Vice President of Academic Affairs
and Kenneth R. Perry Dean of the
College, Dr. Timothy O'Rourke.
The Office of Academic Affairs includes three academic divisions and 39 programs with more than eighty full-time faculty members. Academic Affairs also encompasses, among other components, the Hofheimer Library, the Registrar's Office, International Programs, the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom and the Center for Sacred Music. In various ways, all of these divisions and offices advance the core mission of Academic Affairs, which is to provide Virginia Wesleyan students with a demanding, even transformative, education in the liberal arts.
The student who embraces the liberal arts will see beauty in a work of art, in a glacial formation, and in a mathematical formula; will appreciate the differences across societies and find ways to transcend those differences; will know much about the history and politics of this nation and become an active participant in its civic and political life. Because the liberal arts teaches a student to think critically, to write and speak clearly and effectively, and to draw on the analytical approaches of many disciplines, she or he will be well prepared both for a variety of careers and for graduate and professional school. Informed by experience under Virginia Wesleyan's Honor Code, a student will appreciate, following Jefferson, that "Rigid integrity is the first and most gainful qualification (in the long run) for every profession" (John P. Kaminski, ed., The Quotable Jefferson).
A student should come to Virginia Wesleyan not merely to get an education, but to immerse oneself in a rigorous and robust pursuit of knowledge, inside and outside the classroom. The pursuit begins in the First-Year Seminar, which introduces a student to inquiry-based learning, continues in the General Studies program that provides alternative perspectives—or Frames of Reference—in looking at the world, and culminates in the Senior Integrative Experience that brings these diverse perspectives together in a capstone study, typically in one's major. Along the way, a student might seize the opportunity to do an independent research project and present its findings at Virginia Wesleyan's Annual Research Symposium or at a regional or national professional conference. A student might also carry the lessons of the classroom into the metropolitan community—through, for examples, the PORTfolio Program and various internships—and into the global village through Study Abroad.
The driving force behind the academic enterprise at Virginia Wesleyan is an intellectually vibrant faculty, noted for both teaching and research excellence and committed to the success of every student. Because most classes have fewer than 20 students, faculty at Virginia Wesleyan know their students by name, impose high expectations and provide students with the individual attention needed to reach those expectations. The Hofheimer Library, whose collections are rapidly expanding, the Learning Resource Center and Computer Services provide essential resources and tutorial support for Virginia Wesleyan undergraduates.
With the ambitious goal of becoming a Phi Beta Kappa-caliber institution within the next several years, Virginia Wesleyan is enhancing scholarship assistance for students, recruiting new faculty and undertaking a major expansion of academic facilities, which will include a new science building and an enlargement of the library.