Virginia Wesleyan added a host of badly needed
classrooms and faculty offices in the Center
for the Humanities (now part of Blocker Hall)
in 1988.
By William M. Jones, Ph.D.
The ’80s may have been the “me ”decade, the decade that gave America such cultural treasures as “Mork and Mindy,” “The New Coke,” “Milli Vanilli,” and Rubik’s Cube, but for Virginia Wesleyan, it was the decade in which our college grew up. Enrollment skyrocketed, buildings went up, key programs were added, and ways were found to acknowledge the growing excellence manifest in every aspect of campus life. Virginia Wesleyan reached out to the community in new ways as well, gaining recognition among Virginia private colleges.
In American politics, this was the decade of Republican presidential ascendency that began with the “misery index ”and ended with “read my lips.” In foreign policy, it began with the 444-day Iranian Hostage Crisis, and ended as America gaped in wonder as the Berlin Wall fell and in horror as Chinese oligarchs brutally suppressed the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. Terrorism reared its ugly head in the attempt on President Reagan’s life, Pope John Paul II ’s life, airplane hijackings, and the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut.
In the ’80s,Virginia Wesleyan made room for the performing arts in Edward D. Hofheimer Theater, completed in 1981,and added a host of badly needed classrooms and faculty offices in the Center for the Humanities (now part of Blocker Hall) in 1988. As the decade drew to a close, the first fruits of the College ’s most ambitious capital campaign to date, “Celebrating 25,” were harvested as ground was broken for the completion of Village II. No longer would Gum and Smithdeal Halls stand in splendid isolation at the north end of the campus.
And it was a good thing, too, because the enrollment of the College surged 53% in the 1980s, from 834 in the fall of 1980 to 1280 in the fall of 1989, and faculty increased by 17! Altogether, the College raised $12.2 million during the decade. If the ’80s was the “me” decade, for Virginia Wesleyan’s friends, it was more like the “I ’m OK; you’re OK” ’60s.
Virginia Wesleyan discovered that it could take time to step back and admire what members of our community had accomplished and set new standards for achievement. Those in the heart of great adventures can seldom reflect on their progress. When valedictory moments come, they betoken a growing maturity.
By 1980, the College began to find ways to honor its own. A chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the History honor society, was established, as was the Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Teaching Award, given annually by a student committee to a outstanding faculty member. Alumni were next to be honored with the Alumni Academic Achievement Award, to be given to a graduate who had excelled in post-graduate study and accomplishment. By 1987, Virginia Wesleyan was also honoring its graduates with the Alumni Community Service Award. It was gratifying to see that our fledglings from the 1970s, who had already made their way in the world and had stopped along the way to serve others, were returning to campus again and again to reach out with their time, talents, and treasure to VWC students in the ’80s—all the more generous, since there had been no alumni to help them!
The following year a Virginia chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership society was chartered, followed closely in 1983 with the establishment of a chapter of Phi Eta Sigma, the national freshman honor society. After these auspicious beginnings, more honor societies were brought to campus to celebrate achievement in a wide variety of fields, ensuring that the annual spring awards convocation would always run well into the last Tuesday-Thursday 12 noon class of the semester.
From the start, the “Wesleyan Way” has been innovation, and as the people and physical plant of the College grew and diversified in the 1980s, so also did program offerings. In 1982, the College recognized the growing diversity of those seeking a college education by inaugurating the Adult Studies Program, offering evening and weekend courses for degree-seeking, non-traditionally aged students. The Wesleyan Scholars Program, generous scholarship awards that began our current Honors and Scholars Program, was created in 1985, along with a fully articulated system of advising and courses for exceptionally gifted and talented students. Each program, in its own way and in tandem, provided that much-needed leavening which enriched the flavor of campus life as the level of student accomplishment rose.
Established programs in liberal arts management, human services, recreation and leisure studies, and education rapidly developed. Interlacing academics with career-building experience through expanding internship programs enhanced Virginia Wesleyan’s reputation in the Hampton Roads community, and beyond, as a college that was serious about applying the liberal arts to life. The College gained national recognition for establishing the Alternative Secondary Education Program in 1986 for those in mid-career who had heard the call to become teachers. New majors were added in music and computer science. In 1982,Virginia Wesleyan reached a major landmark in its academic and institutional pilgrimage by gaining admission to the prestigious Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.
Maturity also means saying goodbye to beginnings. By 1989, Virginia Wesleyan had said its farewell to beloved librarian, Roland (Nick) Nicholson, who died in 1983, and bon chance that same year to Colonel Robert E. Tucker, a charter member of the faculty and its first retiree. Chemistry professor and punster extraordinaire, Robert Hufstedler, Ph.D., retired in 1986, and an era ended in 1989 when Coach Don Forsyth ended a twenty-year run as Marlins basketball coach to concentrate on his job as athletic director. As Bush ‘41 ’took office and peace broke out all over Europe, our own Lambuth Clarke was well into his 23rd year as president, and Virginia Wesleyan was not only bigger and better, but also more self-aware and self-assured. Anyone who visited the house at 1584 Wesleyan Drive could see that the new kid on the block was all grown up.