Gone Fishing
One of Chattanooga’s biggest tourist attractions, the Tennessee Aquarium, has tapped businessman and 1980 Washington and Lee University graduate Keith Sanford as the institution’s fourth president and CEO.
Archive ( Stories)
Washington and Lee Announces New Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Jessica L. Willett has been named executive director of communications and public affairs at Washington and Lee University.
Professor Jurgen Brauer of Georgia Regents University to Speak on Economic Aspects of Genocides at W&L on March 4
Jurgen Brauer, professor of economics in the James M. Hull College of Business at Georgia Regents University, will lecture at Washington and Lee University on March 4 at 3:45 p.m. in Huntley Hall 221. This event is hosted jointly by the W&L/VMI Economics Seminar Series and the Transnational Law Institute.
Journalist David Hanson to Speak on Developing Healthy Food Movement in Low-income Communities
Journalist David Hanson will give a talk on “Breaking through Concrete: Next-level Grassroots Initiatives Developing a Healthy Food Movement in Low-income Communities” at Washington and Lee University on March 6 at 7 p.m. in the Hillel House, room 101.
Leyburn Library’s Author Talk Series features Chris Gavaler and Lesley Wheeler
Chris Gavaler, assistant professor of English at Washington and Lee University, and Lesley Wheeler, the Henry S. Fox Professor of English at W&L, will discuss their latest books on March 15 at 5 p.m. in the Book Nook in Washington and Lee University’s Leyburn Library.
Human Rights in Africa Film Series Continues at Washington and Lee
“Yesterday,” an Oscar-nominated movie about HIV/AIDS in the Zulu community, and “Call Me Kuchu,” a film by Malika Zouhali-Wollall and Katherine Fairfax Wright, are the next two films to be shown at Washington and Lee University. Both will be shown at 6:30 p.m. in Elrod Commons’ Stackhouse Theater.
Pittsburgh Professor to Speak on The Indecisive Murmur of Color
Mazviita Chirimuuta, assistant professor in history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh, will give a lecture at Washington and Lee University on March 4 at 5 p.m. in Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
Sidney M. B. Coulling III, S. Blount Mason Jr. Professor of English Emeritus, Dies at 92
Sidney Mathias Baxter Coulling III, the S. Blount Mason Jr. Professor of English Emeritus at Washington and Lee University, died on Feb. 22, 2016, at Kendal at Lexington. He had celebrated his 92nd birthday earlier this month.
Matt Simpson’s Road to Rio
When Matt Simpson '12 rang in the new year of 2016, he knew it was going to be one that would change his life.
IRS Matching Grant Helps W&L Tax Clinic Serve Low-income Taxpayers
The Tax Clinic at the Washington and Lee University School of Law has been awarded a matching grant from the Internal Revenue Service's Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic program.
Executive-in-Residence at W&L Shannon Izquierdo to Speak on Delivering Unique Value
Shannon Izquierdo, manager of sales enablement at FedEx, will give a lecture at Washington and Lee University on March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hillel House room 101, as the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics Executive in Residence.
Professor Robert Frank to Lecture on Passion within Reason at W&L
Robert H. Frank, the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and professor of economics at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, will lecture at Washington and Lee University on March 3 at 5 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons. The event is part of the university’s yearlong Questioning Passion series.
Katharine Maus, Specialist in Renaissance Literature, to Lecture at W&L
Katharine Maus, the James Branch Cabell Professor of English at the University of Virginia, will lecture at Washington and Lee University on March 3 at 4:30 p.m. in the Hillel House, room 101.
Writer-in-Residence Poetry Reading to be March 1
The 7th Annual Washington and Lee University Writer-in-Residence Poetry Reading, featuring Lesley Wheeler, John Leland and R.T. Smith, will be March 1 at 12 p.m. in Hillel House, room 101.
BLSA Wins Small Chapter of the Year, Mock Trial Headed to Nationals
The Washington and Lee School of Law Black Law Students Association (BLSA) mock trial team has moved one step closer to repeating as national champions and also brought home the award for small chapter of the year.
W&L's Strong on the Trump Phenomena in the Roanoke Times
The following opinion piece by Robert Strong, William Lyne Wilson Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee, appeared in the Feb. 17, 2016, edition of the Roanoke Times and is reprinted here by permission. The Trumpery before Trump by Robert A. Strong Though the Trump phenomena in this year’s presidential election is unlike anything we have […]
Follow Me
With the 2016 presidential campaign well underway, we’ve found several Washington and Lee University alumni on social media who are either covering the campaign or part of it. If you’re a campaign staff member or a journalist covering a candidate, please let us know, and we’ll add you to the list.
Ruscio to Become VFIC President in April 2017
The Board of Trustees of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) announced today that Kenneth P. Ruscio, the president of Washington and Lee University, will become the next president of VFIC on April 1, 2017.
W&L to Show “Moolaadé” as Part of Human Rights in Africa Film Series
“Moolaadé,” the 2004 film depicting the controversial issue of female circumcision, will be shown Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Washington and Lee University’s Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons.
Marisa Charley Recognized as Second-Year National Bonner Fellow by the Bonner Foundation
Marisa Charley, coordinator of student service leadership and research with the Shepherd Poverty Program at Washington and Lee University, was recognized as a second-year National Bonner Fellow for the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation.
Larry Stene: It’s Personal
For his last exhibition before he retires from Washington and Lee University as a professor of studio art, Larry Stene has sorted through 43 years of work and chosen pieces that tell a story.
W&L’s Mock Convention Predicts Trump Will Win GOP Nomination
The 2016 Washington and Lee University Mock Convention came to a close on Saturday, Feb. 13, predicting that Donald J. Trump will win the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination.
Jim Baldwin ’83 Elected to W&L Board of Trustees
Jim Baldwin, executive vice president and general counsel for Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc., Dallas, was elected to Washington and Lee University’s Board of Trustees on Feb. 12, at the board’s winter meeting.
Will Dudley Named 27th President of Washington and Lee University
William C. (Will) Dudley, provost and professor of philosophy at Williams College, will be the next president of Washington and Lee University.
A Conversation with Congressman Bob Goodlatte
Congressman and Mock Convention Speaker Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) Reflects on the Experience of Mock Convention
W&L's Mock Convention Featured on WMRA
Mock Convention leaders Andrew McCaffery '16, Randy Karlson '16, John Crum '17 and Kevin Ortiz '16 sat down with WMRA's Jessie Knadler to discuss the convention's history, the research process, and the challenges facing this year's students in making their nomination.
Craig Wood '84L Receives 2016 William J. Brennan Jr. Award
The award recognizes Wood for his 30-year career as a lawyer and for more than two decades of teaching in the National Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia School of Law.
“Washington in Glory” Exhibit Opens at W&L Watson Pavilion
An exhibition of late-18th and early-9th century ceramics honoring George Washington’s presidency and death runs now through October at Washington and Lee University’s Watson Pavilion.
Louis W. Hodges, Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics Emeritus at Washington and Lee, Dies at 83
Louis Wendell Hodges, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Professor of Journalism Ethics Emeritus at Washington and Lee University, died yesterday, Feb. 8, from complications of a severe head injury he received in a fall six years ago. He was 83. Hodges taught religion and ethics at W&L for 43 years.
Casey, Richardson: “A Path Forward for Coal Country”
Jim Casey, associate professor of economics at Washington and Lee University, co-authored a Feb. 5 opinion piece, "A path forward for Coal Country," with Jeremy Richardson, senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in the Bristol Herald-Courier.
Shenandoah Announces the Graybeal-Gowen Prize for Virginia Poets
Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review is looking for Virginia poets to submit their work for the 2016 Graybeal-Gowen Prize. This annual prize awards $500 to a writer born in Virginia, with current residence in Virginia or one who lived in Virginia for what they consider a substantial amount of time.
W&L Alumni Named to Birmingham’s Top 40 Under 40
The Birmingham Business Journal has named Bill Fox '05 and Bebe Goodrich '07 to its 40 Under 40 list for 2016.
W&L Law Professor David Baluarte Awarded Fulbright for Statelessness Study
Baluarte will conduct his research at the University of Buenos Aires Law School in Argentina, where he will study the stateless population and also will teach refugee and asylum law in his host school's immigration clinic.
Analyzing Presidential Elections
Scott Thomas, who double majored in history and journalism from Washington and Lee University in 1977, has been analyzing numbers for a long time.
Faces of Mock Con: Madison Smith
An economics major who is minoring in poverty and education policy, Madison Smith is Mock Con's event planner-in-chief.
Calling All Generals: Alan Carrillo ’18L
W&L students raise funds to help area families during blizzard.
W&L’s Mudd Center Presents the Mock Con Debate: The Ethics of Citizenship
To kick off Washington and Lee University’s 2016 Mock Convention, The Roger Mudd Center for Ethics at W&L will host a debate on “The Ethics of Citizenship” on Feb. 11 at 5 p.m. in Lee Chapel. Mock Con will be Feb. 12–13.
W&L Mock Convention: At Its Core, a Research Project
The Washington and Lee University Mock Convention is a mock presidential nominating process with over 100 years of success. Every four years, Mock Convention attempts to predict who the party currently out of power in the White House will nominate to run for president of the United States.
“The Misfit Economy” Writer to Speak on the Art of Being an Outsider
Alexa Clay, a storyteller and researcher of underground subcultures, will speak at Washington and Lee University on Feb. 16 as the Fishback Visiting Writer. Her talk will begin at 5 p.m. in Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
Leyburn Library’s Author Talk Series Features David Bello
David A. Bello, associate professor of history at Washington and Lee, will talk about his book “Across Forest Steppe and Mountain: Environment, Identity and Empire in Qing China’s Borderlands” on Feb. 16 at 4:30 p.m. in the Book Nook in W&L’s Leyburn Library.
W&L Students Raise Funds to Help Area Families during Blizzard
W&L law student Alan Carrillo ‘18L launched a fundraising campaign ahead of the recent blizzard to help homeless families get out of the path of the storm.
Professor Nico Prucha to Lecture at W&L as Part of Global Fellows Seminar
Nico Prucha, a Violent Online Political Extremism (VOX-Pol) Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at the Department for War Studies, King’s College London, will lecture at Washington and Lee as part of the Winter 2016 Global Fellows Seminar: Tradition and Change in the Middle East and South Asia.
Proceeds from Souper Bowl Combat Childhood Hunger in Rockbridge County
The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee University hosted its fourth annual Souper Bowl on Sunday, Jan. 31, raising over $7,300 from about 500 attendees to support its Backpack Program, a hunger-fighting project that began in 2009 as a partnership between CKWL and local schools.
Strong: A Trump Triumph Runs Against All Odds
For most of the 2016 presidential election cycle, the conventional wisdom about the Republican Party Convention has been that Donald Trump could never win the party’s nomination. He was too brash, too crude, too rude, too divisive, too inexperienced, too liberal, too strangely coiffed to win a major party nomination for the presidency.
Lisa Hedrick ’08L Named Richmond Bar Association’s Young Lawyer of the Year
Lisa J. Hedrick, a member of the law class of 2008 and a partner in the firm of Hirschler Fleischer, has been named the 2016 Young Lawyer of the Year by the Richmond Bar Association.
Frank Parsons, Longtime W&L Administrator and Wearer of Many Hats, Dies at 87
Frank Arthur Parsons, who worked in multiple areas of the administration at his alma mater, Washington and Lee University, from 1954 to 1999, died Jan. 28, 2016, in his home at Kendal at Lexington. He was 87.
Biological Anthropologist Helen Fisher to Give Questioning Passion Lecture
Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist, author and professor, will lecture on Feb. 4 at 4:30 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons. Her lecture is part of Washington and Lee University’s year-long Questioning Passion series.
Lessons of the WDBJ-TV 7 Tragedy
Two key members of Roanoke’s WDBJ-TV 7 staff will visit Washington and Lee University Feb. 3 and tell their stories of the tragedy last August when two of their colleagues were shot and killed on live television.
Mellon Seminar on Human Rights in Africa Presents Next Lecture by James J. Hentz
James J. Hentz, professor and chair of the Department of International Studies and Political Science at Virginia Military Institute, will lecture at Washington and Lee University as part of the Mellon Seminar on Human Rights in Africa. The event will be Feb. 10 at 5 p.m. in Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
Personal Harmony: Professor Joseph Martinez débuts folk music album
Joseph David Martinez, associate professor of theater, dance and film studies, has released his first album of folk songs, “Everybody Says Goodbye,” recorded with the band Goshen Pass.
W&L to Show Film “Cry, the Beloved Country” Feb. 4
"Cry the Beloved Country," the 1995 film depicting the struggles of two families — one black and white — in pre-apartheid South Africa will be shown Feb. 4, 6:30 p.m., at Washington and Lee University's Stackhouse Theater.
Death Penalty and Clemency Focus of W&L Law Review Symposium
The annual Lara D. Gass Symposium at the Washington and Lee University School of Law will focus this year on the controversial case of Joseph M. Giarratano, using his story to explore the ethical, legal and public policy issues surrounding the use of the death penalty.
W&L's Colón Offers Tips for Media Covering Donald Trump in The Conversation
The following opinion piece by Aly Colón, Knight Chair of Media Ethics at Washington and Lee, appeared in The Conversation, an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community, on Jan. 27, 2016, and is reprinted here by permission.
W&L's Jonathan Eastwood to Give Laurent Boetsch Term Professorship Lecture
Jonathan Eastwood, professor of sociology and anthropology at Washington and Lee, will give his inaugural lecture marking his appointment as the Laurent Boetsch Term Associate Professor in Sociology on Feb. 3, at 4:30 p.m. in Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
Peter J. Furey '73: The Farmer's Advocate
Peter J. Furey '73 joined the New Jersey Farm Bureau (NJFB) in 1982 and as executive director has worked closely with farmers and state officials on bills affecting farmers and agriculture in the Garden State.
Life Outside the ‘Lexington Bubble’
Sofia Sequeira works as an intake paralegal for Legal Services NYC, a non-profit organization that offers free legal services to low-income NYC residents.
International Perspectives: Alfred Rwagaju
Alfred Rwagaju is a Physics-Engineering major from Rwanda.
Long Live the King
He’s head litigator at his law firm, and was named one of the “Nation’s Top One Percent” by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel and one of the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” by the American Trial Lawyers Association. At 35, he was unanimously appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to temporarily fill a vacancy on the Orleans Parish Civil District Court.
Center for International Education Presents Film Series as Part of Seminar on Human Rights in Africa
The Center for International Education at Washington and Lee University, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, presents the first in a series of African films as part of the 2015-16 Seminar on Human Rights in Africa.
Mellon Seminar on Human Rights in Africa Continues with a Lecture by Professor Frank Ukadike
N. Frank Ukadike, associate professor of communications and African and African Diaspora Studies at Tulane University, will deliver a public lecture at Washington and Lee University on Jan. 29 at 4:45 p.m. in Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
Civil Rights Journal Symposium to Explore Policing in America
The symposium, titled "Policing in America: Powers and Accountability," will take place on Jan. 28-29 in Sydney Lewis Hall on the grounds of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
Leyburn Library’s Author Talk Series Features Stephen Lind
Stephen J. Lind, assistant professor of business administration and communication, will talk about his new book “A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz” (2015) on Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. in the Book Nook in Washington and Lee University’s Leyburn Library.
Rich Murray ’71 Inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
Rich Murray, a 1971 graduate of Washington and Lee University, will be inducted into the 2016 class of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
4th Annual Souper Bowl Will Benefit W&L Campus Kitchen’s Backpack Program
Community members and local college students can band together against childhood hunger in the Rockbridge area one soup bowl at a time by attending the 4th Annual Souper Bowl in Evans Dining Hall on Jan. 31 from 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Caroline Osella to Lecture in Global Fellows Seminar
Caroline Osella, a reader in anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, will lecture at W&L as part of the Winter 2016 Global Fellows Seminar: Tradition and Change in the Middle East and South Asia. Her talk will be Jan. 27, 2016, at 5 p.m. in Hillel 101.
W&L Law Students Release Human Rights Report on Early Marriage and Pregnancy in Tanzania
Students in the International Human Rights Practicum at Washington and Lee School of Law travelled to Tanzania this fall to research the problem of early marriage and its effects on girls’ access to education. The results of the study have now been released in a 40 page human rights report.
Save the Press
Philanthropist Gerry Lenfest, who graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1953 and from its Law School in 1955, has made headlines for saving the struggling Philadelphia Inquirer and its sister publications, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com.
David G. Elmes Pathfinder Prize in Psychology Awarded to Emma Swabb ’16
Emma Swabb, a Washington and Lee University senior from Erie, Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2015 David G. Elmes Pathfinder Prize in Psychology.
Professor Najeeb Shafiq to Lecture at W&L as Part of Global Fellows Seminar
Najeeb Shafiq, an associate professor of education, economics and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, will lecture at Washington and Lee University as part of the Winter 2016 Global Fellows Seminar: Tradition and Change in the Middle East and South Asia. His talk will be Jan. 20, 2016, at 5 p.m. in Hillel 101.
