Much happened at the College of William & Mary over the past year, from new faces in the administration to new construction. Check out these highlights from 2014 at William & Mary.
BUDGET CUTS
- In September, a compromise in the General Assembly to fill a $2.4 billion gap in the state’s budget forced the College of William & Mary to cut $90 million from its budget in 2015 and 2016.
CHANGES AT THE COLLEGE
- Administrators debuted the college’s updated master plan in November, outlining the college’s construction goals for the next 20 years, including the addition of 530,000 square feet of new building space and the demolition of Millington, Morton and Jones halls.
- The college unveiled a new logo and style guide for acceptable marks during the Board of Visitors meeting in November.
CONSTRUCTION
- Site work on the third phase of the college’s Integrated Science Center began in June. When completed, the building will house 113,000 square feet of laboratory and major instrument space.
- The college announced in August a $22 million plan to expand Zable Stadium to include a new upper deck, suites and press box on the stadium’s west side.
- In September, the college began a $2 million renovation of Swem Library that will transform 11,000 square feet of space on the building’s first floor into a multimedia center.
CHANGES IN THE ADMINISTRATION
- In April, law professor Susan Grover was named the college’s new vice provost for academic and faculty affairs, succeeding Kate Slevin.
- Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed three new faces and reappointed one incumbent member to four-year terms on the college’s Board of Visitors in June.
- Deborah Cheesebro became the first female police chief in the history of the William & Mary Police Department in August.
- The college’s longtime vice president for administration Anna B. Martin announced in October she would retire from her position effective in February.
- In December, the college announced it was tapping longtime vice president for finance Sam Jones to become senior vice president for finance and administration beginning in February. The move combines Jones’ position as vice president for finance with that of the vice president for administration, eliminating the need to fill Martin’s position after her retirement.
AWARDS AND RANKINGS
- In March, the William & Mary School of Law jumped nine places to 24th in the annual U.S. News & World Report law school rankings.
- Physics professor Seth Aubin was named a Fulbright Scholar in September, and will spend time working at Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics.
- The college was recognized in November for having the highest percentage of students participating in study abroad programs of any public universities in the U.S.
ACTIVITY ON CAMPUS
- Dining options for students at the college were expanded in August when three businesses in the mixed-use Tribe Square dorm on Richmond Road signed contracts adding them to the William & Mary meal plan.
- In February, the Board of Visitors voted to give college president Taylor Reveley a pay raise of nearly $90,000, boosting his annual salary to $425,000.
- The college unveiled a new curriculum in February, with plans to fully implement the new requirements by the 2019-20 academic year.
- Archaeologists uncovered the remains of the college’s colonial-era brew house during an excavation on campus in August.
- Law professor Allison Orr Larsen appeared on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report in October to discuss judicial decision making on the Supreme Court.
- Hundreds of William & Mary students turned out to vote Nov. 3 to vote in the 2014 midterm elections. Statistics indicate students have increased and stabilized the city’s voter registration numbers since being ruled eligible voters in Williamsburg in 2007.
PHILANTHROPY
- In August, the estate of alumna Margaret Baxter Vaughan donated $3 million to the College of William & Mary to improve Swem Library and improve other priorities at the college.
- The College of William & Mary received two multi-million dollar gifts in September to establish a scholarship fund for law students and expand the college’s Judaic Studies program.
- Former Board of Visitors members Michael Tang donated $1 million in October to establish a new endowed professorship at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
- In November, the William & Mary School of Law received the biggest single monetary gift in its history to fund the construction of a new building for the law school’s legal clinics.
- The College of William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business received a major gift from a pair of alumni in November to fund the creation of a new center geared toward students studying finance.
