I am pleased to announce that Dr. Larry Hultgren, Virginia Wesleyan's longest-tenured faculty member, will serve as the keynote speaker for Founders Day. The Founders Day Convocation will be held on Thursday, September 6, at 11 a.m. in Convocation Hall of the Jane P. Batten Student Center.
Dr. Hultgren has been a member of the Virginia Wesleyan family for nearly 50 years, having arrived on campus in September 1969. He serves as Professor of Philosophy and Director of the PORTfolio Program. He has also served as the University's NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative for more than 40 years.
A former Associate Dean and Batten Professor, Dr. Hultgren has received the Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award, the Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Frank and Jane P. Batten Distinguished Scholar Award. In 2016, he was inducted into the Virginia Wesleyan University Athletic Hall of Fame. He was selected in 2009 by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges as the recipient of the Hiter H. Harris Jr. Memorial award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the top statewide award for faculty from Virginia’s private colleges.
Founders Day was launched two years ago as an annual event to honor the history and heritage of Virginia Wesleyan. Our first speaker, Trustee Emeritus George Birdsong, spoke movingly on that occasion of this former site of a rural cornfield that has produced "a very fine college." It is in that celebratory spirit that we have planned a full day of activities including honoring our most recent outstanding alumni.
We look forward to sharing additional details about the day's events, highlighted by Dr. Hultgren's unique perspective on the institution he has served so faithfully.
