It is with mixed emotions that I share the news of the
retirement of our Vice President for Advancement Mita Vail, effective October
31. She is looking forward to a pace that will give her time to attend to her
personal life, travel a bit more, and ease into a retirement that allows her to
pursue her interests. She will continue to serve the College in an advisory
capacity for the remainder of the calendar year.
I want to thank Mita for her service to Virginia Wesleyan
and to our donors. Under her leadership, there have been major grants for
scholarships, endowment, capital improvements, and operations. Most recently,
the College received donations for improvements to Blocker Hall and for
construction of Birdsong Field and the Greer Center for Environmental Sciences.
For the months of November and December, Dr. David R. Black
will lead Advancement and the search for our next Vice President for
Advancement. Dr. Black retired in 2013 as President of Eastern University and
Palmer Theological Seminary in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, a position he held for
15 years. Previously he served eight
years as President of Lakeland College in Wisconsin and was a chief academic
officer for 10 years before that. He started his career as a development
officer at two private colleges. He
holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Lee University, the University of
Tennessee and Ohio University, respectively. During his most recent presidency,
the 2,300 student Eastern College grew into a 4,400 student doctoral-granting
university with a residential college of arts and sciences, an honors college,
a college of graduate and professional studies, an urban junior college, a
seminary, and three research centers. I’m confident that he will serve Virginia
Wesleyan College well during the interim.
Please join me in expressing our appreciation to Mita for
her dedication to Virginia Wesleyan College. We wish her well as she enters a
new and personally fulfilling chapter of her life.
