THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070510
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Picture: A $6 million academic building, sporting the latest high-tech equipment.
A $20 million endowment, double its current size.
Dozens more scholarships targeting pre-meds, teachers and artists.
A $400,000 soccer and lacrosse stadium, with a new field house.
Virginia Wesleyan College is a small school with big dreams.
On Thursday, President William T. ``Billy'' Greer Jr. announced a $25 million fund-raising campaign to realize those dreams. Already, he said, the college has raised $8.4 million - one-third of the goal.
Greer outlined an ambitious agenda to earn the 29-year-old Methodist-affiliated school national renown - and a higher-caliber student body. And he's ready to get going. He wants to complete the fund drive - and start construction - within a year.
``I want to show folks that we can build a small elite liberal arts college in two to three years, not 10, 15, 20 or 100 years,'' he said. ``We've got to speed that process up.''
The plan, he said, won't dissolve the family feeling of the campus; enrollment, which stands at about 1,500, won't increase by more than 150. Nor will the faculty be upended.
``The people here are what make the place, but we've got to support the people with adequate facilities,'' Greer said.
He acknowledged that in the battle to attract and keep students, looks matter. A lavish admissions office, a sizable athletic field - anything physical could make the difference.
``If you go on anybody else's campus, you'll discover that many of the facilities they consider to be normal and everyday we don't have,'' he said. ``We do have some concerns in the area of student retention, and we think that sometimes the things we don't have impact retention.''
Isaac Lowenthal, a junior majoring in psychology, said, ``I'm pleased with the broad scope of the plan - from academics to facilities for students. We like to keep everyone happy.''
Wesleyan's bold design includes:
A $250,000 ``community service'' project that would encourage - or perhaps require - all students to volunteer. ``To go out and connect the reality of the classroom to the reality of the outside world is a powerful way to learn,'' he said. ``. . . I believe that people ought to put more back into life than they take out of it.''
Wesleyan already has received a $250,000 gift for the program from the Birdsong Corp. and Sue and George Birdsong of Suffolk.
$4.5 million in new scholarships. ``That's the way you build a strong student body - you identify outstanding people and you lure them to your campus with a scholarship,'' Greer said. ``We want to bring the finest young minds in the country.''
A 43,000-square-foot academic building, including classrooms, faculty offices and computer labs. ``We're out of office space,'' Greer said. ``We're literally using closets for offices.''
A $3.8 million administration building and a $600,000 library renovation. Currently, 80 percent of administrators work in the building housing the library. ``This will get the administrators out of the library so we can get the library to what it really should become,'' Greer said.
The sports facility. That, Greer said, will attract athletes and allow Wesleyan to host more tournaments. ``That puts you on the map even more,'' he said.
Student president Jeggan Grey-Johnson says athletics is a crucial component.
``Wesleyan has already established a record as far as academics is concerned,'' he said. ``It's important to recognize out-of-classroom activities such as athletics, especially if we're talking about having a name that's well-known out there.''
Wesleyan raised $9.5 million in its last campaign in 1991. Greer says he has no doubts the school can raise $25 million this time from individuals, companies and foundations, both locally and nationally.
``I know there's not another institution of higher learning in Hampton Roads like us,'' he said. ``I'm going to encourage people to fall in love with what we're doing.'' ILLUSTRATION: VIRGINIA WESLEYAN HOPES TO RAISE $25 MILLION
BILL TIERNAN/
Staff
William T. Greer Jr., president of Virginia Wesleyan College, talks
with students before announcing the fund-raising drive.
An artist's rendering of Virginia Wesleyan College's new $6 million
Academic Building.
CAMPAIGN GOALS
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB