor of Lexington, the city manager and more people who have helped me feel like I am immersing myself in the town.”
Rockbridge Conservation Rockbridge Conservation is a volunteer-driven nonprofit founded in 1976 to protect the natural and cultural resources of Rockbridge County, Virginia, with committees dedicated to watershed protection, land use, energy and climate, waste reduction and trail stewardship. This summer, the organization hosted its first-ever CBL summer intern, Mary Catherine Colo ’27, a double major in politics and history from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “Rockbridge Conservation is really grateful for the CBL program at W&L,” says Jamie Goodin ’10, the organization’s executive director. “It’s been really fun to be on the nonprofit side of the CBL experience. Mary Catherine did an amazing job. She was incredibly responsive, thoughtful and proactive.” Colo split her summer between two major projects: overhauling documentation for Rockbridge Conservation’s trail management system for the Uncas Trail and Sunnyside Preserve and mapping out the county’s water monitoring program. “She worked on two important projects for us,” Goodin says. “One is really documenting our trail management system — where the trails are, what maintenance needs to be done, how often and what expertise is required — so we can better recruit new people to help maintain them.” The second project applied a similar approach to the organization’s water monitoring programs across the county, cataloging when and what volunteers are monitoring so the group can identify gaps and better direct training and equipment. Colo says she was drawn to the internship by her love of the outdoors. “As a W&L student, I have been given incredible opportunities to engage with the natural resources surrounding Lexington across Rockbridge County,” she says. “I live to hike, run, swim, bike and just be outside in general. My internship with Rockbridge Conservation was an opportunity to do my part and participate in the active conservation efforts fronted by members of the community.” Colo has also used the summer to study for the LSAT and research her honors thesis. Her days combined research with time in the field. “Some days I had hands-on work, like clearing a trail or taking a long hike to core old-growth trees,” Colo says. “This combination of research and practical experience is a diverse workload that keeps things interesting.” In one memorable outing, Colo joined an eight-hour excursion between Buena Vista and Glasgow to help map 150-year-old trees for the Virginia Department of Forestry, work Goodin says she tackled with a consistently upbeat attitude. Though a politics and history major might seem an unlikely fit for a conservation nonprofit, Colo says the overlap has been significant. “I spent much of my time researching for both of my projects,” she says. “I also have experienced firsthand how legislation changes are affecting the environment on a local level. This job has challenged my thinking and allowed me to consider the type of community member I wish to be, in the present and in the future.” Goodin says that is exactly the point of a CBL placement of this length. “These summer experiences are ultimately pretty short,” Goodin says, “so, for us, it’s less about what we can achieve with the student in terms of deliverables and more about what we can demonstrate to the students in terms of how to be a good citizen wherever they decide to be.” That lesson, Goodin says, is one every W&L student can carry with them. For Colo, the internship reshaped how she thinks about nonprofit work. “The passion and engagement RC volunteers show is truly inspiring,” she says. “I am so thankful for their willingness to share their vast knowledge and for their perspective as Rockbridge residents. I have seen firsthand the impact people can make when they come together to work toward a common goal, and it has compelled me to think more about the community I want to join when I leave Lexington next May.” [caption id="attachment_95614" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Courtney Schmidt '28 (left) and her co-intern at Rockbridge Rock Steady Boxing.[/caption] Rockbridge Rock Steady Boxing Rockbridge Rock Steady Boxing offers a non-contact, boxing-inspired fitness program designed for people living with Parkinson’s disease, using footwork, punching combinations, balance drills and strength conditioning to help participants build agility, coordination and quality of life. For Courtney Schmidt ’28, a cognitive and behavioral science major with a minor in poverty and human capability studies from Pittsburgh, this summer’s CBL internship was a chance to deepen a relationship with the organization that began years earlier. “I wanted to stay in Lexington this summer because Rock Steady Boxing has become a really meaningful part of my college experience,” Schmidt says. “I’ve volunteered with the program since my first year, and I wanted the opportunity to become even more involved.” Schmidt, who is on the pre-med track and hopes to pursue a career in neurology or psychiatry, says the internship let her explore grant writing, funding research, class and exercise planning and independent research into Parkinson’s disease. She is completing the internship jointly with the Shepherd Program as part of her Bonner Scholar service requirement. “My days were a mix of coaching in the classes, helping with progress assessments and some behind-the-scenes work like class planning, exercise setup and research,” Schmidt says. She also researched grants to help fund new safety equipment, including a wheelchair ramp and gait belts. “Ultimately, my primary focus was continuing to build my relationships with the fighters [the participants diagnosed with Parkinson’s] to address their individual needs and ensure they are having fun and working hard in a safe environment,” she says. Elizabeth Apperson, who serves as Rock Steady’s head coach, says that Schmidt has been instrumental this summer. “She has grown so much in her confidence with the program and interaction with our fighters,” Apperson says. Schmidt says the experience has given her skills no classroom could teach. “It’s hands-on, it’s challenging at times, it’s rewarding, and it’s so much fun,” she says. “RSB has taken me outside of my W&L bubble and into a community with the most amazing and strong people I have ever met. This internship has taught me how to communicate clearly, adapt to individual needs and think critically.” Above all, Schmidt says, the internship reinforced why she keeps coming back. “The Rock Steady Boxing community really is a family, and this internship has helped me realize how lucky I am to be part of it,” she says. “I honestly love telling people about Rock Steady Boxing because I want more people to know how much it impacts individuals with Parkinson’s disease — not just physically, but emotionally and socially as well.” Lexington-Rockbridge Chamber of Commerce The Lexington-Rockbridge Chamber of Commerce champions economic and social progress across the greater Rockbridge community, supporting local businesses through advocacy, networking and civic initiatives. This summer, Molly Coman ’27, a business administration major with a French minor from New Orleans joined the chamber’s small staff for a CBL internship that spanned everything from event planning to long-range strategy. Tracy Lyons, executive director of the chamber, says Coman helped with nearly everything the organization does. “We kind of just had her jump right in and help with everything a little bit, but she had some specific projects on the side,” Lyons says. Coman attended every chamber event and ribbon-cutting over the summer, sat in on one-on-one meetings with chamber members and served on the chamber’s Economic Development Committee, including a strategic-planning workshop focused on the region’s needs and priorities. Coman’s primary project was a countywide resource guide. “She put together what we’re calling a resource guide for right now, but it’s really a quality-of-life resource guide that employers can use, and our economic development offices can use, when big employers come in and are looking to connect their employees to our community,” Lyons says. The guide covers education, healthcare, wellness, sports and recreation, childcare and transportation, and will anchor the chamber’s website relaunch in January, with a printable version also in the works. “It’s a beautiful document,” Lyons says, “something she could put on a resume that she contributed to, which was fun.” Coman also researched transportation ideas and initiatives to help boost tourism and the local economy, work that grew directly out of priorities identified during the summer’s economic development workshop. She says that the internship helped her see her own career interests more clearly. “This experience is supportive of my professional goals because it has allowed me to better navigate what I want to do in the future,” she says. “I have realized that I have interests in community engagement and creating online and printable media.” Lyons even arranged for Coman to sit down one-on-one with a chamber member for an informal mentoring conversation. For Coman, the best part of the summer was the people who run the chamber. “The best part about this internship has been meeting and working for the incredible women who lead the chamber of commerce,” she says. “Tracy, Erin and Alicia have been nothing but kind and welcoming this summer. Not only have they shown me the importance of having women in leadership positions, but they have also allowed me to truly grow by connecting my professional interests with the interests of the chamber.” She also noted that the summer created new bonds for her within the campus community, noting that she especially appreciated coming together with other CBL interns in weekly meetings to reflect on their experiences at their respective internships and learn from one another. “Not only have we interacted with the community in a new way, but we have also created a community amongst ourselves,” she says.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/i-QSNfnt8-X3-800x533.jpg test-category washington-and-lee-welcomes-the-class-of-2030 <![CDATA[Washington and Lee Welcomes the Class of 2030]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/washington-and-lee-welcomes-the-class-of-2030/ https://columns.wlu.edu/washington-and-lee-welcomes-the-class-of-2030/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:19:43 -0400 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:19:43 -0400 Leading Edge orientation activities, where they were introduced to the campus community through shared meaningful experiences designed to help them forge new friendships, acclimate to college life and begin developing the necessary skills to flourish at W&L. “The Class of 2030 includes students from 403 different secondary schools — including charter, public, parochial, independent, United World Colleges and home school — who demonstrate a commitment to leadership and community engagement, and whose curiosity and ambition stood out among the 8,904 applications we received this year,” said Vice President for Admissions and Financial Aid Sally Stone Richmond. Twenty-two percent of the class are domestic students of color, 16% are the first generation in their family to attend college, and 10% are children of W&L alumni. [gallery]First-year move-in dayFirst-year move-in dayFirst-year move-in dayDenzel Augustin ’30 and his mother pose for a photo in Elrod Commons on move-in day.Associate Professor of Mathematics Sybil Prince Nelson ’01 and her husband, James Nelson, pose for a photo with their daughters, Cayce Nelson ’30 and Cayla Nelson ’28, in Elrod Commons on move-in day.Students gather in Washington Park before heading to the Outing Club to begin their Leading Edge Appalachian Adventure trips.Leading Edge participants relax before watching a movie at Hull’s Drive-In.Associate Professor of History Henryatta Ballah teaches students in the Leading Edge Around the World group to cook red red, a Ghanaian dish composed of black-eyed peas cooked in palm oil.Leading Edge Archaeology trip participants get hands-on experience with archaeology on back campus.Leading Edge Volunteer Venture participants volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.President Ken Ruscio ’76 welcomes first-year students to W&L in University Chapel.Associate Dean of Students and Dean of First-Year Experience Nathan Graves welcomes the class of 2030 to campus during a ceremony in University Chapel.First-year students gather on the Law School Lawn for a barbecue hosted by the W&L Alumni Association.First-year students gather on the Law School Lawn for a barbecue hosted by the W&L Alumni Association.[/gallery] The class represents a pool of well-rounded and academically gifted leaders, with Johnson Scholars comprising 10% of the class and QuestBridge finalists making up another 10% of the class. W&L continues to recruit a geographically diverse class with 44 countries of origin and 38 U.S. states and territories represented. Thirty-seven different languages are spoken at home among members of this class, and students hailing from rural areas within the U.S. comprise 17% of the class. “Clearly, the composition in this class reflects the university’s commitment to affordability and access,” Richmond said. “Among those students receiving need-based aid, 36% of the class are W&L Promise recipients. And that commitment persists: The promise will increase in 2027-28 to families earning up to $200,000 annually.” Sixty-five percent of the class is receiving W&L grant assistance, and the average need- based grant is $72,696. In addition, 16% of this year’s class are federal Pell Grant recipients, reflecting the university’s commitment, as a member of the American Talent Initiative, to expanding access and opportunity for talented low- and moderate-income students. The university’s admissions team, through careful, whole-person consideration, recruits, admits and enrolls individuals who will contribute to W&L’s vibrant community and benefit from the distinct and personalized education the university offers. “We are so grateful to the entire W&L community for supporting these students’ experiences as applicants, admits and now fully enrolled members of the undergraduate student body,” Richmond said. “It truly does take the entire campus community to enroll each class!” Learn more about the incoming class here, and take a few moments to meet some of the members of the Class of 2030 in the video below. [embed]https://vimeo.com/1222200437?share=copy[/embed]]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SOC09022026_100-1140x760.jpg test-category david-saacke-named-to-new-executive-director-of-institutional-ai-role-at-wl <![CDATA[David Saacke Named to New Executive Director of Institutional AI Role at W&L]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/david-saacke-named-to-new-executive-director-of-institutional-ai-role-at-wl/ https://columns.wlu.edu/david-saacke-named-to-new-executive-director-of-institutional-ai-role-at-wl/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:11:51 -0400 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:11:51 -0400 Kerri Chapman and David Saacke[/caption] David Saacke, chief information officer (CIO) at Washington and Lee University since 2011, has been named to a newly created role as executive director of institutional artificial intelligence (AI), effective immediately. Kerri Chapman, deputy CIO, will serve as interim chief information officer. Both positions will report to Steve McAllister, vice president for finance and treasurer. “When I broached the topic with David about how we make advances in developing a framework around AI usage on campus, he acknowledged it was time to dedicate a person to this effort,” McAllister said. “I was delighted when David later expressed his interest in the role. As the university navigates how best and where to deploy AI, having an individual with David’s knowledge of the campus and its culture will be critical to help lead this endeavor. He has proven to be an excellent collaborator and is able to synthesize information and different points of view to help identify solutions. David quite simply is the right person at the right time to do this work.” In this new role, Saacke will be responsible for leading W&L’s adoption of artificial intelligence as an institutional capability, translating shared AI strategy and governance into coordinated action across academic and administrative units. Working with the university’s AI Governance Committee, the Harte Center for Teaching and Learning, the Prompting, Learning and Artificial Intelligence (PLAI) Collaborative and Information Technology Services (ITS), he will guide departments in identifying practical uses for AI, build institutional competency through education and training and oversee the evaluation and adoption of enterprise AI tools, ensuring the university’s approach to AI remains responsible, effective and aligned with its mission and values. “W&L has progressed amid the AI explosion over the past four years, particularly through academic support and programming efforts from the Provost's Office and the Harte Center, and more recently through the AI Governance Committee’s work to provide the community with institution-wide AI guidelines, education, tools, activities and support,” Saacke said. “It became clear that a dedicated position was needed to meet demand and execute a plan to deliver and measure outcomes. I recognized that my career background, end-of-career goals and opportunities to create space and new ideas within ITS for its ongoing growth and success were all aligned with this institutional need, and that the timing was right for change.” Saacke joined the university in 2007 as director of enterprise applications and served as interim CIO before being named to the position permanently in 2011. As CIO, he led the university’s ITS team in a variety of high-priority efforts that reshaped how technology supports teaching, research and university operations. Under his leadership, ITS built W&L’s cybersecurity program from the ground up, working with the Board of Trustees to establish cybersecurity as an institutional priority. He guided a series of reorganizations that allowed ITS to dedicate staff to research computing support, academic technology, project management and community outreach. He also led the team through the migration to Workday, the adoption of central identity management, the shift from on-campus storage to cloud-based services and the university’s rapid move to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saacke also directed the redesign of W&L’s connection to national fiber infrastructure, giving the university a high-capacity, redundant link built to absorb future growth in demand. He represented W&L on the Rockbridge Area Network Authority (RANA), the regional broadband initiative that began with a federal grant and the university’s $2.5 million match to locate the Richard A. Peterson Data Center on campus. He oversaw construction of the center and served 14 years on the RANA board as chair, vice chair and treasurer, helping guide the authority from a startup effort to a fully operational entity that expanded middle-mile fiber and broadband service across Rockbridge County. “Working at W&L has been the most rewarding time of my life; the people, the culture and the opportunities cannot be beat,” Saacke said. “Being able to take on a new challenge at this stage of my career and contribute to this institution at such a pivotal time is a gift I don't take lightly. I'm privileged and appreciative of the support from our administration to launch and sustain this effort.” Before W&L, Saacke held a variety of technology roles with Bell Atlantic through a series of mergers that created Verizon. He also served as director of quality support and training services for CBM Technologies Inc., a software development company. Saacke began his professional career in public relations management after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in communications from James Madison University in 1989. Chapman came to W&L in 2016 as director of enterprise systems and integration services and was promoted to deputy CIO in 2022. Across her various roles at W&L, she provided strategic direction in the selection of a new enterprise resource planning platform and led technical and integration leadership and support for numerous software systems, including Workday, and additional key platforms handling student billing and payment, electronic transcript delivery, international student management, tutor management and volunteer management. “When it was apparent David was going to transition to his new role, Kerri immediately came to mind as the person who should succeed him,” McAllister said. “In her 10 years at W&L, Kerri has proven time and time again to be a tireless worker, great team player and strong collaborator with stakeholders throughout campus. Her in-depth knowledge of our core campus systems and work as deputy CIO positions her for success, and she will bring a fresh set of eyes to the role. Kerri is thoughtful and deliberative and focuses on finding solutions rather than lamenting problems. I look forward to working with her more directly.” Before arriving at W&L, Chapman spent 12 years at the University of Richmond in a variety of roles. She began as a business process analyst, then served as director of advancement data services and later as a senior programmer analyst, leading Richmond’s implementation and support efforts for its enterprise content management system. Earlier in her career, Chapman worked as a financial aid counselor and later as assistant director of financial aid at Georgia Southern University, where she earned a Master of Education degree in higher education student services in 2002. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history with a minor in legal studies from George Mason University. “Stepping into the interim CIO role at this moment is an incredible opportunity,” Chapman said. “David has fostered an organization of talented and dedicated people and built enduring relationships across the university. I am thrilled to continue that model while still having him as a partner in technology leadership.”]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/David-Saacke-copy-800x533.jpg test-category finding-your-path-2 <![CDATA[Finding Your Path]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/finding-your-path-2/ https://columns.wlu.edu/finding-your-path-2/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:31:15 -0400 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:31:15 -0400 Through the Gilman Scholarship, Adja Ndiaye '26 was invited to visit the U.S. Embassy in Jordan.[/caption] From the moment students step onto Washington and Lee University’s campus, the Office of Fellowships is ready to help them pursue new opportunities. Comprised of Matthew Loar ’07, director of fellowships and student research, and Dallas Tatman, assistant director of fellowships and visiting instructor of anthropology, the Office of Fellowships’ team of two plays an outsized role in W&L students’ time on campus; during the 2025-2026 academic year alone, Loar and Tatman held 1,155 meetings with 271 individual students about fellowship opportunities. “I think I made so many appointments with Dr. Loar and Dr. Tatman that I practically lived in their offices,” said Jack Evans ’25, who received several fellowships during his four years on campus, including a Gilman Scholarship and a Boren Scholarship. “They walked me through every essay revision, interview preparation and everything in between. I could never have achieved what I have without their help.” Each year, W&L students apply for (and receive) a range of scholarships, including Fulbright awards, Boren Scholarships, Critical Language Scholarships and Gilman Scholarships. Loar and Tatman work diligently — Loar since he started at W&L in 2019, with Tatman joining him in 2023 — to show W&L students the range of fellowship opportunities available to facilitate their studies, whether at home or abroad, and regardless of their background, major or career interest. “One of the first events I attended during my first year was the Gilman information session, and it opened my eyes to just how much aid and opportunities are available to elevate a student’s education,” said Adja Ndiaye ’26, who received a Gilman Scholarship in December 2024 to study Arabic in Jordan. “After being awarded with my QuestBridge Scholarship I figured I was set, but that was only the beginning.” Established in 2001, the Gilman Scholarship provides merit-based scholarships to more than 3,000 American undergraduate students with high financial need each year, expanding horizons for students who might not otherwise get a chance to study abroad. More than half of Gilman Scholars are first-generation students, and over 70% come from small towns or rural areas. [caption id="attachment_95651" align="aligncenter" width="600"] During her time abroad, Ndiaye visited Petra, an archaeological site in southwestern Jordan considered to be one of the new seven wonders of the world.[/caption] For Ndiaye, an earth and environmental geoscience major and Arabic minor from Greensboro, North Carolina, the Gilman Scholarship was an important steppingstone for her, both personally and professionally. During her semester abroad, Ndiaye was invited to visit the U.S. Embassy in Jordan, where she met with public diplomacy officers and learned about their work and discovered additional opportunities for fellowships and internships. When she returned to campus, Ndiaye connected with the Gilman alumni network to seek career advice and became a mentor for other W&L students interested in the Gilman Scholarship. Looking back on the opportunities the Gilman Scholarship created during her time abroad and for her future, Ndiaye is grateful she took that first step out of her comfort zone to pursue her dreams. “Receiving this award was confirmation that I was taking the necessary ‘risks’ in working toward my dreams,” Ndiaye said. “I learned that stepping out of my comfort zone and putting myself out there is not a terrifying thing, but in fact the opposite because it can reward you with things you couldn’t have imagined.” Redefining What’s Possible Evans applied for his first passport after he was accepted to W&L, and his dream of studying abroad became a reality when he received a Gilman Scholarship in December 2022 to spend a semester at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. “The first time I ever flew on a plane was on my way to Poland, and I have the Gilman Scholarship to thank for that,” he said. Evans, a global politics and East European and Russian studies double major from Ashland, Kentucky, also saw the Gilman as an opportunity for experiential learning, where he could take what he was studying in his global politics courses and apply it in a real setting. “The region of the world I had studied was no longer a place on a map I yearned to see, but somewhere I had been, met people and seen the consequences of the very political concepts I was studying,” Evans said. “My Gilman experience made everything I was learning feel more purposeful.” [caption id="attachment_95655" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Gilman Scholarship allowed Jack Evans '25 to explore the places he had learned about in class, including Piłsudksi Square in Warsaw, Poland.[/caption] The Gilman Scholarship redefined what was possible for Evans as a W&L student and alumnus, and he was eager to discover new opportunities that would allow him to return to Eastern Europe and continue developing his linguistic and cultural proficiency. He also received a Boren Scholarship to study Russian in Kyrgyzstan during the summer of 2024, and a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Uzbekistan following his graduation from W&L. “Winning the Gilman Scholarship gave me a new confidence that I could seek out and win fellowship opportunities and that these opportunities all carried the potential to form who I am as a professional and an individual,” Evans said. “Before I won the Gilman Scholarship, I never saw myself as the kind of person who could win these awards, but the Gilman gave me proof it was possible. Every scholarship and fellowship I pursued opened the door to the next one, and they collectively shaped my time at W&L.” Evans’ fellowships experience also helped him decide on a career in national security. As a Gilman Scholar, he had the opportunity to assist refugees at a train station on the Ukrainian border. Through this volunteer work, Evans met families whose lives had been upended by the war, and he began to view the crisis through a different lens, realizing “how easily something like this can happen to anyone” and deciding to dedicate himself to the field of national security. “Seeing the humanitarian impact of a nation’s security completely unraveled, combined with America’s uniquely impactful position in the world, led me to want to build a career where I can one day support efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts like these,” Evans said. The Boren Scholarship helped jumpstart Evans’ federal service career (the scholarship requires recipients to work for the federal government for one year after graduation), and Evans was also named a Grand Strategy Fellow by the Hertog Foundation’s Security Studies Program and participated in a four-week summer program in 2025. During the fellowship he took courses and engaged in simulations and case studies that reflected real-world decision-making. Now back stateside after completing his nine-month Fulbright program, Evans is grateful for the doors that W&L’s fellowships program opened for him, beginning with that first plane ride as a Gilman Scholar. He encourages all W&L students to explore the opportunities that are open to them by making an appointment with the fellowships office and adds a reminder to not count yourself out before you even begin, recalling how nervous he had been to apply. But now, looking back, he is proud he had the courage to put himself out there and pursue his dreams. “Education abroad builds character,” Evans said. “Some days are fun while others are genuinely hard, but I’m always grateful for these experiences. Every time I pack my suitcase and return home after a stint abroad, I find myself changed by my experience and forever a little more connected to a country that was once just a place on a map but is now home to people I built community with and lived alongside for weeks or even months.” [caption id="attachment_95654" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A view from Evans’ walk to class at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.[/caption]]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/adja-ndiaye-gilman-2-800x533.jpg test-category wl-presents-screening-of-the-west-ends-all-my-sons <![CDATA[W&L Presents Screening of the West End’s ‘All My Sons’]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-presents-screening-of-the-west-ends-all-my-sons/ https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-presents-screening-of-the-west-ends-all-my-sons/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:27:34 -0400 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:27:34 -0400 All My Sons, photo by Jan Versweyveld[/caption] Editor’s Note: This release was written by Lam Ha Nguyen ’28 for W&L’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. The Lenfest Center at Washington and Lee University kicks off its National Theatre Live series with a screening of “All My Sons” at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons. Tickets are required and available online or in person at the Lenfest Box Office. W&L’s National Theatre Live screenings are part of the Lenfest Center’s Outreach & Engagement (O&E) series. This year’s lineup will feature screenings of six top British theater productions, connecting university knowledge and art experiences on the W&L campus and beyond to the local community in a mutually beneficial partnership. Future screening from the series include “The Playboy of the Western World” on Oct. 20 and “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” on Nov. 10. Arthur Miller’s 1947 play is a powerful American classic, with complex family relationships and award-worthy performances from Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. At the heart of the play is the Keller family, whose seemingly comfortable life is haunted by a post-World War II tragedy. When the long-held truths resurface, the family is asked to confront different questions about love, loyalty, guilt and responsibility, all while their relationships are being tested and trialed. Using the framework of a family story to reflect a larger moral and social picture, the drama raises the question about how far we are willing to go to protect those closest to us. Directed by Ivo van Hove and designed by Jan Versweyveld, this performance was filmed live from Wyndham’s Theater on London’s West End during its 2025-2026 run. The Guardian praised the production’s “dream cast” with a five-star rating, while the Evening Standard called it an “astonishing piece of theater.” The Independent praised Cranston’s performance, stating that he was “magnetic” in the play’s “masterful staging.” Order your tickets online today or call the Lenfest Center box office at 540-458-8000 for ticket information. Box office hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The cost is $20 for general admission and $8 for W&L students. The National Theatre Live performances are sponsored in part by the Class of 1964 Performing Arts Fund. For a full list of performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/NTL-2026-All-My-Sons-Production-Photography-credit-Jan-Versweyveld-4-800x533.jpg test-category meet-a-colleague-lauren-kozak <![CDATA[Meet a Colleague: Lauren Kozak]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/meet-a-colleague-lauren-kozak/ https://columns.wlu.edu/meet-a-colleague-lauren-kozak/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:00:29 -0400 Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:18:18 -0400 Lauren Kozak, Title IX coordinator and director of disability resources[/caption]

Q. How long have you worked at W&L? I have worked at W&L for 16 years.

Q. What is the favorite aspect of your job at W&L? I get to work with amazing people and do work that I feel is important. Q. If you chose a different path, what other career would you have? I briefly used to be an attorney, so I guess that? Q. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Clovis, California, which is an agricultural community in the Central Valley near the Sierra Nevada foothills. Q. What was your favorite subject in school? History and English. Q. What three words describe you best? Loyal, even-keeled and impatient. Q. Name one person from history you would like to spend a day with and why. It would be interesting to have John Muir serve as a guide around the mountains in California. Although in actuality, I would be so nervous about spending the entire day with a famous historical figure I may not enjoy it much. Q. What is your biggest pet peeve? I can get annoyed when people take a really long time to make a move in a board game. Q. What do you like to do away from work? I like to ride horses and spend time with friends and family: my husband and three kids, ages 13, 11 and eight. I don’t have my own horse, but due to the generosity of a friend I get to ride some wonderful horses. I am always up for a card or board game as well. Q. What is your least favorite chore at home? Weeding. You could guess this answer by passing by my house right now. Q. What is your favorite family holiday tradition? Getting together with family. I also love the tradition of having a Friendsgiving before Thanksgiving. Q. What do you pretend to hate but secretly love? Someone else said this, but it made me realize that it is so true — deadlines! Q. What is your all-time favorite food or food dish? Probably tacos since I could eat those every day and not get sick of them. But I also really love sushi and matchstick french fries. Q. Where would you choose to build your dream home? Here! I feel so grateful to get to live here. Although, if we are in a fantasy where a second home is possible, I would love to have a vacation home in Mammoth Lakes, California for skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. Q. What is your all-time favorite book? Impossible to choose an all-time favorite, however, I find that I have probably thought about “Les Miserables” the most over the years. Q. If you could choose one series to binge-watch, what would it be? “Gilmore Girls.” Q. What is your all-time favorite movie? Hard to say my all-time favorite, but my favorite comfort movie that I have seen the most times is “Sense and Sensibility”(1995 version). I saw they are doking a remake and it is going to be hard to top the perfection of Emma Thompson’s adaptation. Q. Tell us something most people don’t know about you. I have attended several costume balls where we dance Old English County Dances (i.e., the dances you often see in Jane Austin movies).]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Lauren-Kozak-scaled-800x533.jpg?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2 test-category summer-experience-malani-plancher-28l <![CDATA[Summer Experience: Malani Plancher ’28L]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/summer-experience-malani-plancher-28l/ https://columns.wlu.edu/summer-experience-malani-plancher-28l/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:55:05 -0400 Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:55:05 -0400 Malani Plancher '28L[/caption] Malani Plancher ‘28L is a second-year law student from Fort Myers, Florida. At W&L, she is actively involved in the law school community as a Junior Editor for the German Law Journal, Vice President of the Black Law Students Association, and Vice President of Academic Affairs for the Middle Eastern and South Asian Law Students Association. This summer, she had the opportunity to spend two months in Rome, Italy, working with the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic association dedicated to social service. Following graduation, she hopes to build her legal career in the DMV area. What did you do for work this summer? I worked with a classmate on a research paper examining the evolution and rationale of the death penalty in Italy and internationally. Alongside our legal research, we also had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer with the Community of Sant’Egidio, including helping provide food to people experiencing poverty. How did you find this position? Thanks to Professor [Mark] Drumbl! He hosted an event for students who were interested in international law and shared the opportunity with us. I was fortunate to be selected to participate. What surprised you about your work experience? One thing that surprised me was how much of our work extended beyond traditional legal research. Connecting our research on the death penalty with Sant’Egidio’s work in the community gave me a broader perspective on the relationship between law, human rights, and the people affected by legal systems. Working directly with community members and engaging with letters and poems written by individuals on death row also brought a deeply personal dimension to our research. It reminded me that behind every legal issue are real people whose lives are directly affected by the law. What were some skills you developed this summer? I strengthened my legal research and writing skills, particularly when working with international and comparative legal sources. I also improved my ability to collaborate closely with another researcher, balancing different perspectives while developing and contributing my own ideas and staying focused on the goals of our research. What was your favorite aspect of this summer work experience? My favorite part was being able to combine my interest in international law with an experience that felt genuinely meaningful outside of the classroom. I loved getting to conduct research on an issue I care about while also experiencing Rome and becoming involved in the local community. Has this experience helped you figure out post graduate plans, and if so, how? For sure. My experience has reinforced my interest in the legal field and showed me that I genuinely enjoy legal research and collaborating with others. It also made me more interested in pursuing work that allows me to engage with legal issues across different jurisdictions. How do you think this experience will shape the rest of your time at W&L Law? My experience reminded me of the importance of stepping outside the law school setting and seeing firsthand how the law affects people in their everyday lives. [caption id="attachment_95622" align="aligncenter" width="447"] Plancher on the roof of her workplace in Rome.[/caption]]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DSC07839-800x533.jpg test-category wl-community-to-observe-25th-anniversary-of-the-9-11-terrorist-attacks <![CDATA[W&L Community to Observe 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-community-to-observe-25th-anniversary-of-the-9-11-terrorist-attacks/ https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-community-to-observe-25th-anniversary-of-the-9-11-terrorist-attacks/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:06:24 -0400 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:42:59 -0400

Washington and Lee University will mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with a series of events for the W&L and Lexington communities, including a student-led flag planting on Sept. 10 and a morning ceremony and an evening memorial service on Sept. 11. The events will honor the 2,977 lives lost and recognize those who responded on Sept. 11, 2001, and in the days that followed.

On Thursday, Sept. 10, volunteers will gather at 5:30 p.m. to place 2,977 American flags, one for every person killed on Sept. 11, on the lawn surrounding Stemmons Plaza. The flag planting, funded by the Executive Committee of the Student Body (EC), is an annual tradition on campus and is organized this year by the College Democrats and College Republicans student organizations.

On Friday, Sept. 11, community members are invited to gather in the courtyard outside the Ruscio Center for Global Learning at 8:45 a.m. for a memorial service. Attendees will observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. while the University Chapel bells toll to mark the moment American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Interim President Ken Ruscio ’76 will preside over the ceremony and speak in memory of those who died.

“While most of our current students were not yet born on Sept. 11, 2001, many of our faculty and staff will never forget the terrible events of that day,” Ruscio said. “The 25th anniversary of 9/11 is a time for all of us to come together to honor the legacies not only of those who were lost, including two of our own alumni, but also the heroes who came forward to help those in need.”

Joining Ruscio in offering remarks will be student leaders Rose Williams ’27L, 3L class president of the W&L School of Law, and John Beekman Youngblood ’27, president of the EC. Dr. Ralph Caldroney ’72 will also speak. Caldroney served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserves after volunteering for duty on Sept. 12, 2001.

“I knew my country was going to war and I knew what my duty was,” Caldroney said of his military service. “My remarks 25 years later will cover the events of Sept. 11, my military voyage, the concept of noblesse oblige and the citizen soldier concept. I’ll also reflect on whether this was an isolated event and the implications for the future.”

Later in the day, the College Democrats, College Republicans and the Generals Redoubt will hold a memorial service on Stemmons Plaza at 5 p.m. to reflect, remember and honor the legacy of those lost, including W&L alumni Rob Schlegel ’85 and James Gadiel ’00. Schlegel served on the staff of the chief of naval operations at the Pentagon and had been promoted to commander just weeks before the attacks. Gadiel worked in the equities department of Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

The service will include a moment of silence, an interfaith prayer, remarks from student leaders and music performed by the University Singers.

All of the commemorative events on campus are open to the public.

]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/9.11flags-scaled-800x533.jpg?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2 test-category washington-and-lee-receives-grant-from-the-teagle-foundation <![CDATA[Washington and Lee Receives Grant from the Teagle Foundation]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/washington-and-lee-receives-grant-from-the-teagle-foundation/ https://columns.wlu.edu/washington-and-lee-receives-grant-from-the-teagle-foundation/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:01:44 -0400 Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:01:44 -0400 Washington and Lee University has received a $25,000 planning grant from the Teagle Foundation to expand and strengthen the humanities across its undergraduate curriculum. The grant comes through Teagle’s Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative, which aims to elevate the visibility and relevance of the humanities in general education to promote a sense of community among students and faculty. Leading the university’s efforts in reshaping the focus on humanities will be Genelle Gertz, associate dean of strategic initiatives and the Thomas H. Broadus Jr. Professor of English, and Paul Gregory, professor of philosophy and director of general education. Together, they will serve as co-principal investigators and will work extensively with faculty leaders from various departments on defining and shaping the programs. The Cornerstone grant will support two faculty cohorts during the current academic year led by Gertz; Emmett Buckley, visiting assistant professor of English; Erin Taylor, associate professor of philosophy; and Leticia Fernández-Fontecha, visiting assistant professor of history. The first cohort will develop First-Year Seminar (FYS) Connections, a new first-year seminar model designed to give entering students a shared intellectual experience grounded in transformative humanities texts. Faculty members from across the university will collaborate to develop a shared, evolving body of transformative texts in literature, philosophy, history and religion — works that have shaped human thought, public life and cultural understanding. The result will be a richer, shared foundation for discussion and reflection. Seminars based on transformative texts will be ready by Fall Term 2027. “Through FYS Connections, we hope to give first-year students a shared encounter with transformative texts and enduring questions,” said Gertz. “The humanities are the bedrock of a liberal arts education, helping students understand their place in history, recognize how to separate arguments from opinion and develop tools for answering the major ethical questions of our time. Paul Gregory and I are excited about how Teagle funding will support faculty in designing new courses to emphasize the role and value of the humanities for all.” The second cohort will work to design courses grounded in the medical humanities, several of which will also debut by Fall Term 2027. These medical humanities courses will help create a pathway through general education that grounds students’ preprofessional interests in the humanities. The cohort will also develop curricular plans for offering a minor in the medical humanities. Both cohorts will participate in workshops led by specialists and other Teagle grantees to design syllabi and assignments. “Among my top priorities as dean is ensuring the arts and humanities remain the cornerstone of a liberal arts education at W&L,” said Paul Youngman ’87, P’21, P’27, dean of the College and professor of German. “I’m proud of Associate Dean Gertz and her team for securing this Teagle Foundation planning grant. It represents an important next step in advancing the humanities at W&L and affirming their essential role in our students’ future success.” After using the Cornerstone planning grant to develop and pilot courses during the 2026-27 academic year, the university is expected to apply for an additional Teagle Foundation grant of up to $250,000 to implement the new programming officially during the 2027-28 academic year. “The Teagle Foundation planning grant will allow the university to infuse the Cornerstone philosophy into our first-year seminars, foregrounding humanities-rich inquiry, integrative learning and purposeful reflection for all entering students,” said Lena Hill, provost and professor of English. “Our partnership with the Teagle Foundation will help us pilot and refine the Cornerstone approach, and we are both grateful for and enthusiastic about this opportunity.” Established in 1944 by Walter C. Teagle, longtime president and chairman of the board of Standard Oil Company (now Exxon Mobil), the Teagle Foundation works to support and strengthen liberal arts education. The foundation aims to serve as a catalyst for the improvement of teaching and learning in the arts and sciences while addressing issues of financial sustainability and accountability in higher education.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Shelby_TopTen_0006-800x533.jpg test-category professors-catherine-smith-and-suzette-malveaux-submit-amicus-brief-in-u-s-supreme-court-case <![CDATA[Professors Catherine Smith and Suzette Malveaux Submit Amicus Brief in U.S. Supreme Court Case]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/professors-catherine-smith-and-suzette-malveaux-submit-amicus-brief-in-u-s-supreme-court-case/ https://columns.wlu.edu/professors-catherine-smith-and-suzette-malveaux-submit-amicus-brief-in-u-s-supreme-court-case/ Mon, 07 Sep 2026 14:37:33 -0400 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:52:22 -0400 Professor Catherine Smith and Professor Suzette Malveaux[/caption] Washington and Lee law professors Catherine Smith and Suzette Malveaux are among the authors of an amicus brief in a case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief, “Scholars for the Advancement of Children’s Constitutional Rights,” argues in support of Colorado in a case concerning the state’s newly enacted Universal Pre-Kindergarten (“UPK”) program. The case, St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, will be argued at the Court in November. Preschools participating in the publicly-funded UPK program must comply with a LGBTQ non-discrimination requirement to ensure that every child in Colorado has an equal opportunity to access a quality preschool education. The plaintiffs in the case, including two Catholic preschools and the Archdiocese of Denver, sued Colorado contending that the requirement infringes on their First Amendment rights. They seek an exemption that would allow them to exclude children or their parents based on sexual orientation or gender identity. A federal district court upheld the non-discrimination requirement, rejecting the Catholic preschools’ contention that their constitutional rights were violated. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit also ruled against the plaintiffs. The professors’ amicus brief emphasizes the adverse effects of LGBTQ discrimination on young children. “This case is not just about the prerogatives of institutions seeking a religious exemption from the State’s non-discrimination requirement. This case is about the serious, lifelong, and cumulative injuries that children in the LGBT community would suffer if Colorado were forced to abandon its equal access mandate and subsidize the discriminatory religious exemption St. Mary Catholic Parish seeks.” Smith and Malveaux are joined on the brief by professors Tanya Washington (Georgia State College of Law), Robin Sterling (Northwestern School of Law), Jeremiah Chin (University of Washington School of Law), Sara Hildebrand (University of Iowa College of Law), Abigail Fleming (University of Miami School of Law), and Professor Barbara Woodhouse (Emory Law School, University of Florida College of Law). The amicus brief is available through the W&L Scholarly Commons.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Smith-Malveaux-800x400.jpg?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2 test-category jill-fraley-publishes-article-on-property-sovereignty-and-noncitizen-land-laws <![CDATA[Jill Fraley Publishes Article on Property, Sovereignty and Noncitizen Land Laws]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/jill-fraley-publishes-article-on-property-sovereignty-and-noncitizen-land-laws/ https://columns.wlu.edu/jill-fraley-publishes-article-on-property-sovereignty-and-noncitizen-land-laws/ Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:37:47 -0400 Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:37:47 -0400 Professor Jill Fraley[/caption] Jill M. Fraley, professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law, has published “Feudal Is Fine Because Property Is Sovereignty: Rational Basis Equal Protection and the New Noncitizen Land Laws” in the Indiana Law Journal Supplement. The article examines a new wave of state laws restricting noncitizens’ ownership of real property and the constitutional challenges those laws have generated, particularly under equal protection and federal preemption doctrines. Fraley challenges the prevailing view that these restrictions are unlikely to survive constitutional scrutiny. She argues that state regulation of land occupies a distinct constitutional position because property ownership has historically been connected to state sovereignty rather than treated simply as a form of economic activity. Drawing on Supreme Court jurisprudence concerning citizenship-based classifications, the article distinguishes between laws affecting ordinary participation in civil society and those involving core sovereign functions. Fraley argues that this distinction supports applying rational basis review to contemporary noncitizen land laws and provides a constitutional foundation for greater state authority over land ownership. More broadly, the article places property at the intersection of constitutional structure, citizenship and democratic theory, examining the relationship between state control of land and concerns including democratic accountability, territorial integrity, and national security. The article is available through the W&L Law faculty scholarship repository.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/fraleyteaching-800x533.jpg?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2 test-category the-art-museum-at-wl-presents-the-legacy-of-i-hsiung-ju <![CDATA[The Art Museum at W&L Presents ‘The Legacy of I-Hsiung Ju’]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/the-art-museum-at-wl-presents-the-legacy-of-i-hsiung-ju/ https://columns.wlu.edu/the-art-museum-at-wl-presents-the-legacy-of-i-hsiung-ju/ Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:14:01 -0400 Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:54:26 -0400 Winter Traveler (detail), 2022, I-Hsiung Ju; gift of the family of I-Hsiung Ju, Art Museum at W&L. 2015.35.2[/caption] The Art Museum at Washington and Lee University presents the feature exhibition “The Legacy of I-Hsiung Ju,” celebrating the work and legacy of the late professor of art emeritus I-Hsiung Ju, who is considered a pioneer for his blending of traditional and modern techniques in his landscape paintings. The exhibition will be on view from Sept. 18 through Dec. 12 in the Reeves Museum of Ceramics. An alumni panel at 2 p.m. on Sept. 18 in the Watson Galleries will explore Ju’s journey before W&L, his contributions to the artistic canon, his distinctive teaching philosophy and the profound impact he left on generations of students at W&L and beyond. Panelists will include David Hilton ’75, Patrick Hinely ’73 and Michael Kopald ’73. The exhibit and panel are free and open to the public, and pre-registration is required for the panel. The alumni panel is presented in partnership with the Office of Alumni Engagement’s Five-Star Festival and W&L’s Center for International Education. Born in 1923 in Jiangyin, China, Ju was a traditional Chinese scholar-painter trained in both Eastern and Western traditions. He practiced literati painting, or “wenren hua”( 文人), a painting style that features abstracted landscapes and bird and flower subjects rendered through expressive brushwork that is often monochromatic. Historically, this style was linked to China’s elite scholar-artists, whose works were seen as direct expressions of the artist’s character and inner nature. Ju came to the United States with his family in 1968 and was hired as an artist-in-residence at W&L, where he was a professor of art for 20 years. During his tenure at W&L, Ju was both a teacher and cultural ambassador, inspiring generations of students. In addition to his art, Ju created opportunities to support a merging of cross-cultural interests and contemporary life, including the Art in Taiwan study abroad program at W&L; the Art Farm Gallery, an informal school of Chinese arts and culture created by Ju and his wife Chow-Soon Chuang Ju, in Lexington, Virginia; and four instructional books on painting the “Four Gentleman” (four plants in Chinese art that represent the four seasons), continuing a Chinese teaching tradition from “The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting,” which was first published in 1679. Ju is recognized as a master Chinese brush painter and his works are held in many private and public collections, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon; the Westervelt Collection in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and the Millennium Gate Museum in Atlanta. W&L currently houses the largest repository of Ju’s work in the United States, which served as inspiration for W&L’s artist-in-residence Zhang Xiaoli as she created pieces for her exhibit, “Zhang Xiaoli/Block Party!” Zhang is a contemporary ink painter who transforms classical Chinese painting traditions to create playful yet contemplative landscapes that bridge past and future. “Zhang Xiaoli/Block Party!” is currently on view in the Watson Galleries through Dec. 12. “The Legacy of I-Hsiang Ju” is organized by the Art Museum team, in consultation with Patricia Hobbs, senior curator of art emerita, and is made possible through the generous support of W&L’s Center for International Education and the Reeves Endowment. The Reeves Museum and Watson Galleries are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. To learn more about the exhibition, visit the Art Museum’s website.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Winter-Traveler-scaled-800x533.png?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2 test-category wls-dart-fellowship-participants-gain-valuable-experience-in-lab-research-and-patient-care <![CDATA[W&L’s DART Fellowship Participants Gain Valuable Experience in Lab Research and Patient Care]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wls-dart-fellowship-participants-gain-valuable-experience-in-lab-research-and-patient-care/ https://columns.wlu.edu/wls-dart-fellowship-participants-gain-valuable-experience-in-lab-research-and-patient-care/ Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:22:34 -0400 Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:22:34 -0400 Beamlak Abebe ’28 (left) and her fellow intern pose for a photo in the lab at the University of Illinois Chicago. Abebe spent her summer conducting medical research through W&L’s DART summer internship program.[/caption]
“The experience in these labs is a high-quality one, and results in students having excellent letters of recommendation from their mentors. It’s an incredibly impactful growing experience for our students.” ~ Bob Stewart, professor of cognitive and behavioral science
This summer, three Washington and Lee students honed their research skills in labs around the country through the Dana’s Angels Research Trust (DART) Fellowship. The program places students in labs studying Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease that mostly affects children. This year, the program connected three fellows — Maren Barclay ’27, Beamlak Abebe ’28 and Martha Afoakwa ’27 — with faculty labs at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Michigan. Abebe, a biochemistry major, spent the summer in Dr. Stephanie Cologna’s lab at the University of Illinois Chicago, working on the proteomics side of NPC research, studying how the disease-causing mutation changes proteins in liver and brain tissue. “We were analyzing their proteins,” Abebe says, comparing samples from “an affected rat, a wild-type rat and a heterogeneous [carrier], and seeing how the protein would be affected in those three.” The work meant learning an arsenal of new techniques, from BCA assays to Western blots to mass spectrometry, the last of which Abebe had a head start on, having used a mass spectrometer in a previous W&L chemistry course that examined the chemistry of winemaking during a Spring Term Abroad in South Africa. Abebe said one of her most valuable experiences this summer happened outside the lab. Abebe’s principal investigator introduced her to one of the few doctors in the U.S. who treats NPC patients directly, and Abebe spent some time shadowing her and observing patients receiving treatment through an active clinical trial, including a 35-year-old NPC patient, a unique case given how rarely patients with the disease live past childhood. “It just made me more sure of the path I want to go,” Abebe says. The experience has inspired her to explore M.D./Ph.D. programs at schools like Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University, a track she plans to pursue after a possible gap year or two working as a clinical research coordinator. [caption id="attachment_95558" align="aligncenter" width="565"] Martha Afoakwa '27 in the lab during her DART fellowship experience at the University of Michigan.[/caption] Afoakwa spent her summer as the only undergraduate in Dr. Andrew Lieberman’s lab at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, working on proteostatic therapy approaches to NPC, which are strategies that modify how cells fold proteins rather than replacing the defective gene itself. After a few weeks of training on lab basics like thawing, maintaining, splitting and counting cells, Afoakwa began testing a modified compound developed in the lab, evaluating whether it performed better than earlier versions. “I was given the independence to make decisions with my research,” she says, adding that the lab team members were excellent guides as she navigated this autonomy in the lab. Afoakwa said she hadn’t expected to end up researching a disease this rare when she began considering summer internships. “I had some knowledge of what [NPC] was, but actually getting to spend time in the lab and researching it, I feel like I can now basically talk to someone about it without having to look at a note,” she says. Like Abebe, the experience has piqued her interest in M.D./Ph.D. programs as she continues to pursue her pre-med coursework at W&L. Beyond the science, Afoakwa says the open and welcoming work culture of Lieberman’s lab made creating relationships with her teammates outside of work a rewarding aspect of the summer; her fellow researchers, all of whom were graduate students, invited her to trivia nights, a local arts fair and a movie night and organized a goodbye ice cream trip and lab team lunch on her last day. Barclay, a neuroscience major, spent 10 weeks at the NIH research lab in Bethesda, Maryland, working in the lab of Dr. Forbes Porter as part of her neuroscience practicum. Barclay said she was surprised and thrilled to learn she had been accepted into this particular lab, which was highly recommended by Bob Stewart, professor of cognitive and behavioral science and head of the neuroscience program at W&L. “I applied in December, and then 48 hours later, I heard back,” she says. Porter’s lab combined bench research with a clinical practice treating NPC patients, which gave Barclay a rare window into both sides of finding solutions for patients battling a rare disease. Her project was the tail end of a larger study on protein isoforms tied to NPC, and it produced what she calls a negative result; details on the experiment will be released when the study is published. “There actually is not a difference in the isoforms that we were studying,” she says, adding that it is important to note that this study’s outcome was just as valuable as a positive one. “Even though it doesn’t do what we anticipated it to do, it still is just as important to how we understand this disease and how we understand the brain,” she says. For Barclay, the summer was a valuable affirmation of her interest in direct patient care. This fall, she will finish her neuroscience practicum with a capstone project in studying hormones and social behavior in assistant professor of cognitive and behavioral science Nikki Lee’s Social Behavior Lab, which examines how hormones impact behavior in various species of rodents. Barclay says she deliberately chose a different kind of neuroscience from the wet-lab pathology work she did at the NIH. “I think both of those things working in tandem will be a really informative way of understanding the whole of neuroscience,” she says. After graduation, she plans to continue working as a certified nursing assistant, a job she’s held the past two summers, while she applies to physician assistant or nurse practitioner programs. All three students say that their experience has helped refine their future academic path. And Stewart, who has helped shepherd students into the program for years, has had the opportunity to see multiple alumni benefit professionally from the experience. “The experience in these labs is a high-quality one, and results in students having excellent letters of recommendation from their mentors,” Stewart says. “It’s an incredibly impactful growing experience for our students.” [caption id="attachment_95559" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Maren Barclay '27 with her lab supervisor, Khushboo Singhal, at the National Institutes of Health summer intern poster session in Bethesda, Maryland.[/caption]]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SceneOffCampus08272026_001-800x533.jpg test-category summer-experience-nina-dascoli-27l <![CDATA[Summer Experience: Nina Dascoli ’27L]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/summer-experience-nina-dascoli-27l/ https://columns.wlu.edu/summer-experience-nina-dascoli-27l/ Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:17:09 -0400 Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:17:09 -0400 Nina Dascoli '27L[/caption] Nina Dascoli ‘27L is a third-year law student from Charleston, West Virginia. She is an active member of the W&L community, serving as a Rachford Fellow for the Office of Career Strategy, the Negotiations Competition Co-Chair for the Moot Court Executive Board, a W&L Law Ambassador, the Merchandise Chair of the Women Law Students Organization, an Events Director for the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Lecture Board, and as a Head Czar of the Law School Football League. This past summer Nina worked as a Litigation Summer Associate at Holland & Knight LLP in their New York office. After law school, Nina will start her legal career at Holland & Knight’s New York office as a first-year litigation associate. What did you do for work this summer? I worked as a summer associate in Holland & Knight LLP’s New York office, primarily completing assignments for attorneys in the Litigation and Construction practice groups. My work included legal research and writing, discovery, motion practice, and trial preparation across a variety of substantive areas. How did you find/get this position? At the beginning of my 1L spring, I began reaching out to W&L Law and undergraduate alumni working at large law firms in New York City. Rather than approaching those conversations solely as part of my job search, I focused on building relationships and learning from alumni about their experiences practicing in New York. Through that process, I connected with an associate in Holland & Knight’s New York office, who introduced me to several other litigators and W&L Law graduates at the firm. Those relationships ultimately led to an interview and my summer associate position. Beyond the opportunity to spend my summer at H&K, the process also gave me a life-long mentor who has continued to be an important resource throughout law school and my professional development. Describe your work experience. As a litigation summer associate at H&K, I had the opportunity to see the research and writing skills I have developed at W&L Law put to use in practice. Having that foundation allowed me to quickly adapt to assignments involving a wide range of substantive areas, including intellectual property, employment, aviation, construction, and contractual disputes. I drafted research memoranda and pretrial motions, assisted with discovery, and helped prepare for and attended motion hearings. One of the most exciting and unexpected parts of my summer was the opportunity to work with the Construction group as its attorneys prepared for a state court trial. Because so much civil litigation is resolved before trial, I particularly valued the chance to see what happens when a case actually reaches that stage. I enjoyed supporting the attorneys as they prepared for trial and seeing how the research, writing, discovery, and strategic decisions made throughout a case ultimately come together before heading to the courtroom. What were some skills you developed this summer? This summer reinforced for me the importance of active, intentional communication, particularly when managing the workload of a junior attorney. Whenever I received an assignment, I tried to speak directly with the assigning partner or associate, whether in person or over Teams, to discuss the purpose of the project, the expected turnaround time, the attorney’s preferences for the work product, and any additional context that would help me approach the assignment effectively. Those conversations taught me that asking thoughtful questions at the outset often makes both the work itself and the final product significantly stronger. I also learned that communication and workload management are closely connected. As I began balancing multiple assignments, the relationships I had developed with attorneys made it easier to communicate about competing deadlines, priorities, and expectations. Those conversations also became opportunities to build professional relationships and mentorships across the firm. By the end of the summer, I came to understand that being a strong junior attorney is not just about producing strong work product; it is also about being someone colleagues can rely on to communicate clearly, manage responsibilities thoughtfully, and ask the right questions. What was your favorite aspect of this summer work experience? My favorite aspect of the summer was feeling that the work I was doing at Holland & Knight was genuinely adding value and that the attorneys saw me not simply as a law student, but as a member of their teams. Working in a big law firm as a law student can be intimidating, particularly when you are working alongside attorneys handling significant matters for major clients and industry leaders. What I appreciated most about H&K was how quickly the attorneys gave me opportunities to contribute in meaningful ways. They asked for my thoughts on issues in their cases, engaged with my analysis, and valued the conclusions I reached in my work product. As their confidence and trust in me grew, so did my confidence in my own abilities and judgment as a future attorney. That trust motivated me to take greater ownership of my work and perform at my best throughout the summer. Holland & Knight’s emphasis on learning, mentorship, and collaboration also reminded me of the community at W&L Law, where people invest in one another’s development while still holding each other to high standards. That shared commitment to supporting one another and striving for collective excellence was one of the most meaningful parts of my summer experience. Has this experience helped you figure out post graduate plans, and if so, how? Yes! I have accepted an offer to return to Holland & Knight in New York as an associate in the Litigation practice group and am very excited to begin work next fall. How do you think this experience will shape the rest of your time at W&L Law? This experience has further solidified my interest in complex commercial litigation as I head into my final year at W&L Law. I plan to be intentional about taking courses that will sharpen the skills I will need as a first-year associate while taking advantage of every opportunity to gain courtroom experience and continue developing as an advocate. My summer at H&K has also shaped how I hope to advise other students as a Rachford Fellow with the Office of Career Strategy. My own experience showed me the value of building genuine relationships with alumni and approaching the job search as an opportunity to find not only the right work, but also the right professional community. I hope to encourage other students to seek out firms and organizations where they feel the same sense of mentorship, collaboration, and investment in their growth that makes W&L Law such a special community.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ninad-800x533.jpg test-category maya-lin-is-the-next-speaker-in-the-mudd-lecture-series <![CDATA[Maya Lin is the Next Speaker in the Mudd Lecture Series]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/maya-lin-is-the-next-speaker-in-the-mudd-lecture-series/ https://columns.wlu.edu/maya-lin-is-the-next-speaker-in-the-mudd-lecture-series/ Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:08:45 -0400 Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:08:45 -0400 Maya Lin, photo by Jesse Frohman[/caption] Maya Lin, renowned architect and artist, will deliver a lecture at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, in the Keller Theatre in the Lenfest Center for the Arts to kick off the Washington and Lee University Roger Mudd Center for Ethics’ series, “Memory, Mind and Morality.” The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled “Memory, Monument and the Natural World.” The event is co-sponsored by the Lenfest Center, the Art Museum at W&L, the Department of Art History, the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Lin is a visionary artist who has created a remarkable and complex body of work, encompassing sculpture, architecture and memorials, that have explored our history and culture, our relationship with the natural environment and the passage of time. In her talk, Lin will present several of her own works — including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama — and reflect on how her deep concern for the environment has shaped her aesthetic vision. She will conclude by discussing her final memory work, “What Is Missing?,” a multi-sited memorial to the planet that confronts biodiversity loss and climate change. Since she designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as an undergraduate at Yale University, Lin has forged a unique and highly acclaimed path practicing in both architecture and art, while maintaining her memory works — five memorials that focus on the critical issues of our time and have been groundbreaking in their design. Lin’s achievements have been widely recognized. Freida Lee Mock’s 1996 documentary, “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision,” won the Academy Award for best documentary, and Lin has been profiled in TIME, The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, among many other outlets. Lin was one of the youngest women to be inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame and has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor of artistic excellence, and in 2016, President Barack Obama awarded her the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and praised her for a celebrated career in art and architecture and for creating a sacred place of healing in Washington, D.C. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit the Mudd Center for Ethics’ series webpage. The Mudd Center was established in 2010 through a gift to the university from award-winning journalist Roger Mudd, a 1950 graduate of W&L. By facilitating collaboration across traditional institutional boundaries, the center aims to encourage a multidisciplinary perspective on ethics informed by both theory and practice. Previous Mudd Center lecture series themes have included “Global Ethics in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities,” “Race and Justice in America,” “The Ethics of Citizenship,” “Markets and Morals,” “Equality and Difference,” “The Ethics of Identity,” “The Ethics of Technology,” “Daily Ethics: How Individual Choices and Habits Express Our Values and Shape Our World, “Beneficence: Practicing and Ethics of Care,” “The Ethics of Design,” “How We Live and Die: Stories, Values and Communities” and “Taking Place: Land Use and Environmental Ethics.”]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Maya-Lin-1000x1000-1-800x533.jpg test-category discovery-through-dance <![CDATA[Discovery Through Dance]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/discovery-through-dance/ https://columns.wlu.edu/discovery-through-dance/ Thu, 03 Sep 2026 17:18:02 -0400 Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:39:28 -0400 Nava Berwick '27 with her nihon buyo dance master, Eiren Nishikawa, in Kyoto, Japan.[/caption]
“The Johnson Opportunity Grant made it possible for me to actualize and dive into ideas I would not have had the opportunity to do otherwise as an undergrad.” ~ Nava Berwick ’27 
Falls Church, Virginia, native Nava Berwick ’27 describes herself as “a disciple of traditional Asian dance since the age of 4,” particularly traditional Indonesian dance. This summer, Berwick, a Japanese major with double minors in Middle East and Southeast Asian Studies and religion, embarked on a research project supported by W&L’s Johnson Opportunity Grant to deepen her dance training and research various forms of dance styles across Asia through an interdisciplinary lens. Since Berwick started training in classical Indonesian dance in 2008, she has added intensive training in Indian dance (specifically Bharatanatyam and Odissi styles) and most recently traditional Japanese dance to her repertoire. She has extensive performance experience, including showcases at the Smithsonian, the National Cathedral, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and ambassador’s residence and other government and educational institutions in the Washington, D.C., area. And she has furthered her study at W&L, as she has twice won the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship for Indonesian language and culture, completing intensive in-country study at the University of Malang in both 2024 and 2025. Over the summer, Berwick trained in Japan’s cultural capital, Kyoto, and the two royal cities of Surakarta and Yogyakarta in Indonesia in pursuit of her goals of deepening her dance training and exploring questions of culture through dance. She spent Fall Term of her junior year abroad in Kyoto where she added Japanese dance to her repertoire as a student at Columbia University’s intensive Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies program; returning to Kyoto for a month this summer allowed her to explore the art form in more depth. She says the Johnson Opportunity Grant allowed her to observe and study traditional Japanese dance in Kyoto firsthand, as well as how Shinto and Buddhist practices shape performance, training and audience experience in real-world settings. [caption id="attachment_95551" align="aligncenter" width="530"] Berwick dancing in the front row at the historic Surakarta royal dance academy, Mangkunegaran.[/caption] “The thread connecting my cross-cultural odyssey is an intellectual hunger to examine these classical dances from a more historical and socio-political lens to glean how they affect their societies today,” Berwick says. “The place and impact of these dance arts are especially intriguing when comparing them, as they are Asian but emanate from two completely different cultures. All this fueled my uniquely transnational adventure in Japan and Indonesia." In Japan, Berwick studied under a traditional “nihon buyo” dance master, Eiren Nishikawa, focusing on building her expertise at what is known as a “maiko” (geisha) dance, called “The Iris Yukata.” Berwick says she began learning this dance during her semester abroad, noting that she was Nishikawa’s first American student. Nishikawa was also Berwick’s entree into the intricacies of Kyoto’s culture, as she took Berwick to museums and off-the-beaten-path historical sites. Berwick also interned at Sogoo, a new cultural tourism company in Kyoto, that provides intimate, short-term exposure to traditional cultural practices for local and foreign tourists. She provided translation, marketing, social media, reception and assistant instructor duties, all as the first foreigner to work there and directly contribute to what will be the future of cultural tourism in Japan. [caption id="attachment_95535" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Berwick in a seated position, at the beginning of the Sari Kusuma or “blossoming” dance in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.[/caption] In Indonesia, Berwick studied full-time, elite-level Javanese dance from senior masters within the royal courts. Berwick trained on court premises in Surakarta (with masters Theresia Sri Kurniati, Sri Lestari and Ningtyas Puji Kurniastanti) and Yogyakarta (with Heni Pujiastuti), conducted largely in Javanese. Berwick says she is grateful for such a rare opportunity in the world of Indonesian dance. “It’s rare for outsiders to be given this level of training, and it’s a first to be intensively trained at both royal courts within the same period,” she says. Berwick’s training in Indonesia began with a personal meeting in Jakarta with Sulistyo Tirtokusumo, a famed royal court dancer who went on to head cultural preservation for Indonesia’s federal government. “I personally delivered a letter to him from Clare Wolfowitz, the renowned American Indonesia expert and former spouse of the U.S.’ most influential ambassador to Indonesia,” Berwick says. Wolfowitz gained nationwide fame in Indonesia for being the first American to learn a court dance from Tirtokusumo and perform it publicly at the royal palace, or "kraton," in Surakarta. She is currently on the leadership committee of Santi Budaya, the U.S. Indonesian embassy’s longest-standing community performance arts group, which Berwick grew up in, under the direction of her first teacher, Erna Cinnana Widyastuti. “The meeting was very special as it was like a passing of the torch to me,” Berwick says. [caption id="attachment_95572" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Berwick meeting legendary Javanese dance master Sulistyo Tirtokusumo in Jakarta, who served as the last director general of culture for the Indonesian government.[/caption] These field experiences have given her concrete case studies and examples of how religion and social hierarchy intersect, which is the core question of her honors thesis on Japanese dance. The grant-funded experience effectively served as on-the-ground data collection, deepening and refining an intellectual project she says she had already envisioned before coming to W&L. Berwick plans to fold her observations and insights from Japan and comparative reflections from her time in Indonesia into an honors thesis project analyzing how traditional dance both reflects and reinforces Japan’s historical and contemporary social structures. As co-president of the Around the Globe dance club on campus, Berwick plans to bring her practical skills to the club’s campus programming. Berwick says she has her father to thank for his ongoing encouragement as she pursues the opportunities available to her in college. “I also had major help and inspiration from my father, Stephan Berwick, who has been a huge supporter of my intellectual pursuits at W&L,” she says. “Honestly, for my whole life he’s been an avid supporter for my learning Indonesian dance at such a young age and ensuring I put all of those years of dance into a meaningful research adventure during my time in college. My father’s definitely a fan of seeing the big picture in everything you do, and I’m grateful to have gained that value from him.” Berwick says she was grateful that her MESA adviser, Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion Timothy Lubin, recommended her for the Johnson Opportunity Grant. Lubin has worked closely with Berwick and says that she was uniquely prepared to pursue the project, having arrived at W&L already strongly committed to the study of South and East Asia, with extensive training in dance traditions from India and Indonesia, as well as in Japanese language study. Berwick studied Buddhism and Sanskrit with Lubin during her first year, and she took his Spring Term Abroad course in Nepal (co-taught with Professor of Economics Shikha Silwal). “The project itself is well conceived and shows original conception and analysis on her part,” Lubin says. “She has relevant language skills for the countries she plans to work in, such as advanced Japanese, Indonesian, the basics of Sanskrit, expertise in the practice of dance in both cultures and an already-demonstrated capacity to handle the challenges of travel and study in Asia, including in the framework of my STA course in Nepal and Critical Language Scholarship programs in Indonesia.” [caption id="attachment_95550" align="aligncenter" width="432"] Berwick learning the Yogyakarta royal court "Sari Kusuma," or "blossoming," dance.[/caption] Lubin notes that the project brings together her ongoing research interest in both cultures in an implicitly comparative context. “The questions that she brings to the project are important and may be applicable more broadly,” he says. “What is the cultural meaning and the public value of these dance traditions in these countries today? What does framing them as ‘classical’ do? Given their role of elite tastemakers in this framing, how do these traditions relate to broader-based popular dance forms? What is their social reach and salience?” Lubin also says Berwick’s project aligns with the grant’s core mission. “Johnson Opportunity Grants play a crucial role in W&L education: They provide funding that both stimulates and responds to students’ creative thinking and energies to learn on the ground in the wider world beyond campus,” Lubin says. “The open-ended nature of the program is its greatest feature. Students are invited to make a case for a project that might not fit the parameters of more ends-oriented, credential-generating or discipline-centered programs.” “The Johnson Opportunity Grant made it possible for me to actualize and dive into ideas I would not have had the opportunity to do otherwise as an undergrad,” Berwick says. “It gave me the rare chance to design a transnational field research project focused on an intellectual niche I’ve harbored since high school.” [caption id="attachment_95537" align="aligncenter" width="576"] Berwick at one of two main gates leading inside the sacred Royal Kraton (Palace) of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.[/caption]]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Berwick1horizontalcrop-800x533.jpg test-category opinio-juris-hosts-symposium-on-mark-drumbls-reframing-transitional-justice <![CDATA[Opinio Juris Hosts Symposium on Mark Drumbl’s Reframing Transitional Justice]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/opinio-juris-hosts-symposium-on-mark-drumbls-reframing-transitional-justice/ https://columns.wlu.edu/opinio-juris-hosts-symposium-on-mark-drumbls-reframing-transitional-justice/ Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:59:39 -0400 Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:59:39 -0400 Professor Mark Drumbl[/caption] Opinio Juris, a leading international law blog, recently hosted a symposium examining “Reframing Transitional Justice: Innovations, Boundaries, and Refractions,” a new book co-edited by Washington and Lee University School of Law Professor Mark Drumbl and Kirsten Fisher of the University of Saskatchewan. Published by Routledge in April, "Reframing Transitional Justice" brings together scholars from eight countries and four continents to reconsider the field of transitional justice—the ways societies respond to legacies of mass violence, human rights abuses, and political upheaval. The volume examines the field through three themes: innovations, boundaries, and refractions, exploring subjects ranging from artificial intelligence and digital evidence to environmental destruction, racism, gender, and democratic backsliding. “We assembled this collection because we think the time is right, amid the tumble of the current tumult, to rethink where transitional justice and post-conflict reconstruction are going,” Drumbl and Fisher wrote in their introduction to the symposium. The Opinio Juris symposium features five scholars engaging with the book’s larger challenge to conventional understandings of transitional justice. The contributors explore how victims can become producers, rather than simply subjects, of knowledge; question the field’s traditional focus on individual nations and periods of political transition; and examine whether state institutions can adequately address racial and gender harms that are themselves embedded in ordinary systems of governance. Other contributions consider community-based and non-state approaches to justice and ask a fundamental question raised throughout the volume: as transitional justice expands to encompass more forms of historical injustice, victims and harms, at what point does that expansion risk obscuring what the field is meant to accomplish? Drumbl and Fisher opened the symposium with an introduction to the book and concluded it with a response to the five commentaries. In their conclusion, they describe the symposium as extending the intellectual community created by the volume. “These five commentaries are so much more than interlocutions or interventions,” they write. “Indeed, they feel like expansions of the community of the book itself, as if we now have twenty-one contributors rather than sixteen.” Drumbl is the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor and Director of the Transnational Law Institute at W&L. His research and teaching interests include public international law, global environmental governance, international criminal law, post-conflict justice, and transnational legal process. His work has been relied upon by national and international courts; he has served as a defense lawyer in Rwandan genocide trials; co-authored an amicus brief to the International Criminal Court in the Ongwen case; and has been an expert in litigation including on international terrorism, with the UN in matters involving child soldiers, and with the UN Human Rights Council in the drafting of a global convention to criminalize racist hate speech.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/MarkDrumbl051-800x533.jpg test-category wl-to-host-constitution-day-panel-on-supreme-court-cases-from-the-2025-26-term <![CDATA[W&L to Host Constitution Day Panel on Supreme Court Cases from the 2025-26 Term]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-to-host-constitution-day-panel-on-supreme-court-cases-from-the-2025-26-term/ https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-to-host-constitution-day-panel-on-supreme-court-cases-from-the-2025-26-term/ Thu, 03 Sep 2026 08:49:32 -0400 Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:13:58 -0400 Mark Rush, Nathan Dean and Maureen Edobor[/caption] Washington and Lee University will mark its annual Constitution Day celebration with a panel of faculty members discussing several important cases from the U.S. Supreme Court's 2025-26 term. The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Northen Auditorium. Lucas Morel, John K. Boardman Jr. Professor of Politics and leader of W&L's Liberating Ideas initiative, will moderate the panel. He will be joined on stage by Mark Rush, Stanley G. and Nikki Waxberg Professor of Politics and Law and director of the Center for International Education; Nathan Dean, assistant professor of Law, Justice and Society; and Maureen Edobor ’17L, assistant professor of law. Each panelist will open with brief remarks on specific cases and discuss whether they see the Roberts Court as fulfilling its constitutional role as an independent branch of the federal government. Morel will follow with questions of his own before opening the floor to the audience. Rush will focus his discussion on Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, in which the court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the president the authority to impose peacetime tariffs. Dean will discuss Chatrie v. United States, in which the court ruled that police acquisition of cellphone data through a geofence warrant constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. Edobor will discuss Louisiana v. Callais, in which the court ruled that the Louisiana legislature did not have to create a second majority-Black district to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Morel is in his second year directing Liberating Ideas programming, which is dedicated to promoting intellectual pluralism and inclusion by fostering independent thinking and civil discourse. A member of the W&L faculty since 1999, he serves as head of the Politics Department, is a trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society and serves on the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. Morel holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Claremont McKenna College as well as a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in politics from the Claremont Graduate University. Rush has been a member of the W&L faculty since 1990 and served as head of the Politics Department from 2004 to 2010. He founded and directed the New York Internship Program and the Williams School Program in International Commerce, both from 2003 to 2010. He has served as a core faculty member in the Law, Justice and Society program since 2019 and has directed the Center for International Education since 2015. Rush holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard College and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University. Dean joined the W&L faculty in 2022, focusing his teaching on civil rights, social inequality and discrimination, combining perspectives from public law and political theory. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Haverford College, a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Edobor joined the W&L faculty in 2023, teaching constitutional law, election law and democratic theory. She serves as a faculty scholar with the DeLaney Center and was the inaugural Steven M. Polan Fellow in Constitutional Law and History at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law for the 2024-25 academic year. She also serves as vice chair of the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Edobor holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Texas at Arlington and a J.D. from the W&L School of Law.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SOC10022024_018-800x533.jpg test-category wl-to-host-meet-the-press-panel-with-virginia-news-leaders <![CDATA[W&L to Host ‘Meet the Press’ Panel with Virginia News Leaders]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-to-host-meet-the-press-panel-with-virginia-news-leaders/ https://columns.wlu.edu/wl-to-host-meet-the-press-panel-with-virginia-news-leaders/ Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:32:50 -0400 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:32:50 -0400 Eric Deggans, Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics[/caption] Washington and Lee University will host a “Meet the Press” panel with Virginia journalists at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 in Hillel House, located on W&L’s campus at 117 W. Washington St. The panel is free and open to the public and is sponsored by W&L’s Knight Program in Media Ethics and the Office of Community Based Learning. Panelists will include David Seidel ’97, news director of Virgina Public Radio’s Radio IQ; Angilee Shah, editor-in-chief of Charlottesville Tomorrow; Doug Harwood ’74, editor of the Rockbridge Advocate; Megan Schnabel, managing editor of Cardinal News; Darryl Woodson ’83, editor of The News-Gazette; and Chris Coates, senior director of local news at Lee Enterprises, whose brands include The Roanoke Times and Richmond-Times Dispatch. The panel will be moderated by Eric Deggans, Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics at W&L and critic-at-large at NPR. The panel will discuss the difficulty of navigating misinformation and disinformation in today’s media, the influence of artificial intelligence on journalism, local issues fueling news reports, the enduring impact of journalism ethics on news reporting and more. Panelists will also answer questions from the audience about how to get items in the news, how they make decisions about what is considered news and the challenges of local journalism in the modern age. [gallery]Doug Harwood '74 on the 40th anniversary of his radio show, "The Anti-Headache Machine."[/gallery]]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Eric-Deggans-scaled-800x533.jpg?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2 test-category wls-lenfest-center-presents-screening-of-basquiat <![CDATA[W&L’s Lenfest Center Presents Screening of ‘BASQUIAT’]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wls-lenfest-center-presents-screening-of-basquiat/ https://columns.wlu.edu/wls-lenfest-center-presents-screening-of-basquiat/ Wed, 02 Sep 2026 14:34:43 -0400 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 14:34:43 -0400 [/gallery] Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts presents a screening of the 1996 film “BASQUIAT” at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons. The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Lenfest Center’s Outreach & Engagement (O&E) Series, which fosters immersive and collaborative university-community interactions. The screening also supplements the Lenfest Center’s opening event, “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat,” a solo theatrical performance created and performed by Obie Award-winning actor and playwright Roger Guenveur Smith, at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 28 in the Keller Theatre. Directed by Julian Schnabel, “BASQUIAT” is a tribute to his friend and fellow painter, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and provides a sensory immersion into the much-mythologized world of art in 1980s New York. The biopic stars Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat, whose rise from graffiti tagger to art star forces him to confront the glare of sudden fame, the challenges that accompany it and the difficulties of being self-determining and free in America. With an ensemble cast that features Benicio Del Toro, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Parker Posey and David Bowie, Schnabel’s directorial debut is a profoundly expressive elegy for a radiant life cut short. For a full list of events and performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website. The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance and Film Studies, the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History, is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art, in one energizing complex.]]> https://columns.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/basquiat-film-poster-800x533.jpg?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2 test-category Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:52:22 +0000