From Lectures to Legacies

Amanda Minix
April 11, 2025

As we work here, we realize that the resources people contribute allow us to offer experiences for our students that we wouldn’t be able to provide otherwise.

– Associate Dean of the Williams School and Lewis Whitaker Adams Professor in Commerce Elizabeth Oliver

Washington and Lee University’s faculty are dedicated to helping their students reach their potential. They invest their time, energy and passion in and beyond the classroom to mentor young people on campus. There is no question that this level of commitment is a significant contribution to W&L, and, yet, there are professors who also choose to add the role of philanthropist to their legacy. Since the university began counting gifts for the Leading Lives of Consequence campaign in 2020, 67 faculty members have contributed more than $200,000 collectively across a wide range of priorities.

John T. Perry Professor of Biology and Research Science Helen I’Anson and her husband, Jeff Turner, created the STEM Student Opportunities Endowment in 2020 and have continued to contribute to the fund annually. The endowment is on track to be fully funded in 2025 and will provide financial assistance for students to attend scholarly conferences in the STEM fields to present their research.

“I have often told my students there is no point in doing the work if you don’t tell anyone about it,” I’Anson says. “These conferences welcome between 25,000 to 40,000 scientists, and it gives students a chance to see how their work relates to the field in a larger context.”

Academic conferences are expensive, involving registration fees and travel expenses. With exposure to so many experts and a wide array of topics, students have the opportunity to explore other areas of interest and to make connections that could be beneficial in their future careers or post-graduate studies.

“A great education entails more than just taking the right courses,” I’Anson says. “Students need research and presentation experience to get into good graduate and medical schools.”

I’Anson was a first-generation student and recalls working every summer to help pay for college. “I want students to have advantages that will help them in their future,” she says.

Turner, a retired partner with Squire Patton Boggs law firm, shares his wife’s passion for fostering opportunities for talented students.

“Having seen students expand their horizons by traveling to scientific conferences with Helen, I joined her in wanting to make sure that travel expenses didn’t stand in the way of STEM students being able to take advantage of the opportunities she and her colleagues have offered them,” Turner says. “This is especially important at a time when our nation desperately needs more individuals in the sciences.”

I’Anson joined W&L’s faculty in 1995 and has taught a range of biology courses, often with a focus on physiology and neuroscience. She served as department chair and as acting chair, was a co-director of the Advanced Immersion and Mentoring (AIM) Program and helped establish the IQ Center. In 2019, she was recognized by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia with the Outstanding Faculty Award.

Even though I’Anson retired at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, she is still conducting research with six students on the role of snacking in childhood obesity. They check in weekly and hope to write a paper on the project by the end of the academic year.

“I have been so blessed to have amazing students, and I like welcoming first-years and sophomores into the fold,” I’Anson says. “People learn on the job, and it’s the same with research. My students have such enthusiasm and are working at a master’s level.”

Associate Dean of the Williams School and Lewis Whitaker Adams Professor in Commerce Elizabeth Oliver joined W&L’s faculty in 1991 and was the first woman professor in the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics. Oliver teaches courses in accounting research and corporate social responsibility, runs the W&L London Internship Program and serves as a faculty adviser for Washington and Lee Student Consulting (WLSC) — a student-led group that provides pro bono consulting services to businesses and nonprofit organizations. She recently made a commitment to join the Lettie Pate Evans Society, a new philanthropic group celebrating W&L’s women donors. “I am honored to be able to join and to be in the company of these very successful women,” she says.

Oliver has generously supported W&L through the years, giving to the W&L Fund, the Katherine Harris Storer Endowment, which helps fund experiential learning opportunities in the Williams School, and, most recently, the Williams School expansion project. “As we work here, we realize that the resources people contribute allow us to offer experiences for our students that we wouldn’t be able to provide otherwise,” she says. “These resources empower us to do amazing things — I see it in the students who get financial aid for the Spring Term class I teach, and I see it in the students who go to London and would not be able to without that support.”

With the Williams School close to her heart for many reasons, Oliver has contributed to both the new building under construction on Washington Street and to the renovation of Huntley Hall, which will begin after the new building opens next academic year.

“We have utilized every square inch in Huntley that we possibly can, and the possibility of adding innovative new spaces is something I definitely wanted to be a part of,” she says. “This expansion will be such a blessing, not just for the Williams School but for everyone at W&L.”

Both I’Anson and Oliver have a passion for their students and for the university that is apparent to anyone who interacts with them; Oliver believes this is W&L’s modus operandi.

“There’s this feeling that you are part of this community that makes everyone better, and there’s not much that is more rewarding than that,” she says.