Sally Stone Richmond Named Next VP for Admissions and Financial Aid at Washington and Lee
Sally Stone Richmond, dean of admission at Occidental College in Los Angeles, has been named the next vice president for admissions and financial aid at Washington and Lee University.
A Virginia native, Richmond previously served in admissions positions at Davidson College, her alma mater, and taught and worked in college counseling at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. She holds a master of education degree from Harvard University.
Richmond will succeed Bill Hartog, who is stepping down at the end of the academic year after 44 years of admissions work, 37 of them as W&L’s chief admissions officer. She was chosen after an extensive national search chaired by Sidney Evans, W&L’s vice president for student affairs.
“Sally’s extensive experience and success in her previous positions ensure she will build upon W&L’s existing strengths, while preparing us for the opportunities and challenges facing us in the future,” said W&L President Ken Ruscio.
Richmond said she is “humbled by the opportunity to return to my home state to join the Washington and Lee family.”
“The university’s impressive enrollment initiatives, notably the Johnson Scholarship and W&L Promise, reflect the institution’s commitment to addressing a critical issue in American higher education — accessing and affording an intellectually rigorous undergraduate experience,” she said. “Further, the community’s sincerity, ambition and integrity inspire me.
“I am convinced that a liberal arts education is essential in our increasingly complex and multinational world,” Richmond said, “and I look forward to joining the efforts to introduce W&L’s transformative experience to future generations.”
Richmond joined Occidental as associate dean of admission in 2006. She was subsequently promoted to director in 2010 and dean in 2012. As a member of the senior admission and financial aid leadership team, she worked in close consultation with the division’s vice president and other senior staff to produce the most diverse classes in the college’s recent history.
Her accomplishments there have included implementation of Occidental’s first student recruitment management system; re-envisioning the campus visit program; orchestrating a multi-stage application evaluation system; and shifting work flow from individual tasks to a team approach toward all major admission initiatives.
Richmond oversaw her division’s integration of social media, management of vendors, creation of a marketing plan and collaboration with the campus web team and communications office. She was responsible for all facets of recruitment in several major markets, including evaluating applications, rendering admission decisions and awarding merit scholarships within the overall applicant pool of 6,000.
Within the college, she was a member of the financial aid appeals committee and residential life task force, and she championed an annual college admission and financial aid workshop for faculty and staff. Professionally, she has been a presenter and panelist at conferences held by the College Board Western Region Enrollment Leadership Academy and the Western Association for College Admission Counseling, and she has been a guest speaker at high school college nights across the country. Her community activities include serving as a PTA volunteer and board member, on Occidental’s child development center board, on the Coca-Cola Scholarship selection committee, on Davidson’s alumni executive committee, and with the joint girls’ mentoring program of Harvard GSE and the Cambridge (Massachusetts) public schools.
Before joining Occidental, Richmond was associate dean of admission and financial aid at Davidson College, one of three members of the office leadership team responsible for meeting enrollment goals, increasing selectivity, administering a select group of merit scholarships and meeting 100 percent of students’ demonstrated financial need. She revitalized Davidson’s Alumni Recruitment Team, recruiting more than 100 members.
As associate director of college counseling and faculty member at Episcopal High School, Richmond coordinated the college application process for some 80 juniors and seniors, including individual counseling, writing letters of recommendation and hosting visits from nearly 100 selective colleges each year. She also taught one section of Advanced Placement U.S. government and one of U.S. history. Additionally she coordinated a longitudinal research and consulting project on coeducation and gender relations and managed a girls’ residence hall.
Richmond began her career as an admission counselor at Davidson, rising to assistant dean, coordinating all merit scholarship programs among the advancement, athletics and admission offices. She then served a year as a research assistant with the American Political Science Association’s Women’s Caucus for Political Science, where she compiled archives and wrote a comprehensive history of the caucus for its 30th anniversary presentation.
