Earlier this month, we blogged about the stories that four Washington and Lee journalism interns — two seniors and two May graduates — have been reporting this summer on various aspects of the BP oil spill. We just found that they are not the only W&L journalists writing on the subject. There's at least one […]
In This Issue: From DIII to the NFL: Eagles Quarterbacks Coach James Urban '96; At Your Service, By Wendy Lovell '90 and Maggie Sutherland '10; He Always Came to Play: Chris Coffland '88, 1966-2009, By Greg Esposito '00
If you are not a follower of our Twitter feed or a fan of the University's Facebook page (and you really should be both), you may have missed news last week of a devastating fire at the historic Southern Inn in downtown Lexington. The fire broke out in the wee hours of last Friday morning. […]
Since it was originally written in 1910 by an alum and two students, the "Washington and Lee Swing" has been performed in every venue imaginable, from football stadiums to New Orleans jazz clubs. But here's a new one on us: the United Church of Christ First Congregational in Norwich, N.Y., has apparently been using the […]
Washington and Lee's Office of Institutional Effectiveness has recently unveiled a new Web page that provides details about the key academic indicators for the undergraduate student body in a graphically interesting format. If you haven't seen the page yet, take a look at the Academic Indicators Dashboard. The 19 slides on the page present data […]
Sunday, July 11, is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's “To Kill a Mockingbird.” With that in mind, we asked a few members of the University community to give us their thoughts on the novel—in hopes that they will prime the pump for your additional comments. So, see what they have to […]
Each July 4, the Lexington Sunrise Rotary Club, which holds its weekly meetings in Evans Dining Hall on the Washington and Lee campus, joins forces with BB&T to stage the Fourth of July Balloon Rally. Colorful hot air balloons lift off from the Virginia Military Institute Parade Ground and float lazily (usually) over Rockbridge County. […]
"Dateline NBC" will air a two-hour documentary this Friday (July 9) that focuses on the case of Billy Wayne Cope, who was convicted of killing his daughter in 2001. Although subsequent DNA evidence suggested that he was innocent, Cope was eventually sentenced to life in prison based, in part, on a confession he gave during […]
Kathryn Sheppard Hoar, a 1997 alumna of Washington and Lee, will be among an elite group competing in what is known as either the "Olympics" or the "Super Bowl" of inshore fishing later this month, in the 10th annual Florida Keys Outfitters / IGFA Inshore World Championship in Islamorada, Fla. Kathy will be competing in […]
Two Washington and Lee alumni played roles in this week's confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan — one at the witness table, the other in the photographers' gallery. Jack Goldsmith, a 1984 graduate, was a witness in the hearings on Thursday. Jack is the Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law at Harvard University […]
For several of Washington and Lee's business journalism interns, this is the summer of BP. From the Charlotte Observer to the Seattle Times, the W&L students and recent grads have had their bylines appear on stories that take decidedly different angles on the BP oil spill. Have a look at their stories at the links […]
After six years as a spokesman for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, most recently as deputy chief of staff, Washington and Lee alumnus Brian McClung, of the Class of 1995, has left that position to start his own public relations company, McClung Communications and Public Affairs, L.L.C., in Minneapolis-St. Paul. As a column in MinnPost.com, noted, […]
Frank M. Young III, a 1963 Washington and Lee alumnus, has been named to the executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based American Committees on Foreign Relations (ACFR). Frank is chair of the International Law and Immigration Practice Team of the Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, LLC.. ACFR is as a nonprofit association dedicated to facilitating […]
Earlier this month, two Washington and Lee alumni turned their cameras on the music festival, Bonnaroo. Taylor Crothers of the Class of 1993 has been documenting the work of musicians such as Dave Matthews since the early 1990s and was one of the two official photographers at Bonnaroo, the four-day mega-music festival in Manchester, Tenn., […]
Washington and Lee alumni from the late '60s and early '70s who are careful viewers of ABC's “World News with Diane Sawyer” might have seen a familiar face there on June 9: Guy Glenn '67, '71L. He was interviewed for a story about the frugal millionaire Verna Oller, who left $4.5 million to her hometown […]
Author Sam McLeod, known to his Washington and Lee law school classmates as Steve Johnson of the Class of 1981, has just published his newest book, Big Appetite: My Southern-Fried Search for Life. It's his fourth book, following a trilogy Welcome to Walla Walla, Bottled Walla and Blue Walla. The next edition of the W&L […]
With its W&L Traveller program, the University’s Office of Special Programs tours the world, allowing alumni and other adventurers to explore countries from Vietnam to Turkey, cities from New Orleans to Madrid. What you may not know is that they also make a point of meeting up with other W&L sojourners while they are on […]
Andrea Wallack planned to pursue a career in biochemistry after her graduation from Washington and Lee in 1989. But plans change, and today Andrea is the CEO of NightOwl Document Management Services, the company she founded when she was only 24 and already managing director of two affiliated companies, Miralex and archiving company, ImageXe LLC. […]
Todd Brown, a 1985 graduate of Washington and Lee and a 23-year resident of Culpepper, Va., just received a major award from his home community — the 11th annual Good Scout Award. The Piedmont District Boy Scouts of America give it to residents who embody scouting principles through their work and community service. Todd moved […]
Tallahassee artist W. Stanley (Sandy) Proctor, of Washington and Lee's Class of 1961, has forged a impressive reputation in the art world, including election to the Florida Artists Hall of Fame (joining such other luminaries as Ernest Hemingway, Ray Charles, Tennessee Williams, and Zora Neale Hurston). He began as a painter and stone carver, and […]
The Rockbridge Rapids, the summer league baseball team that calls Washington and Lee's Smith Field home, are well into their second season in the Valley League. Washington and Lee alumni Jim Crothers '66 and Ken Newman '71 are the team's president and general managers, respectively. The Rapids are composed of college players from around the […]
In May, Reggie Aggarwal, a 1994 graduate of W&L's School of Law and founder and CEO of Cvent, was honored by the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), which presented him its Distinguished Corporate Achievement Award. This latest recognition comes a year after Reggie was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year […]
PeacePlayers International aims to use the game of basketball to unite and educate children and their communities, and Washington and Lee alumna Marina Vasilara, of the Class of 1995, is managing director of PeacePlayers International in her home country of Cyprus. According to the PeacePlayers' website, the program that Marina manages in Cyprus hopes to […]
Washington and Lee junior Chloe Bellomy is in the news in her hometown of Beaufort, S.C., for a cool project that she has developed there. An English major with a creative writing minor, Chloe is a Johnson Scholar at W&L, and the story about her novel idea in The Island Packet begins by notig that […]
Loranne Ausley, a 1990 graduate of Washington and Lee's School of Law, is racing in Florida. Not only is she running to become the state's chief financial officer, one of three members of the Florida cabinet, but she also competed in the North Florida Olympic Triathlon as part of an unusual campaign fund-raising effort. Loranne […]
A Washington and Lee journalism student and a W&L journalism alumna have connected in the Washington bureau of CBS News this summer, and the initial result is a story, both print and video, on how music is helping New Orleans to heal. Alicia Budich, who will be a senior at W&L in the fall, is […]
Washington and Lee alumnus David Stovall Jr. of the Class of 1969 was always headed for the retail sales business. That's one of the takeaways from a wide-ranging Q and A with David, the president and CEO of Jacksonville-based Stein Mart, that appeared in the Financial News & Daily Record (Jacksonville, Fla.) earlier this month. […]
The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Washington and Lee law alumnus R. Booth Goodwin II (Class of 1996) as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. Formerly an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the office since 2001, Booth was nominated by President Obama in January. In announcing the confirmation, both West Virginia U.S. senators cited […]
As their capstone course in journalism, four teams of students in Washington and Lee's In-Depth Reporting class prepared major projects on topics of local significance.The teams spent the four-week spring term reporting on those subjects and creating interactive websites that included video as well as a series of newspaper stories. You can view the final […]
Jeff Knudson, senior technology architect in Washington and Lee's Information Technology Services, has just built a new W&L-specific application for the iPhone and iPad, and the University's redesigned Spring Term gets an assist. Jeff built the app while auditing the spring term course taught by Simon Levy, associate professor of computer science, in which students […]
As Hatton Smith tells the story, he got his start in the family business, Royal Cup Coffee, by decree: "My mother forced my brother to hire me." He joined the company in 1973, right after graduating from Washington and Lee. That is one of the stories you'll find in an entertaining and informative piece about […]
During the recently completed spring term at Washington and Lee, Nathaniel Goldberg’s students in Philosophy 375 explored the philosophy of time travel: the philosophical possibility and implications. Through the miracle of film, you can join their time-travel explorations. For their final project, the students created their own time-travel movies, and all four are available on […]
When the economy was heading down and advertising firms were losing clients left and right, Richmond’s Big River Advertising was going in the opposite direction. The company’s president, Fred Moore, of the Class of 1980, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch of their Navy SEAL approach: “We’re small, but we’re effective.” Read the recent feature story on […]
Max Adler is on a road trip. He's playing 60 golf courses in 60 days and writing about his travels for Golf Digest. And — they're paying him. This isn't the first time that Max, a 2004 graduate and former member of the Generals' varsity golf team, has combined his writing and playing skills to […]
Beverly Lorig, director of career services at Washington and Lee, offered sage (and timely) advice for parents of students graduating this month. In a column that she wrote for the Wall Street Journal's blog, “Hire Education,” she addressed comments directly to parents, telling them not to believe that, come commencement, their son or daughter will […]
It's that Pomp and Circumstance time of year, and several Washington and Lee connections are cropping up in commencement exercises here and there. • W&L alumnus Tom Wolfe, of the Class of 1951, was the principal speaker at the University of Alabama-Huntsville last Friday. He told the graduates that America is "in astonishingly good shape." […]
For the seventh year in a row, Washington and Lee's varsity sports teams have captured the Dan Woolridge Cup as the overall sports champion in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. W&L has won the cup 14 times in its 16-year history. Sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance, the cup goes to the ODAC member institution with […]
A new interactive map is tracking the plans of the Class of 2010, as its members prepare to receive their degrees next Thursday and scatter to begin their post-W&L lives: class of 2010: post-graduation plans. Constructed by Eric Owsley and Jessica Carter of the University's Web team, the map allows members of the class to […]
Washington and Lee alumnus Bob Doll of the Class of 1974 had always been a fan of crossword puzzles. About five years ago he decided to try his hand at constructing the crossword puzzles that he's always enjoyed solving. And he's been more than a little successful at it. If you're a New York Times […]
When the Washington and Lee faculty was reimagining the University’s Spring Term, one of the planning principles was to think big. And James Mahon, associate professor of philosophy and head of the department, took that admonition to heart. The course that Mahon has been teaching, Philosophy 370, is titled “Roe v. Wade and the Abortion […]
On the final day of his four-day visit to the United States last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Fort Campbell, Ky., where one of the people he met was Col. Arthur Kandarian, a 1986 Washington and Lee graduate who commands the U.S. Army brigade that will lead the coming U.S.-led offensive in Kandahar. Art […]
This morning's Roanoke Times has a major feature piece about Washington and Lee alumnus Courtney Penn of the Class of 1992. Courtney is a special assistant to the president at Roanoke College, but today's feature is all about Courtney's six years of service on the Roanoke School Board. As the story notes right up front, […]
Four Washington and Lee undergraduates have spent 12 days in Yellowstone National Park this month, but they are not your run-of-the-mill tourists. The four, along with W&L biology professor Bill Hamilton, are conducting some serious scientific research as part of their spring term course, which has the rather unromantic title "Plant Functional Ecology." This is […]
John R. Broadway Jr., a 1974 graduate of the Washington and Lee School of Law, is returning to government service in the administration of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. John had been named to a four-year term as head of the Virginia Employment Commission. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, John "takes over the agency at a […]
Where were you at exactly 11 a.m. (EST), or 15:00 (UTC), on Sunday, May 2? Janet Ikeda, associate dean of the College at Washington and Lee, was at the University's Japanese Tearoom at that moment. She had a camera, and the photograph she took became part of the New York Times' Moment in Time project. […]
W. Ansel Sanders, a member of Washington and Lee's Class of 2004, is embarking on another fascinating chapter in his work as a young leader in public education. Ansel is program director for the A. J. Whittenberg Elementary School in Engineering, which will open this coming fall in Greenville, S.C. After graduating from W&L, Ansel […]
The Office of Communications and Public Affairs (C&PA), which brings you this website, the alumni magazines, programs for Alumni Weekend and other pieces you have seen and used, is going to brag about itself and its colleagues a bit. If you attended Parents Weekend last fall, you had a useful booklet in your packet. The […]
Members of the campus community may have noticed that some of their male colleagues, student, staff and faculty alike, are sporting a new crop of facial hair. That’s unusual for this warm time of year—it can get hot underneath all that fuzz—but it’s a tradition, and it’s for a good cause: The annual fund-raiser for […]
If you haven't noticed it already, please take a look at the newly created Alumni "dashboard" on the wlu.edu website. Click here to go to the page, which combines information tailored to individual alumni under the Colonnade Connections heading on the right site. Alumni with login information will be able to search the directory, submit […]
Christopher Rucker, a 2009 Washington and Lee graduate who is an admissions counselor at W&L, describes himself this way: "I'm Button-Down collar, Four-in-Hand tie, regular button cuff, Slim cut, two button suit, Classic black toe cap shoes, Silver with Leather Strap Watch, iPhone, Mac, Mix and Match, Something Practical kind of guy." Actually, that probably […]
The College of William & Mary is honoring brothers Channing and Lesslie Hall, Washington and Lee alumni who are lifelong Williamsburg, Va., residents, with the college's annual Prentis Award. The Prentis Award is given to those people whose civic involvement benefits the community and the College. The award is named in honor of the Williamsburg […]
Randolph Hare, director of maintenance and operations in Facilities Management, has just been reelected vice president of information and research for APPA: The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers, the 4,800-member organization for facilities management professionals in colleges and universities. With more than 30 years of experience in facilities management administration, Randolph sits on the […]
For proof that students in the spring term course, Photography and the City, taught by Washington and Lee art professor Christa Bowden are hard at work, look no further than their blog, W&L Photography. You will find a selection of the images they have taken since they arrived in the city — and the city […]
As members of Washington and Lee's Class of 2014 begin to prepare to enter the University in the fall, there is a great new website resource available to make that transition as smooth as possible. The New Student Dashboard, created by W&L's Web team and maintained by Kati Grow in the Division of Student Affairs, […]
Washington and Lee alumnus Jack Goldsmith of the Class of 1984 has just been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. Jack is the Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law at Harvard University. He was among 229 leaders in the sciences, social sciences, […]
Chad Ellis, a 2003 Washington and Lee graduate and currently a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, has been named the recipient of CMU's Graduate Student Service Award, which recognizes "service to his fellow students at Carnegie Mellon, and to his colleagues around Pittsburgh and the nation." Chad, a chemistry major at W&L, […]
Washington and Lee celebrated the careers of seven retiring members of the University staff at the annual Employee Recognition Banquet on Thursday. Altogether, the seven have a combined 253 years of service to W&L. The winner in that category, by quite a distance, is Kathleen H. Dunlap, or Miss Kitty as she has been known […]
During last weekend's School of Law reunion, returning members of the Class of 1960, back for their 50th, received special recognition during a Saturday morning gathering in the Millhiser Moot Court Room. Once they had been received a commemorative medal and greetings from W&L President Ken Ruscio and Law Dean Rodney Smolla, one of the […]
Denizens of pre-renovation Reid Hall from the mid-1980s can certainly relate to much of the portrait of Mike Allen (Class of 1986) that is painted in the fascinating cover story on Mike and Politico in the New York Times Magazine. You can read that piece online today, and it's worth every minute you spend. Here […]
Purchasing Power, an Atlanta-based company that has been ranked on Entrepreneur magazine's list of the Top 100 fastest growing companies, has added to its Washington and Lee connections with the announcement that Chad Delp of the Class of 1993 is the new chief financial officer. At Purchasing Power, Chad is joining fellow W&L alumnus Keith […]
Robyn O'Brien, the 1993 Washington and Lee alumna who has been labeled "food's Erin Brockovich" by the New York Times, earned another significant honor this month when Planet Green, part of the Discovery Channel, named her one of its 15 visionaries — people who are providing "big ideas that will shape our world going forward." […]
You know how when you’re spring cleaning, you find all kinds of interesting stuff you didn’t even know you had? Well, that happened the other day in the attic of Washington Hall. Mike Carmagnola, executive director of facilities and capital planning, was rummaging around up there in preparation for the building’s eventual renovation, part of […]
Congratulations to Brian Clarke, a 1999 graduate of the Washington and Lee School of Law, who was named one of the Charlotte Business Journal's 40 Under 40 last month. The annual feature in the special publication of the Charlotte Business Journal identifies 40 people under the age of 40 who are "making major strides in […]
"When Turtles Fly" is the name of the fascinating blog written by Deborah Miranda, associate professor of English at Washington and Lee. Deborah teaches composition, creative writing (poetry and memoir) as well as Native American, American ethnic and women's literature. She began the blog back in 2008 as a record of her sabbatical. The blog's […]
In late March, Adam Bradberry, catering chef in W&L’s Dining Services, won a bronze medal in the Regional Taste/Customized Competition at the National Association of College & University Food Service (NACUFS) Mid-Atlantic Culinary Challenge. The event is sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation. Adam, competing for the first time since 2001, was up against nine other chefs. […]
As a basketball player at Washington and Lee in the late 1960s, Mike Neer was part of some of the most successful teams in Generals' history. As a coach at the University of Rochester for 34 years, Mike led one of the most successful programs, on any level, in the country. Last week Mike announced […]
Two Washington and Lee student organizations that serve the Lexington and Rockbridge County community have joined forces for an inventive new program. The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee and the University's English for Speakers of Other Languages program are sponsoring “Lazos Más Fuertes” events this spring. Scheduled for the cafeteria of Waddell Elementary School […]
Within seven weeks of President John F. Kennedy's assassination on Nov, 22, 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy received more than 800,000 letters of condolence. One of those letters, dated Nov. 25, 1963, came from a Washington and Lee student—James S. Legg Jr. of the Class of 1965. And now Jim's letter is one of about 250 that […]
Readers of The New York Times may already be aware of the story in Wednesday's Business section about Washington and Lee alumnus Charlie Freret (Class of 1970), his federal income taxes and the Honor System. If you haven't read the whole story, here's the link. The bottom line is this: Charlie discovered a flaw in […]
