The Batten family at the dedication of the Jane P.
Batten Student Center: (from left) Dorothy Batten
Rolph, Frank Batten Jr., Jane P. Batten, Frank
Batten and Maitri Leela Bavana '82.
Virginia Wesleyan College received its largest one-time gift to date this spring with a $11.3 million-gift from Norfolk media executive Frank Batten and his wife Jane P. Batten.
The gift was part of a larger group of donations the Battens made to seven schools and non-profit institutions totaling between $170-$180 million. Batten said he originally planned to make all the donations in his will, but changed his plans. He said he realized the schools and other groups are suffering through money crunches as the economy stagnates, and that schools need the assistance now.
The new gift, which will be added to the college endowment, will be used for scholarships for top-level students and attracting and keeping top-notch faculty.
"It's just hard for me to imagine this kind of generosity," said VWC President Billy Greer. "This is an important gift. This is a defining gift. This gift will enable us to do things we have always wanted to do."
The Battens made a gift of $10 million to VWC in 2001, the second-largest one-time gift in the college's history, which helped fund the building of the Jane P. Batten Student Center. She is a member of and the former chair of the VWC Board of Trustees.
Batten is the retired leader of Landmark Communications Inc., which publishes The Virginian-Pilot newspaper and owns the Weather Channel. Other institutions that benefited from the Batten gifts included Harvard Business School, Old Dominion University, Hollins College, the Norfolk Foundation, Culver Academies and Tidewater Scholarship Foundation's ACCESS Program.