The President's Letter: Virginia Wesleyan in the National Spotlight

As always, it's a great day to be a Marlin! I am thrilled to share that the Virginia Wesleyan University softball team won their first-ever NCAA Division III National Championship on May 29 with a 1-0 victory over St. John Fisher. We are all so proud of this team. These women, and their coaches, are true leaders on and off the field:

LeAnn Adkins ’19             Hanna Hull ’20
Amanda Archer ’18          Lauren Irvin ’18
Liz Bailey ’17                    Amy Large ’18
Teresa Cardamone ’18     Jessica Lindsay ’19
Kaylah Duplain ’20           Megan Meindl ’18
Beth Ford ’19                    Kasey Newcomb ’17
Madison Glaubke ’20       Alana Peters ’18
Blake Henderson ’17        Kiersten Richardson ’18
Cassetty Howerin ’18       Courtney Wright ’20

Head Coach: Brandon Elliott ’03
Head Assistant Coach: Jim Inzana
Director of Softball Operations: Jim Quinn
Assistant Coach: Josh Freeman
Student Manager: Alexis Smith

The softball team has earned many accolades this season in addition to the championship. Left-handed pitcher Hanna Hull earned 2017 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division III National Freshman of the Year in addition to First Team All-American honors. Junior first baseman Cassetty Howerin earned First Team All-American honors after garnering ODAC Player of the Year. She was also named to the All-American First Team last year, becoming the fourth Marlin to be named an All-American more than once. Junior Kiersten Richardson was a Third Team All-American. Head Coach Brandon Elliott, who has led the team for 10 seasons, was named ODAC Coach of the Year in a vote of his peers.

It has been an incredible season for the Marlins, and we are thrilled to see their hard work, dedication and talent rewarded with a national title. This is the first team championship for Virginia Wesleyan since men's basketball claimed the crown in the 2005-06 season. Evan Cox of men's golf won an individual national championship last year.

Division III allows student-athletes to "follow their passions and develop their potential," combining competitive sports with rigorous academics and extensive opportunity for campus and community involvement. Thank you to all of our student-athletes, coaches, athletic department staff, faculty-team advisors, and others on campus who demonstrate that spirit daily and make our program so successful.

Special thanks, also, to the parents and friends who supported the team in Oklahoma City and beyond. You can read more about the national championship softball tournament at vwuathletics.com and on the NCAA website.

 

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 In addition to the softball excitement, I'd like to share the following updates from the last month:  

• Virginia Wesleyan's 48th Commencement Ceremony took place May 20 as we celebrated the Class of 2017. In his keynote address, David R. Goode, retired Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Norfolk Southern Corporation, told graduates, "Virginia Wesleyan College has prepared you well. Your mascot, the Marlin, is entirely fitting: You are now big fish, entering the big sea. Make progress and swim with the flow when the tide is right, but have the courage to press against the current when change in direction is necessary." The Class of 2017 is the last class to graduate from Virginia Wesleyan "College" and included approximately 300 graduates. Commencement weekend began with a beautiful Baccalaureate Service at Haygood United Methodist Church featuring distinguished guest speaker Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones '80, a Virginia Wesleyan alumnae and Senior Fellow of the Institute for Faith and Learning at Baylor University. Rev. Jones and Mr. Goode were awarded honorary doctoral degrees during the Commencement Ceremony, held in the Jane P. Batten Student Center. Read more about Commencement, including our annual faculty award recipients, on our website. 

• We had a productive spring meeting with the Virginia Wesleyan Board of Trustees on May 17. During the meeting we had the honor of dedicating a residential facility in Honors Village as Mastracco Hall after Trustee Vince Mastracco and his wife, Suzanne. Since my arrival as president nearly two years ago, I have consistently heard complimentary, admiring, and respectful comments about the Mastraccos. We are grateful to them for their friendship and service to Virginia Wesleyan and for their wider role as influential, conscientious, and gracious citizens in our community. We hope this facility will remind our current and future students of their obligations as community servants and stewards of our University and our society. Read more about the dedication here. 

• Last month, on Reading Day, we celebrated the life of one of our own who passed away in December 2015. A Memorial Tree Ceremony was held on campus on May 11 for William T. "Bill" Joseph, Virginia Wesleyan's former Vice President of Finance. Though I only knew Bill for a short time, it was clear to me that he loved Virginia Wesleyan and was committed to this institution throughout his 40-year career and into retirement. We also said farewell and best wishes to retiring faculty members Dr. Cheul Kang, Professor of Management, Business, and Economics, and Dr. Garry Noe, Associate Professor of Physics and Chair of the Earth and Environmental Sciences and Physics Departments. With 32 and 29 years of service respectively, these professors have undoubtedly left their mark on our institution and will be greatly missed by all. It was a bittersweet day, as we remembered a friend we have lost, yet celebrated the unforgettable imprint left in his place; and as we said farewell to our cherished colleagues, yet sent them off toward fantastic new adventure.

• As you can tell from the new logo and look of this email, we've ramped up our transition to Virginia Wesleyan University. The timeline for effecting the transition began May 23 and will run through approximately August 1. Visitors to our website, which is now www.vwu.edu, will see our newly branded logo and name proudly displayed throughout. Faculty and staff emails have also been updated to the new domain and our new contact information is being shared accordingly. Visitors to campus will soon begin to see new VWU signage popping up. This will be a gradual transition, to which we all play a very important part. I thank each of you for your continued patience and support.

• We also began our Summer Session courses on May 23. With affordable pricing and multiple sessions, students can earn up to 12 credits in course work, independent research or internship credit (while staying close to the beach!). To accommodate busy schedules, our 2017 Summer Session is being offered in three terms: May 23-June 30, May 23-August 23, and July 10-August 16. Additional information and a list of course offerings is available at www.vwu.edu/summersession.

• Soon we will begin rolling out additional information about our new online programs for the fall semester. We are so delighted with the response we have seen already without any formal advertising. Word of our new master's programs is spreading quickly in the community and among our nearly 10,000 alumni, many of whom are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in business or education from Virginia Wesleyan University. Be on the lookout for more details coming soon.

• Adding to the excitement of the season is the nearing completion of the Greer Environmental Sciences Center as well as the Frank Blocker Youth Center, which will be ready for use this summer by YMCA Camp Red Feather. We look forward to their opening in the coming months and to an official celebration on Founders Day on September 7. Be sure to mark your calendars for this celebration.

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Though school is out and summer break has arrived on campus, it is anything but slow paced here on Wesleyan Drive. I will continue to keep you informed of our progress and look forward to providing a complete campus update at my State of the University address on August 22. Enjoy the season, and be sure to visit if your travels take you in the direction of Coastal Virginia's premier university of the liberal arts and sciences. 

 

Go Marlins!