“This is what we seek here at Washington and Lee — to educate morally autonomous individuals, guided by the virtues of integrity and civility, deeply aware of their responsibility to each other and to the future, and driven by the same compulsion of duty as George Washington and Robert E. Lee.” President Kenneth P. Ruscio
Chris Washnock ’12 Greer, South Carolina Majors: Religion and Spanish
Educating Students for Lives of Consequence Washington and Lee University is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected institutions of higher education.
It is a singular community that inspires students to reach the full potential of their intellect, educates them for character, and challenges them to solve the problems they will face in a complex world. It fosters a desire not simply to act, but also to act intelligently and ethically. Washington and Lee values its storied past. But it remains “not unmindful of the future.” Preserving our distinctive identity and leadership requires constant dedication. To that end, the University is mounting its most ambitious campaign. With a goal of $500 million, this comprehensive campaign will be historic not only for this University but also for liberal arts education nationally. It will focus on the people who are at the heart of the Washington and Lee experience, our tradition of academic innovation, building our endowment, and restoring iconic spaces on campus. The campaign seeks the support of alumni, parents, and friends to meet several major objectives of the University’s strategic plan. Through the campaign, we will: Recruit and support students with exceptional personal and intellectual characteristics; Recruit, retain, and develop exceptionally qualified faculty and staff committed to the values of the University; Enhance academic programs that foster learning, engagement, and character; Care for our historic campus and shape a campus for the 21st century; Sustain the Annual Fund.
The priorities of the campaign result from a strategic plan approved by the Board of Trustees in 2007. The premise of that plan is straight forward. Washington and Lee is defining a liberal arts education for the 21st century based on its enduring strengths: A close-knit community of exceptionally qualified faculty and students; an educational program that provides students with technical and analytical skills, as well as the capacity for moral and ethical reasoning; and a commitment to providing that education in a historic setting with a genuine sense of place beyond mere bricks and mortar.
This is a campaign for our future, drawing on the foundations of our past. It is a campaign for our society’s future, as we send forth alumni who will continue to make a difference in their communities and professions.
Keaton Fletcher ’13 Littleton, Colorado Majors: Neuroscience and Psychology
Amber Cooper ’12 Alpharetta, Georgia Major: Mass Communications Minor: African American Studies
Honor Our Past, Build Our Future
We can imagine Washington and Lee’s future only by fully appreciating our past.
When George Washington transferred 100 shares of capital stock in the James River Company to the trustees of the Liberty Hall Academy in 1798, he saved a worthy institution from near-certain insolvency. With the dividends from these shares,the newly renamed Washington Academy was able to pay off its outstanding debt and could once again invest in books and equipment. Washington was absolutely sure that a broadly educated citizenry was essential to the success of that civil society he risked so much to create. His gift was both an act of faith and a careful investment in the future. Without his generous gesture, Washington and Lee University would not exist today. When Robert E. Lee assumed the presidency of Washington College in 1865, he knew that the students who would come to study here confronted challenges unlike those faced by previous generations. The very embodiment of the ideals of duty, service, and civility, Lee was also a bold and original thinker. He responded to this new reality by developing an innovative academic program, steeped in the values he held dear, to prepare students for leadership. Today, those of us who love Washington and Lee share a similar commitment to the future of this institution and for this generation of students. Our task is to honor our past by building for our future. We live by the principle that we must bequeath a Washington and Lee to the future as strong as the one provided to us.
Traditional Strengths That Encourage Innovation
In undertaking this mission, Washington and Lee has undeniable advantages. Our professional programs in law, business, and journal ism have always shaped student learning and campus conversations in ways that do not occur in other liberal arts colleges. These programs benefit because they exist in a liberal arts setting, and our liberal arts programs benefit because they exist alongside programs that stress intelligent solutions to the world’s most challenging problems. Our innovative programs are setting the pattern for 21st-century liberal education. The Shepherd Poverty Program and the Environ mental Studies Program are two specific examples of interdisci plinary programs that help students understand and act on critical issues they will face in their lifetimes. In addition, a renewed emphasis on international programs will give students a greater sense of how to interact with other cultures, other economies, and other political systems. Our faculty has reimagined the Spring Term to recapture its original intention to foster more-intensive courses. Thanks to an emphasis on undergraduate research in mentorship with faculty, along with our enduring legacy of close student-faculty relationships, hundreds of students each year have firsthand exposure to the creativity and the determination that underlie scientific and intellectual discovery. Having welcomed its initial classes of students, the Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity is stimulating lively discussion of the roles that integrity and honor play at the University and in personal and professional lives. And the School of Law is redefining the third-year curriculum — and beyond — for the future of legal education.
Not since the time of Robert E. Lee’s presidency of the University has there been as much attention to developing an academic program that will prepare students for a changing and increasingly complex world.
It is now our responsibility — and our great privilege — to take up the challenge of keeping Washington and Lee at the vanguard of liberal arts institutions in our nation. This University is worthy of your support, your enthusiasm, and your passion. Generation after generation of caring faculty, engaged students, and generous and committed alumni, parents, and friends have made Washington and Lee the extraordinary institution it is today. Together we will ensure that future generations of students graduate with the knowledge and commitment required to work and lead in their world, just as past generations did for theirs.
Caitlin Edgar ’12 De Pere,Wisconsin Major: Biochemistry Minor: German
one
Recruit and Support Students with Exceptional Personal and Intellectual Characteristics
goal: $160,000,000
Washington and Lee seeks young men and women who are intellectually gifted and adventurous; who are drawn to a community dedicated to honor, integrity, and civility; and who view a college degree not as a credential, but as an opportunity for self-discovery and preparation for a life of service and citizenship.
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ur challenge is to continue in the tradition, established decades ago by such University leaders as the legendary Dean Frank Gilliam, to attract and support students who best exemplify the University’s ideals, regardless of their financial situation. In recent years, financial considerations have led many of our best candidates to consider other institutions — and difficult economic times have placed a Washington and Lee education out of reach for a growing number of prospective students. Accordingly, one of the critical goals of this campaign is to expand our financial aid program with need-based grants, so that we can enroll outstanding students of character and intellect and provide them with the opportunity to take full advantage of everything the University offers, including study abroad and summer internships. It is important to be clear: the recipients of this aid will not be its only benefi ciaries. All members of the Washington and Lee community will be the better for it. Students learn from one another and from different perspectives and experiences. A comprehensive scholarship program, funded by increased endowment, will ensure that we continue to have the wide range of views and backgrounds reflective of our world, enriching the intellectual exchange that is a hallmark of a liberal education. Society will also benefit.We expect our students to do great things.They leave here determined to make a contribution. By reducing their financial responsibilities to a reasonable level, we give students the chance to act immediately upon graduation to realize their hopes and aspirations.The loan repayment assistance program we have created for graduates of the Law School will have this effect, enabling those who would like to make public service their top priority to do so. At Washington and Lee, we educate young women and men to face the challenges of their times with intellect, courage, moral insight, civility, and analytic rigor. Now more than ever, these qualities are in demand.Through this campaign, we will make certain that our students take full advantage of all that a Washington and Lee education has to offer.
David Doobin ’11 Summit, New Jersey Major: Neuroscience Minor: African American Studies
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Recruit, Retain, and Develop Exceptionally Qualified Faculty and Staff Committed to the Values of the University
goal: $122,000,000
At Washington and Lee, the professors are not simply teachers. They are a particular kind of teacher. They are mentors, exemplars, and role models charged with both the intellectual and personal development of our students.
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t is a responsibility that requires self-knowledge, discipline, continuous profes sional development, and a deep commitment to the values of our University. The very essence of a Washington and Lee education is the unusually strong and lasting relationships between faculty and students, both during the students’ time here and well beyond. Our faculty members set a high standard for intellectual engagement. As active scholars dedicated to their students, they convey the excitement of a life of learning. They are also respected for their academic rigor. Washington and Lee professors are known as demanding yet skillful teachers who insist on engagement and tailor their teaching to the strengths of their students. An important goal of this campaign is to ensure that Washington and Lee attracts and retains the very best faculty. At the same time, we seek to create an environment that encourages their professional development and fosters their teaching. If Washington and Lee is to succeed in its mission of preparing students for lives of consequence, we must attract and retain scholars of exceptional attainment who make teaching their priority. Teacher-scholars of this caliber are rare and, consequently, much sought after by other colleges. Currently, Washington and Lee’s faculty compensation lags behind that of our peer institutions, the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges. The most recent analysis indicates that our average faculty salary at all ranks is 19th among the 25 institutions with whom we compare ourselves. As a result of the campaign, we will offer salaries and benefits that are at the mean of these peers.This reflects both the value W&L places on great teaching and the new reality of an increasing cost of living in Lexington. Equally important, we will encourage faculty members to grow as teachers and scholars by providing support for sabbaticals, summer research, and curriculum development. Another priority of our strategic plan is to support the non-teaching staff— those dedicated individuals who strengthen our community by sharing the values that characterize this University, and whose dedication to our mission is evident in the quality of their work. Creating a workplace that is personally rewarding for all members of the staff not only accords with our ideals, but also is essential to our ability to fulfill our educational mission. The faculty and staff of Washington and Lee are the living link to our past, to the traditions and values that have always distinguished this place. With your support, we will continue to ensure that we convey these traditions and values to future generations of students.
Kara Karcher ’11 Highlands, North Carolina Major: Politics Minors: Poverty and Human Capability Studies,Women’s and Gender Studies
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Enhance Academic Programs That Foster Learning, Engagement, and Character
goal: $37,500,000
When students enter Washington and Lee, they embark on a personal and intellectual quest. They come here to gain the knowledge and moral insight required to lead lives of engaged citizenship. They encounter new ideas and perspectives, grow intellectually, add to their stock of experience, and perfect their skills.
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his quest can occur only in a strong community. Students learn together what they cannot learn alone. Through a broad course of study, adherence to our Honor System, and participation in student self-governance, students become more deeply aware of their obligations to themselves, to each other, and to society at large.They leave here knowing that it is not simple or easy to act for the common good, but that doing so is deeply satisfying and meaningful. We do this today, just as Robert E. Lee did during his presidency, by supporting and establishing innovative programs, rooted in our core traditions, that engage and challenge our students. No curriculum or field of knowledge is static if it is to prepare our students for their lives and work ahead. Our revitalized Spring Term is a case in point. The faculty has taken the lead in reimagining this four-week session, developing courses that are inventive, intel足 lectually adventurous, and rigorous. Students and faculty benefit from a focused learning environment that allows them to devote undivided attention to the subject matter of one course. The Spring Term offers learning experiences in ways that differ markedly from the experiences of our longer fall and winter terms. Another groundbreaking program is the third-year Bridge to the Profession curriculum in the School of Law. Hailed by many in both the legal profession and in legal education as a genuine breakthrough, the program combines demanding study of legal theory and doctrine with simulated and actual practical experience. This pioneering initiative places Washington and Lee at the forefront of the most signifi足 cant change in law-school curriculum in more than a century. The Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability is a third example of a program creating learning opportunities for our students and taking advantage of the expertise of faculty and departments. In the process of helping students develop a more nuanced view of the challenges poverty poses for society, it shapes how they think about their careers and their civic responsibilities. Founded more than a decade ago, it is a national model, emulated by other universities.
International education is a focus of the strategic plan and of this campaign as we take seriously our responsibility to prepare our students to live and work in an increas ingly global context. We have made progress in the past 15 years. More students study abroad; international students are enrolling in significant numbers. Interdisciplinary programs, such as Environmental Studies, include an international dimension. We plan more in the future as part of an effort that has focused on how best to create an effective global learning environment. We must commit to a new standard of internationaliza tion if Washington and Lee is to fulfill its mission to educate citizens of the world. Each of the many innovations we offer intensifies the educational experience in its own way. Members of the Williams School Investment Society, for instance, gain a full appreciation of the weighty responsibilities of managing capital because they have invested a portion of the University’s endowment. Several undergraduate research programs afford students a taste of what it takes to produce knowledge, while the biannual Science, Society and the Arts symposium impresses the need to convey that knowledge to others. Your support will help Washington and Lee strengthen and expand these programs and others like them. Our hope is that the quest our students begin at Washington and Lee will be one they continue over the course of their lives.
Cristina Bratu ’11 Arad, Romania Major: Economics Minor: German
one
Create a Campus for the 21st Century
goal: $120,500,000
Washington and Lee is blessed with one of the nation’s most beautiful campuses. Generations of graduates have taken with them images that seem eternal — of walking alone on the Colonnade on a late winter’s afternoon or of crossing the footbridge on a crisp fall morning.
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ith maturity and the passage of years, alumni realize that these scenes are not in fact timeless, but rather are a gift from those who, over the past two centuries, created this magnificent campus. Because our predecessors believed so keenly in the mission of this institution, they felt there was always more they could do to make this setting equal to the ideals of its founders. It is now our turn to take up this challenge, to ensure that this place continues to enrich, elevate, and inspire lifelong memories for future generations of students. A historic campus needs special care. Since the Colonnade was last renovated seventy years ago, it has been subjected to a series of expedient measures to upgrade its mechanical systems and reconfigure its space. We must now do what is required not just to preserve the Colonnade, but also to restore it as the teaching environment as functional and modern for these times as it has been for previous generations. In other areas on campus, the physical infrastructure limits our ability to support innovative teaching. For instance, the Law School lacks space for the clinics that are the hallmark of its Bridge to the Profession curriculum. While information technology has transformed and energized libraries, much of Leyburn Library remains rooted in the 20th century. The recent renovation of the main floor of Leyburn illustrates what we can do to enhance student learning. Addressing these needs is a campaign priority, as is establishing a Center for Global Learning in a renovated and enhanced duPont Hall. The development of a new academic facility allows us to use this important space at one end of Stemmons Plaza to create an environment that will emphasize liberal arts for the 21st century by integrating global learning and engagement into every level of a W&L education. The building will serve as the physical focus for an innovative, coherent, and comprehensive program in global learning that will prepare all Washington and Lee graduates for the challenges of the 21st century. As global learning strategies spread throughout the campus, the center will act as an incubator for experimentation with new pedagogies and technologies in innovative teaching spaces. Anyone entering the building will sense immediately how its architecture, technology, design, and programming combine to create a global market place of ideas and activities that are diffused throughout the campus. By functioning as a viable, fully integrated hub for the University, the Center for Global Learning
will be a major factor in W&L’s effort to fulfill the promise of its mission to prepare graduates for “engaged citizenship in a global and diverse society.” In the past decade, the University has improved its outdoor athletic facilities to the point that no other college in the NCAA’s Division III has a complex to equal the Duchossois Outdoor Athletics Facility Complex. At the same time, while the Warner Center has effectively served generations of students, it is no longer adequate to meet the demands of a comprehensive and competitive intercollegiate athletic program and the recreational needs of students, faculty, and staff. Historic Doremus Gym will continue to serve the campus, but we must replace Warner Center with new indoor facilities that will provide at least a new gymnasium, swimming pool, indoor track, and flexible campus meeting space that can accommodate gatherings of the entire campus community. In addition, as part of the strategic plan, we must renew our commitment to a rich residential-life experience for students. In a time when many campuses have invested heavily in modern residence halls, our on-campus housing is a significant deficit when prospective students and families draw comparisons. Not only is it important for us to renovate and rebuild these facilities to update them, but we must also take advantage of this opportunity to design effective, attractive environments for living and learning. While we expect residential-facilities upgrades to be addressed outside the campaign, endowing the residential-advising program is a campaign priority. Several recent projects — Newcomb Hall, the Hillel House, Wilson Field, Holekamp Hall,Wilson Hall, and Elrod Commons — demonstrate the careful, attentive manner in which we undertake these efforts. Inevitably, as the campus evolves, the details of the memories that future gen erations of students take with them will be different from those of past graduates. Nonetheless, by renewing the campus, we ensure that the fundamental sense and spirit of these memories remain timeless, even as we provide for an unparalleled learning environment for today’s students.
Kenny Sharpless ’12 Lorton,Virginia Majors: Music and Mass Communications Minor: German
one
Sustain the Annual Fund
goal: $60,000,000
At Washington and Lee, our Annual Fund provides six percent of the operating budget and represents the critical difference in our ability to fulfill our mission. The Annual Fund provides unrestricted dollars that support such budget elements and activities as faculty and staff salaries, operations of academic departments, purchases of essential laboratory instruments, funding of student learning outside the classroom, support for varsity athletic teams and campus recreation, and the care of the University’s historic buildings and grounds.
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qually important, these funds provide financial flexibility to target opportunities during the year. Such flexibility allows us to strengthen our academic offerings, enhance student self-governance, and support individual students’ initiatives. In short, the Annual Fund enriches the University in hundreds of small but significant ways. Add them all up, and you have Washington and Lee’s margin of excellence. In order to retain that margin, we will increase the Annual Fund by five percent per year throughout the duration of the campaign, resulting in the overall goal of $60 million. Maintaining a strong, growing Annual Fund is especially critical in these times of economic uncertainty, when budgetary challenges tax the University’s resources. Support of the Annual Fund is essential as we seek to meet our strategic goals.
Standard & Poor’s affirmed its ‘AA’ long term rating, reflecting its assessment of the university’s stable enrollment, competitive admissons, and very strong student quality; healthy financial operations; solid financial resources; and good endowment.
Moody’s Investors Service has given Washington and Lee this rating based on a health trend of positive operations, continued strength in philan thropic support, robust student demand, and a conservatively structured debt profile.
AA Aa2
Average Alumni Giving Rate
61% Carleton 60% Amherst 60% Middlebury 58% Williams 57% Centre
Auxiliaries 5%
annual fund 7%
54% Davidson 51% 51% 50% 49% 49% 47% 46% 46% 45%
Bowdoin Holy Cross
net student fees 53%
Endowment income 35%
Wesleyan Hamilton Pomona Washington and Lee
Operating Budget Revenue Forecast 2011–12
Swarthmore Wellesley Haverford
Source: U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2011
$116,408,000
The University’s internally managed endowment was $790.1 million as of February 28, 2011
$790.1
49 25 25 top
PERCENT
Of the institutional scholarship assistance provided annually, 49% comes from private gifts and endowments and 51% comes from other sources. The campaign seeks to endow more of the institutional assistance.
PERCENT
PERCENT
The performance of Washington and Lee’s endowment over the last one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods ranks among the top quartile of all college and university endowments in each period within the NACUBO/ Commonfund Endowment Study.
One quarter of Washington and Lee’s undergraduate students participate on one of the 24 varsity athletic teams.
$115,000
The average family income of a Washington and Lee student who is receiving financial assistance from the University.
Washington and Lee $334,533 bowdoin College $425,000
grinnell College $766,102
Pomona College $938,851
endowment per student 300,000
450,000
600,000
Claremont McKenna College $379,379
750,000
900,000
Wellesley College $587,852
Swarthmore College $825,860
aaup average faculty salaries compared to peer institutions $91.6 $100.6
all ranks $66.3 $71.1
assistant professor
$84.4 $89.2
associate professor
$116.4 $125.3
professor washington and lee
peer average
annual fund growth 2002
$4,373,460
2003
$4,417,703
2004
$4,697,757
2005
$5,078,953
2006
$5,312,688
2007
$6,176,306
2008
$6,847,040
2009
$6,504,777
2010
$7,014,699