+ Southern Virginia granted initial candidacy for regional accreditation

Making Art History

Professor Crawford helPs Create historiC mural at

the louvre museum in Paris

summer 2010s o u t h e r n v i r g i n i a u n i v e r s i t y

features

8 SVU Art History Professor Makes Art History at the Louvre

For two and a half years, Professor Barbara Crawford

traveled between Buena Vista and Paris, where

she worked with a small team to help paint a

4,300-square-foot mural for one of the last undeco-

rated ceilings in the Louvre.

By Christina himes

12 Academic Globe TrottingSouthern Virginia’s nationally recognized travel study

program gives students meaningful experiences in the

U.S. and abroad.

departments

4 NewsNew fields. Annual temple day. Stephen R. Covey addresses university audience.

6 Core Value: RefinementOn the path to becoming a leader-servant, refinement may be the value that embodies all others.

14 Academics

16 Extracurricular

18 Alumni Notes

20 Donor SpotlightLarge and small gifts make a $13.5 million difference.

By GeorGi ana smith

columns

2 President’s Corner

Regional accreditation candidacy brings major benefits for our students.

By Dr. roDney K. smith

8

12

14

16

20

1summer 2010

contents

Regional Accreditation Candidacy

That’s what we call the genius of small.

A personal, engaging academic experience—

inside and outside the classroom.

By roDney K. smith, PresiDent

President’s CouncilRodney K. Smith . . . . . President

Madison U. Sowell . . . . interim Provost

Scott Y. Doxey . . . . . . . Chief oPerations and systems offiCer

Robert E. Huch . . . . . . Chief finanCial offiCer

Richard G. Whitehead . viCe President of institutional

advanCement

Brett W. Garcia . . . . . . . dean of admissions

Deidra Dryden . . . . . . . aCting athletiC direCtor

Burke Olsen . . . . . . . . . direCtor of university

CommuniCations

Board of TrusteesGlade M. Knight . . . . . . Chair

Lynn Chapman . . . . . . viCe-Chair

Cathy ChamberlainSterling D. ColtonKindee Nielsen DixonNed C. HillJ. Christopher LansingDane G. McBrideH. Scott McKinleyChristopher B. MundayChieko N. OkazakiL. Hugh ReddJ. Mitchel ScottJames E. SkeenDave Ulrich

Emerita TrusteeMartha Lou Derrick

Tidings Staffeditor-in-Chief . . . . . . . Burke Olseneditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Celia BensonWriters. . . . . . . . . . . . . Christina Himes, Burke Olsen,

Georgi Ana Smith, Bryce Pendleton, Leah Sidwell, Kaitlyn Smith

PhotograPhy . . . . . . . . Russ Dixon, Michael Thomson, Christian Vial, Burke Olsen, Leah Sidwell

ProduCtion assistant . . Nathaniel SidwellCover Photo . . . . . . . . . Michael Sawyer

design and ProduCtion . Stephen Hales Creative, Inc.art direCtor/designer . . Kelly NieldaCCount manager . . . . . Jeff Kohler

Tidings is published two times per year by Southern Virginia University. Please direct comments, questions, or sugges-tions to tidings@svu.edu. © Southern Virginia University, 2010

In late June the board of trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges and

Schools’ (SACS) Commission on Colleges granted Southern Virginia University

initial candidacy for regional accreditation. This is clear recognition that we have

the academic, institutional, and financial qualities required by the oldest, largest,

and most prestigious educational accreditor in the South.

We are thrilled to add another external validation to our national accreditation

from the academically rigorous American Academy for Liberal Education, which

we have held for nearly a decade.

SACS candidacy status has several benefits for our students. It will allow us to

develop an education licensure program in the coming years, pursue membership

in an appropriate athletic conference, explore membership in additional national

honor societies, participate in educational consortia, and see our students admitted

to even more graduate and professional schools.

Having been authorized for initial candidacy we now will go to work to

prepare additional application materials. If they are accepted an accreditation

committee will be authorized to visit our campus, after which the SACSCOC may

consider us for full membership. This process could take as long as three years.

We are grateful to have cleared this important hurdle. The application process

has helped us strengthen the already valuable education we offer to our students,

but what is most important to us is who our students become while they are here.

As you will gather from reading this issue of Tidings, Southern Virginia is more

viable and vital than ever before. What has happened on this campus since 1996 is

nothing short of miraculous and the future is brighter than ever.

We hope you will visit us in the near future. Much has been accomplished in

the past few months, and there is a pervasive sense of optimism and excitement on

campus.

We hope you will enjoy the new design and size of Tidings. Like the university,

it keeps getting better every year.

2 Southern Virginia University

president’s corner

That’s what we call the genius of small.

A personal, engaging academic experience—

inside and outside the classroom.

President’s CouncilRodney K. Smith . . . . . President

Madison U. Sowell . . . . interim Provost

Scott Y. Doxey . . . . . . . Chief oPerations and systems offiCer

Robert E. Huch . . . . . . Chief finanCial offiCer

Richard G. Whitehead . viCe President of institutional

advanCement

Brett W. Garcia . . . . . . . dean of admissions

Deidra Dryden . . . . . . . aCting athletiC direCtor

Burke Olsen . . . . . . . . . direCtor of university

CommuniCations

Board of TrusteesGlade M. Knight . . . . . . Chair

Lynn Chapman . . . . . . viCe-Chair

Cathy ChamberlainSterling D. ColtonKindee Nielsen DixonNed C. HillJ. Christopher LansingDane G. McBrideH. Scott McKinleyChristopher B. MundayChieko N. OkazakiL. Hugh ReddJ. Mitchel ScottJames E. SkeenDave Ulrich

Emerita TrusteeMartha Lou Derrick

Tidings Staffeditor-in-Chief . . . . . . . Burke Olseneditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Celia Bensonwriters. . . . . . . . . . . . . Christina Himes, Burke Olsen,

Georgi Ana Smith, Bryce Pendleton, Leah Sidwell, Kaitlyn Smith

PhotograPhy . . . . . . . . Russ Dixon, Michael Thomson, Christian Vial, Burke Olsen, Leah Sidwell

Cover Photo . . . . . . . . . Michael Sawyer

design and ProduCtion . Stephen Hales Creative, Inc.art direCtor/designer . . Kelly NieldaCCount manager . . . . . Jeff Kohler

Tidings is published two times per year by Southern Virginia University. Please direct comments, questions, or sugges-tions to tidings@svu.edu. © Southern Virginia University, 2010

1 Senior’s Screenplay Made into Film for LDS Film FestivalJanuary 2010

In January Cimone Furler (’10) saw words and images from her mind come to life on the silver screen at the ninth annual LDS Film Festival in Orem, Utah. Furler was notified on New Year’s Day that her screenplay, Knots, would be produced and shown to audiences at this year’s festival. Knots tells the redemp-tive story of a teenage boy who is tied up and left in the desert, but his complicated life has left his soul tied up in knots too. “I feel that there is a lot of mindless, entertaining fluff produced,” Furler said.

“I like films with a strong positive message. I wanted this to be a film that could uplift and inspire people to become their best selves.”

Student Officers Selected to Attend Drug Abuse Prevention Meetings in D.C.February 2010

Student association president Derick Maggard (’10) and vice president of operations Jessi Gibbons (’10) were selected to repre-sent the American Student Government Association at a February meeting in Washington, D.C., to discuss prescription drug abuse prevention. The goal of the meeting, sponsored by the National Council on Patient Information and Education and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is to lay the foundation for the creation of an online tool kit to help prevent prescription drug abuse among college students.

2 Stephen R. Covey Addresses University AudienceNovember 2009

Dr. Stephen R. Covey, leadership expert, teacher, organizational consultant, and author of the best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, spoke at a special Southern Virginia University Executive Lecture in November. Addressing a capacity crowd, including many community members, Dr. Covey challenged attend-ees to leave behind the industrial-age mindset that looks at people as things to manage. Leaders need to accept a knowledge-worker mindset that leads them to empower workers to grow in the four dimensions of self: body, heart, mind, and spirit, he said. “You may be able to buy someone’s hand or back, but you can never buy someone’s heart, mind, and spirit—these are volun-teered only,” Covey said.

“Leadership is not about control. It’s about unleash-ing the whole person toward compelling, inspiring, and worthwhile goals.”

3 More than 160 Students Participate in Annual Temple DayOctober 2009

More than 160 Southern Virginia University students gathered at 7 a.m. on a Tuesday in October to board one of three busses chartered for a three-hour drive to the Washington D.C. Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The trip was the univer-sity’s fifth annual temple service day, on which no classes or other campus activities are scheduled. Unlike many temple trips, some students came dressed in jeans and work clothes, ready to perform service on the temple grounds. Jed Harr, a junior from Saint George, Utah, chose to work on the grounds. Even outside, he felt the peace and calming spirit that only the temple can offer. “I love temples,” said Harr. “They show a small fraction of our Heavenly Father’s love for us and in turn our love for him.”

4 Marriotts Host Annual Invitational Art ShowOctober 2009

Long-time friends of the university, Richard Marriott, chairman of the board for Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc., and his wife, Nancy, hosted the sixth annual Shenandoah Invitational Art Show at the Fairview Marriott Hotel in Falls Church, Virginia, in October. Each year selected artists from around the country offer their recent work for sale to raise funds for fine arts scholarships and programs. This year’s art show raised more than $20,000. Attendees also heard first-hand the talent of Southern Virginia’s chamber choir and student-run a cappella group, The Fading Point.

1

3

2

4 Southern Virginia University

news

summer 2010 5

5 2009 Service Award RecipientsSeptember 2009

At the academic convoca-tion in September, the recipients of the 2009 Ed and Chieko Okazaki Distinguished Service Award were announced. Each year the award is given at convocation by surprise announcement to one member each of Southern Virginia’s faculty, staff, and student body. This year’s recipi-ents included Barbara L. Crawford, division of arts chair and professor of art; Robert E. Huch, chief finan-cial officer; and Stephanie Roberson, a junior from Harvey, Louisiana. The award is named in honor of Ed Okazaki, a Japanese-American who served this country in a highly decorated unit of the U.S. Army during World War II, and his wife, Chieko, an author and educator who served as first counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1990 to 1997.

6 Three New Multipurpose Fields DebutSeptember 2009

Fall semester welcomed the opening of three new fields constructed on 17 acres of university-owned land adjacent to campus. The new project, known as The Fields at Southern Virginia University, consists of two new grass fields and an artificial turf field surrounded almost entirely by beautiful trees and lush Shenandoah Valley mountains. The fields will be used by the entire student body for activities and by scholar-athletes as practice and game fields. “These fields will immediately bless the lives of all of our students who will be able to use them on a daily basis, along with our scholar-athletes, intramural competitors, EFY attendees and athletic camp participants,” said Southern Virginia President Rodney K. Smith. “We are grateful to the donors who made this possible, knowing that the fields will improve practice conditions and provide an idyllic setting for other activities, including student ward home evening groups.” Field one is designed for athletic practices, intramurals, and other student, faculty, and staff activities. Field two is the size of a regulation football field and will be used for football or other team practice. The artificial turf field, number three, is used for football practice and also serves as a practice and game field for the men’s and women’s soccer teams and the club lacrosse team, with regulation lines marking the specific size for each sport. Future development at the fields could include a score-board, lights, and a modest stadium that would seat between 800 and 1,200. “When we raise the money necessary to install lights, we will see a major benefit to the university academically,” President Smith said. “Lights will allow teams to use the fields after dark, which will help us extend the academic day and hold classes later into the afternoon and evening to get better use out of our academic facilities.”

7 Business Majors Score in Top 10 Percent on National Business TestJuly 2009

Southern Virginia University’s graduating business majors scored in the ninetieth percentile on the ETS Major Field Test in business, which has been taken by more than 83,000 seniors at 564 colleges and universities in the U.S. in the last three years. This achievement is made all the more impressive because there is no restriction on who can be a business major at Southern Virginia. Unlike their counterparts at many universities who have to apply to be admitted to business programs, majors are open to all students at Southern Virginia, where business management and leadership is the most popular major.

8 Professor Releases Two BooksMay 2009

Southern Virginia University professor and best-selling author Jeff Benedict has published two very different books. In January Grand Central Publishing released Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage—about a contro-versial eminent domain case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. In May Shadow Mountain Publishing released How to Build a Business Warren Buffett Would Buy: The R.C. Willey Story.

Theatre Professor Designs Set for Play at SmithsonianMay 2009

David Dwyer, an associ-ate professor of theatre at Southern Virginia University, designed and built a set for the Native Hawaiian play, The Conversion of Ka’ahumanu, produced by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian last summer.

4

7 5

8

6

Refinement“Education is more than just ‘book learning.’ It encompasses what we become.” —walter ralls, former v.p. of admissions and student life

Central to our mission of preparing leader-

servants, five aspirational qualities emerge as

Southern Virginia’s core values: scholarship, disciple-

ship, accountability, enthusiasm, and refinement.

Why refinement? How does it relate to our

mission? Refinement is the sum total of the college

experience, encompassing all the other core values.

Refinement enables an educated person to make a

significant difference “in the workplace and the world,

in the community and the church, and in the home.”

Richard Whitehead, vice president of institutional

advancement, and Walter Ralls, recently retired vice

president of admissions and student life, were part of

the original mission-defining process.

“We looked at our own background and educa-

tion, things that made a difference for us in our own

lives and at qualities we saw in others,” Vice President

Whitehead explains. “What is important to being a

well-educated and well-rounded individual who has

the confidence to accomplish whatever he puts his

mind to?”

“We felt that education is more than just ‘book

learning.’ It encompasses what we become,” Ralls

adds. “Refinement is a value we wish to have our

students acquire as they go through the Southern

Virginia educational process.”

Southern Virginia students also think it’s

important to develop refinement and are working

toward that goal. Sophomore Caleb Cluff began

Refinement is the sum total of the college experience, encompassing

all the other core values.

6 Southern Virginia University

core values: scholarship • discipleship • accountability • enthusiasm • refinement

summer 2010 7

thinking about refinement even before he stepped

into the classroom. When soccer coaches were

recruiting Cluff, they emphasized all five core values.

“It was expected that we should be able to repeat the

core values off the top of our head and have some

understanding of what they meant. Ever since that

meeting, I’ve been thinking about all five,” Cluff said.

He describes refinement as “one’s efforts to enlarge

the light of Christ in one’s life and to abolish or

diminish the influences of man’s carnal nature.”

Cluff ’s description reflects the first dictionary

definition for refinement: “cleansing.” Students

may think of college as a time for adding to their

knowledge, experience, and abilities, and indeed it is.

Refinement suggests that it’s also important to throw

things out. We leave behind less-desirable habits,

ideas, and attitudes, replacing them with insights,

awareness, and respect.

To junior Ashley Miles from Auburn, Washington,

refinement is gaining the skills to help individuals

be the best they can be. “Especially now that we’re

growing up in world that is crass and so chaotic, we

stand out when we show refinement,” she says.

Like other students, Miles considers coursework

an integral part of the refining process. “We have

classes that support those values that lead to refine-

ment, gaining more knowledge and figuring out

who I am.”

Having transferred from a community college

in Washington state, Miles appreciates the refining

combination she finds at Southern Virginia: the

curriculum (“learning the best of everything”), gospel

teachings, Latter-day Saint standards, and the influ-

ence of the Spirit.

Miles’s view of refinement coincides with another

dictionary meaning: “cultivation, civilization.” Vice

President Whitehead calls it “polish,” and Ralls adds,

“In a world that has become more abrasive, crass, and

‘in your face,’ refinement cuts a wide swath across

the character of an individual. It takes in kindness,

courtesy, and compassion, as well as acting, dressing,

and speaking appropriately for the occasion.”

As the director of travel study, Carrie Brotherson

has observed that because refinement is given cultural

importance at Southern Virginia, students are aware

of a personal transformation that occurs in their

relationship to the world and others. Brotherson

feels that we develop refinement as we actively

seek opportunities for engagement with the world

around us. “In seeking refinement, students come to

view their lives as a work of art that they have the

opportunity to create,” she says.

Southern Virginia students seek refinement,

working toward becoming the best they can be.

That is important because in the end, as Cluff says,

the Being with whom we hope to ultimately live is

refined.

Refinement is “one’s efforts to enlarge the light of Christ in one’s life.”

—Caleb Cluff

summer 2010 9

(Opp

Osit

e) ©

Cy

twOm

bly

/ phO

tO b

y An

gele

Deq

uier

, COu

rtes

y lO

uvre

mus

eum

at the Louvre

Written By Christina himes

For two and a half years, Professor Barbara Crawford traveled between Buena Vista and Paris, where she worked with a small team of artists, conservators, and an architect to help paint a 4,300-square-foot mural for one of the last undecorated ceilings in the Louvre.

art history professor

makesart history

BarBara Crawford

10 Southern Virginia University |

One of the largest, oldest and most famous art museums

in the world boasts a nearly unending supply of

magnificent works by artists long dead. Now the Louvre

has initiated an effort to incorporate works of contemporary art into

its revered collection. American artist Cy Twombly, 82, was chosen

to create a ceiling mural to complement the ancient sculptures in the

Salle des Bronzes. Twombly’s “The Ceiling” was added to the Louvre’s

permanent collection when it was unveiled in March, at which time

French Culture Minister Francois Mitterrand named Twombly a

knight in the Legion of Honor.

For those who are not steeped in contemporary art, it is hard

to understand or appreciate Twombly’s influence in the art world,

especially abroad. The Tate Modern, Britain’s museum of interna-

tional modern art, presented a retrospective of his work in 2008. In

December 2006, Vanity Fair painted its view of “the constellations,

pulsars, and planets of the international art scene.” The magazine

placed Twombly right in the middle of the universe.

A Chance to Live Art HistoryTwombly was born in Lexington in 1928, studied at Washington

and Lee University and still lives part of the year in town, although

he spends much of his time abroad. In his twenties he taught art

at Southern Seminary, and he held classes and lived in the same

Tucson House where Crawford now mentors young liberal arts

students at Southern Virginia University. Crawford is a painter, too,

a partner in the Nelson Gallery in Lexington. Twombly has never

hired assistants, preferring instead to make preparations for his

pieces by himself or to invite his colleagues and friends to help him.

As Crawford says, “Lexington is a small town. I’ve known Cy for

about thirty years and worked with him on a few occasions.”

After the Louvre asked Twombly to design the ceiling, he

asked Crawford to help him mix colors for the maquette, the scale

model that would be sent to the Louvre for approval. That was the

beginning of the project for Crawford, and she did not guess that her

involvement would span two continents and more than two years.

In those two-and-a-half years, Crawford has been living an art

history lesson. Since 1979 she has changed countless students’ lives

through her rich, passionate teaching of studio art and art his-

tory. Her specialty is the Italian Renaissance. Think Michelangelo

sketching images for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, then directing

his apprentices as they enlarge the image, outline it on the ceiling,

mix colors, apply the paint, and make adjustments according to his

specifications. What better way to understand that process than to

experience it personally?

Twombly and Crawford have lived that process. Twombly asked

Crawford to replicate the colors she mixed for the maquette and

then help oversee the transfer of the painting design to massive

canvas. She spent several weeks in January 2009, under Twombly’s

direction again, working together with Laurent Blaise and Jean de

Seynes, painters and conservators for the Louvre. Together they

replicated colors and painted the giant piece in a cold, sprawling

warehouse in suburban Paris. The sense of history permeates not

just Crawford’s work with Twombly, but also her work with the

others on the team. A normal workday for Blaise and de Seynes

includes restoring 600-year-old paintings and completing projects

begun by artists during Louis XIV’s reign. Their skills combined

with architect Francois Pin’s to solve the puzzle of creating and

attaching to the Louvre’s historic structure the giant painting that Cy

Twombly designed. Crawford talks of David and Goliath—if David

had focused on the whole Philistine army, he would not have gotten

very far. He focused instead on the one task at hand: “Send my

smooth stone straight to its mark.”

Crawford’s task at hand was replicating in Paris the colors she

had mixed in Lexington. At one point, Crawford says, she thought

that Blaise and de Seynes might have a high-tech pigment scanning

machine. After all, the hardware store in Buena Vista has a machine

that can scan a paint chip and duplicate the color precisely for your

wall. No such luck. She was faced with the task of looking at the

acrylic colors from the maquette, squeezing out bits of oil colors,

mixing them together, checking the color, adjusting the color, and

mixing some more. All of this needed to be done enough times to

cover a canvas that is about two-thirds the size of a football field.

An Exercise in AgilityOther tasks presented themselves as the work progressed. The sheer

size of the work makes the painting process a very physical one. It’s

a good thing Professor Crawford, 62, is physically strong and agile.

summer 2010 11

(Her students are sometimes surprised to see her in bikers’ gear,

speeding down the picturesque streets of Lexington on her ten-

speed.) In the cavernous warehouse, Crawford, Blaise, and de Seyne

prepared and painted the canvas stocking-footed, crouching, bend-

ing, reaching, stretching, and balancing to brush on the paint. With

a painting this size, there was no choice but to actually walk, stand,

and crawl—carefully—all over it while painting.

A typical day of painting flowed like this: Arrive around 8 or

9 a.m. Layer up in warm, non-constricting clothing. Paint all morn-

ing. Break for lunch. Walk to one of the little restaurants in the area

to warm up, to discuss the progress and challenges of the morning

and to give their muscles a rest. Walk back to the warehouse and

mix, squat, stretch, and reach some more to get just the right color

in just the right places. At the end of the afternoon, clean up and call

Twombly to get direction and to report on the progress. Finally, ride

back to the hotel on the metro and rest up for the next day’s work.

Discovering or developing the right tools for each part of the

project was an ongoing puzzle. What was the best way to apply

the paint to the canvas? Using half-inch brushes wouldn’t work

for a painting on this

scale. That’s like carving

Mount Rushmore with a

hand chisel. Along with

house-painting size brushes,

Crawford and her team

found that a broom worked

quite well to sweep the

beautiful Twombly blue

onto the sky that now

arches over the Salle des

Bronzes. Another chal-

lenge was finding the best way to affix the painting to the ceiling.

Conservator Blaise suggested using marouflage—the same basic

technique of gluing painted canvas to walls and ceilings that artists

used in the grand halls of Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

After the paint dried for several months, the canvas was rolled

and stored until the peak tourist season abated and the artworks

and display cases in the Salle des Bronzes could be covered with

protective plywood enclosures. Since the canvas panels are too big

to be stretched on a frame, as most canvas paintings are, a special

machine was invented to carefully unroll, glue, and apply the canvas

to the ceiling with even pressure, keeping the unwieldy edges as

straight as possible. “The tracks [of the device] look like army tractor

treads,” Crawford says. Now the once intimidatingly blank giant

canvas glows with color. Crawford and Twombly flew again to Paris

so the complete team could scrutinize the result of the painting in

person and Twombly could give approval or direction. He gave the

thumbs-up.

In designing the ceiling for the Salle des Bronzes, Twombly, the

world-famous abstract expressionist—and the only American ever

to be invited to design a Louvre ceiling—chose not to splash his

personal style all over the ceiling. Instead he conceived a painting

that complements both the room and the art that fills it. “He put in

the best image for the space,” Crawford explains.

“I was just thinking of the blue with the disks on it, it’s totally

abstract. . . . I put all the great Greek sculptors’ names on the top.

It’s that simple,” Twombly told The Associated Press.

“He didn’t make a design that would draw attention to himself;

it’s about the room . . . and the purpose of the room, and the history

of the room,” she says.

Considering the whole transatlantic process, working with

Twombly and the other team members in the world’s most famous

museum, what lesson has Crawford taken away from this singular

experience?

“You leave your ego, your insecurities, your doubts at the door.”

Think Michelangelo directing his apprentices. What better way to understand that process than to experience it personally?

All journeys have secret destinations of which the

traveler is unaware,” said Martin Buber.

At Southern Virginia more and more students

every year arrive at those unexpected destinations.

During the 2009–2010 academic year, Southern

Virginia’s nationally recognized travel study program

aided 145 students on their way to one or more of

four domestic and eight international excursions.

The 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement

showed 39 percent of Southern Virginia seniors

studied abroad—the national average was 15 percent

and the average at institutions serving large Latter-day

Saint populations was 13 percent. Southern Virginia’s

travel study annual growth rate of 20 percent also

is higher than the national rate of nine percent.

(Institute of International Education, 2009)

Carrie Brotherson, Southern Virginia’s travel

study director, says today’s trips are very different

from the trips earlier generations of American

students may have taken. “It’s no longer rich girls

going on the grand tour of Europe.” She points to

the Simon Act, federal legislation designed to “create

a national program that will establish study abroad

as the norm, not the exception, for undergraduate

students.”1

Consider this opinion in The Christian Science

Monitor: “The U.S. cannot conduct itself effectively in

a competitive international environment when our

most educated citizens lack minimal exposure to, and

understanding of, the world beyond U.S. borders.”2

Southern Virginia’s emphasis on the importance

of the travel study experience undergirds its dramatic

Academic Globe TrottingSouthern Virginia’s Nationally Recognized Travel Study Program

Vatican Museum—Rome, Italy

12 Southern Virginia University

summer 2010 13

growth, and the university gives the students a hand

in paying for travel study. Every student who com-

pletes 56 hours at Southern Virginia receives a $400

voucher toward any trip. The voucher covers some

of the domestic trips completely, so students have the

possibility of a free trip. Also, all trips are eligible for

financial aid.

Brotherson and the faculty members who plan

and lead the trips work hard to make every dollar,

euro, pound, or peso go as far as possible.

“We have the flexibility to tailor study experi-

ences for meaningful service, the specific expertise of

our faculty, the interests and academic needs of our

students, and preparation for careers,” Brotherson says.

Travel study played a part in senior Parker Bird

transferring to Southern Virginia from a mid-size

institution in the West. The pre-med student from

Ohio was looking for more interaction with the

medical community. “I got lots of medical and dental

experience,” Bird says of the medical mission trip

to Ecuador he went on last summer. His work there

helped him decide he wants to be an ER physician

rather than a dentist.

Bird spent spring break with a travel study group

in the Dominican Republic, volunteering in an

orphanage and at a home for the elderly. In May, he

will immerse himself in Spanish culture, completing

Spanish III and IV surrounded by native castellano

speakers in Madrid.

A New Perspective Brings ConfidenceSouthern Virginia students also return home different.

Rebecca Petrie describes the power of travel study. “I

had a life-changing experience beyond anything I

expected,” she says. “Before Italy I felt incompetent

and stupid. While I was there, I got the feeling, ‘I’m

capable.’ It was an amazing, liberating experience for

me personally.”

A returned missionary from the Philippines who

also served in the military in Korea, Petrie’s experi-

ence cannot be ascribed to the impact of seeing new

cultures for the first time. Petrie thinks the place,

people, approach, and intensity of the trip all merged

to make the difference.

“Journaling helped me focus and look at things

with a different perspective.” She says. “Instead

of skimming across the surface. To be there; to be

writing, experiencing, integrating art, history, and

intellectual thought; to be exploring, using imagina-

tion and the thought process—I discovered how I

thought; I discovered who I am, in Italy.

“Since I’ve been back, everything is so much

more interesting. Before, I loathed sciences. Now I

love them. I have had an amazing experience making

connections; classics of eastern literature, biology,

art history—they’re all connected.” Not surprisingly,

Petrie’s grades have improved, too.

“Students love what happens to them when they

discover things on their own,” art professor and

seasoned travel study leader Doug Himes observes.

“When you’re traveling, questions pop up all around

you. Suddenly you become more inquisitive than

you’ve ever been before.”

Southern Virginia University travel study trips

are open to students from any university who will

agree to abide by the university’s honor code for the

duration of the trip. In the coming years, university

officials hope to add trips for alumni and friends of

the university.

Travel Study’s tips to enrich your own travel:• Prepareahead. The more

you know, the more you’ll learn and enjoy.

• Travellight. Increase your mobility and decrease your backaches.

• Useajournal. Writing and drawing helps you focus. You’ll see more, experience more, and remember more.

• Picksometravelgoals. What do you want to see, do, eat, buy, learn?

• Beflexible. The unex-pected will happen. Enjoy it; it’s part of the journey.

“The U.S. cannot conduct itself effectively in a competitive international environment when our most educated citizens lack minimal exposure to, and under-standing of, the world beyond U.S. borders.”

—from The ChrisTian sCienCe MoniTor

Opposite, top: Southern Virginia University students participating in a medical mission trip to Ghana spend time with children in a rural village.

Below: Journal writing in Greece.

Florence, Italy

Notes1. nafsa.org/public_policy.sec/commission_on_the_abraham2. Keane and Hamilton,

The Christian Science Monitor, June 12, 2008

Before leaving in August 2010 to become edito-

rial page editor at Utah’s Deseret News, former

Executive Vice President and Provost Paul S. Edwards

led the effort to use national standards and assess-

ments to document student satisfaction and learning

outcomes at Southern Virginia University. His

goal was to measure the effectiveness of classroom

instruction and teaching methods and to learn what is

working well for students and what can be improved.

So far, the news has been very good.

“What we’re learning from these measurements

is that our students grow in some pretty remarkable

ways from their first year as they progress toward

graduation,” Provost Edwards said. “The most recent

results indicate that our seniors outperform 13 out

of 14 seniors in their overall ability to take complex

materials, analyze them carefully and critically,

propose solutions, and communicate their findings

clearly. That’s an amazing result.”

Southern Virginia students make great stridesThe Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) is a

national test administered at more than 200 colleges

and universities in the United States. It measures

an institution’s contribution, or value added, to the

intellectual development of its students.

The CLA measures student skills in the first year

of college and again in the senior year. In 2008–2009,

Southern Virginia first-year students performed

higher than 68 percent of those at all participating

institutions, while Southern Virginia seniors per-

formed better than 93 percent of participating seniors.

The blue diagonal line for freshmen and the

orange line for seniors show expected average scores.

Schools whose scores (blue or orange empty boxes)

fall above the relevant lines scored higher than

expected, whereas scores below the lines are lower

High MarksSouthern Virginia Students Score in 93rd Percentile in National Test

than expected. The difference between the first-year

and senior scores is the value added by the university

experience.

“The substantial improvement shown by

Southern Virginia students is remarkable,” says

Gertrud Kraut, an associate professor of mathemat-

ics who helped administer the test and interpret

the results. “In fact, our students show a greater

gain in abilities than 83 percent of students at other

institutions.”

Why the great results?Southern Virginia history professor Fran MacDonnell

points to several reasons for the great results. In the

core humanities courses “students spend their time,

for the most part, in discussion with faculty members

and with one another about big problems in major

books,” he says. “So students are used to thinking on

their own, working together in a community, [and]

participating actively.”

Students gain confidence in the higher-order

skills because “[it’s] a small school, and people are

supporting one another; people don’t want to hide,”

he says.

“I think the critical thinking excellence that’s

showing up on these standardized tests is a result of

their engagement in their own research projects, their

active engagement in the classroom where they feel

as though they’re stakeholders in their own educa-

tion,” Professor MacDonnell says.

See the complete CLA report at svu.edu/assessment.

How does the CLA measure these important skills?

“The CLA presents realistic problems that require students to analyze complex materials.

. . . Students’ written responses to the task are graded to assess their abilities to think critically, reason analytically, solve problems, and communicate clearly and cogently.” (“CLA Return to Learning,” www.collegiatelearning­assessment.org/) “The holistic integration of these skills on the CLA tasks mirrors the requirements of serious thinking and writing tasks faced in life outside of the classroom.” (2008–2009 CLA Institutional Report: Southern Virginia University, p. 9)

“The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.” —Albert einstein

Written By Christina himes &

BurKe olsen

14 Southern Virginia University

academics

summer 2010 15

700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

Relationship Between CLA Performance and Entering Academic Ability (EAA)

Mean EAA Score

Mea

n To

tal C

LA S

core

SVU Seniors

Seniorsat OtherSchools

Freshmenat OtherSchools

SVUFreshmen

Source: Collegiate Learning Assessment

“The substantial improvement shown by Southern Virginia students is remarkable. . . . Our students show a greater gain in abilities than 83 percent of students at other institutions.”

—gertrud Kraut, assoCiate Professor

of mathematiCs

Student Presents on Tolkien at UCLAAdd two favorite authors to a passionate student in a vibrant class, and what do you get? An invitation to present at MythCon, the annual convention of the Mythopoeic Society, held last July at UCLA. Skyler King (’10), an English major from Tivoli, New York, was one of only three students presenting papers at the conference; and King was the only undergraduate. His paper, “Divine Intervention in the Lord of the Rings,” was the result of a class with science fiction author Orson Scott Card, a distin-guished professor of English at Southern Virginia. “Intimate classroom discussions, vis-à-vis professors, occur daily at SVU and prepared me to effectively present my paper at MythCon. As the only undergraduate present, it was daunting at first to think of presenting amidst published authors and writers of masters’ theses,” King said, “but I felt confident, pulling from my daily experience in class. My professors trained me to give clear, supported reasons for why I believe the way I do, always remain-ing open to better, clearer reasons.” King is working on another paper to submit to the MythCon next year. He won’t be presenting this year, though; he’ll be at Tolkien’s home with Southern Virginia’s Travel Study in Oxford, England.

AthleticsFall 2009 USCAA Academic All-AmericansSince the start of the 2009–2010 athletic year, 18 Southern Virginia athletes have

been named USCAA Academic All-Americans, bringing the total awards for the

university to 66. To be named an Academic All-American, a scholar-athlete must

maintain a 3.5 GPA.

Name Sport Hometown and StateB.J. Awerkamp Men’s Cross Country Santa Clara, California

Abigail Baxter Women’s Softball Nicholasville, Kentucky

Christian Blackwelder Men’s Soccer Apoka, Florida

Cory Evans Men’s Basketball Crystal Lake, Illinois

Jessi Gibbons Volleyball Buena Vista, Virginia

Michael Greer Men’s Football Tempe, Arizona

David Haws Men’s Soccer and Football Bridgeport, West Virginia

Josh Hodges Men’s Football Irmo, South Carolina

Jesse Houchens Men’s Cross Country Henderson, Nevada

Ali Krebs Volleyball Lebanon, Oregon

Mary Massey Women’s Cross Country Mesa, Arizona

Lindsay Mellor Women’s Softball Mesquite, Nevada

Matt Mellor Men’s Football Colfax, Washington

Bryce Pendleton Men’s Basketball Walla Walla, Washington

Leila Schultz Women’s Cross Country Honeoye, New York

Derek Snider Men’s Baseball Lancaster, California

Whitni Watkins Women’s Soccer Mesa, Arizona

Paige Wellendorf Women’s Cross Country Montgomery City, Missouri

All-American AthletesThirteen athletes also were named to All-American teams, bringing the total awards

for Southern Virginia to more than 150.

Name Sport Hometown and StateKyla Christmas Women’s Softball Phoenix, Arizona

Cory Evans Men’s Basketball Crystal Lake, Illinois

Mariah Flake Women’s Soccer Clarksville, Tennessee

Abbie Fisher Women’s Softball Beaverton, Oregon

Melanee Guymon Women’s Soccer Chico, California

Kendra Heim Women’s Soccer Pullman, Washington

Ali Krebs Volleyball Lebanon, Oregon

Jake Johnson Men’s Baseball Phoenix, Arizona

Taylor Osborn Women’s Soccer Rancho Santa Margarita, California

Francisco Osegueda Men’s Soccer Mesa, Arizona

Bryce Pendleton Men’s Basketball Walla Walla, Washington

Andrew Snider Men’s Baseball Lancaster, California

Ade Swann Men’s Basketball Queens, New York

2009–2010 Director’s Cup For the fourth year in a row, the

Southern Virginia University

Knights were awarded the

United States Collegiate Athletic

Association’s Director’s Cup,

which is presented to the top

athletic program in the USCAA.

Wrestler Wins Third Consecutive National ChampionshipPeter Rose (’10) won his third consecutive NCWA

national championship in March 2010. He also

recently wrestled in the first-ever American Airlines

All-Star Challenge and beat his NAIA competitor 7-3.

2009–2010 Sports ScoreboardSport Wins, Losses, and TiesMen’s Cross Country Fourth Place in USCAA at

National Invitational

Women’s Cross Country Fourth Place in USCAA at National Invitational

Men’s Soccer 8-5-1

Women’s Soccer 7-9-1

Football 3-8-0

Volleyball 18-12

Baseball 21-21

Softball 23-10

Men’s Tennis 9-10

Women’s Tennis 8-4

Men’s Basketball 16-9

Women’s Basketball 8-16

Lacrosse 5-5

16 Southern Virginia University

extracurricular

summer 2010 17

Performing ArtsSeussical the Musical Draws Largest Crowd to dateSouthern Virginia’s theatre department produced its most popular and highest-

grossing production to date in May 2009 with Seussical the Musical. More than 1,200

attended and watched Nate Pence (’12) star as the spunky and highly entertaining

Cat in the Hat.

A Midsummer Night’s DreamActors in Southern Virginia’s production of William Shakespeare’s magical comedy,

A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, were dressed in non-traditional costumes. Characters

appeared in period attire fitting their personality. For instance, Hermia, who rebels

against her father in the comedy, dresses in 1920s clothes. And Dele Opeifa, who

portrayed Duke Theseus, dressed and spoke like President Barack Obama.

She Loves MeIn November 2009 professor Robert Stoddard brought She Loves Me to the Southern

Virginia stage. Based on the same play that inspired the classic films The Shop

Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail, this lilting musical told the story of two

lovelorn but bickering clerks in a Budapest parfumerie who don’t realize they’re

already romantic secret pen pals.

Annual Winter “Jubilee!” Choir ConcertThe crowd joined in as the Bella Voce and Chamber Choir held their annual winter

choir concert entitled “Jubilee!”—a choral concert of gospel and spiritual music for

worship. Songs included “When the Saints go Marching in,” “Worthy to be Praised,”

and “This Train is Bound for Glory.” The choirs brought an energy that transferred

to the crowd who started clapping to the beat of the songs.

Annual Spring Orchestra ConcertSouthern Virginia’s orchestra held its annual spring concert in March. Entitled

“Images of Life and Death,” the performance included the first movement of

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 and several selections from George Bizet’s Carmen

Suite No. 1. It also included Joaquín Rodrigo’s poignant slow movement of his

guitar concerto, “Concierto de Aranjuez.”

Football Team Wins Oyster BowlAlthough faced with a rough season, the football team

finished on a high note by beating Apprentice College

in the 2009 Oyster Bowl with a final score of 14-10.

Seven Teams Attend National TournamentsMen’s and women’s cross-country, women’s soccer,

women’s volleyball, men’s baseball, women’s softball,

and men’s basketball participated in their respective

USCAA National Tournaments. The men’s basketball

team took second in their tournament and women’s

volleyball placed third. The cross-country teams

placed fourth while both women’s soccer and softball

placed fifth in their tournaments.

Five Teams Finish Seasons with Best RecordFive of Southern Virginia University’s athletics teams

finished their seasons with the best record in the

history of their respective sport for the university:

men’s and women’s tennis, lacrosse, men’s basketball,

and baseball.

Sheldon Butt (’01)Sheldon Butt will complete his residency at St. John’s

University in June. Sheldon and his wife, Erica,

welcomed their first daughter, Caitlin, to their home

in Newfoundland, Canada. The couple also has three

energetic boys.

1 Seth Diviney (’02)Bilingual graduate Seth Diviney works for an affiliate

broadcast company of Telemundo and Azteca

America while going to law school at the University

of Idaho. He is seen here on a visit to Peru.

2 David Wells Wilkinson (’02)David survived the housing crisis as a finance

and strategy consultant for Sky Properties/Excel

Investments in Salt Lake City. A 2008 graduate of

Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, David, and

his wife, Amanda Kjar Wilkinson, live in Bountiful,

Utah, with their four children.

654

321

3 Bridget Steadman (’04)Bridget previously worked in the travel department of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, help-

ing to arrange visas and travel for missionaries going

to South America. She now works with the Church’s

area facility managers, helping to meet the supply the

needs of meetinghouses.

4 Rebecca Weidler (’05)New Yorker Rebecca Weidler is putting her master’s

degree in architecture design from Pratt to good use

at STV, one of the country’s top architectural firms in

education, highways, bridges, rail, and mass transit.

She currently is on the team responsible for designing

a psychiatric center that will be built in the Bronx

sometime next year.

5 Alex Troy Freeman (’06)After obtaining a master’s degree in business at

Virginia Commonwealth University, Alex took a job

as a marketing analyst with Madison Brands, whose

labels include Plow and Hearth, HearthSong, and

Magic Cabin. Alex majored in philosophy at Southern

Virginia and says he feels right at home analyzing

and making strategic decisions for Madison’s catalogs,

which have a readership that exceeds three million

customers.

6 Britt Jones (’06) Britt was recently hired by the State Department

to serve as a foreign officer beginning in the fall of

2010. He and his wife, Alicia, and their two children

currently live in China. Britt works as head of careers

and tertiary guidance at Dulwich College in Shanghai.

Whitney Larsen (’06)Last September Whitney Larsen was made Southern

Virginia University’s registrar. Whitney, who has

worked in the office of the registrar for the past four

years, has a “tireless work ethic and knows how to

get the job done,” says Provost Paul S. Edwards.

Alumni UpdatesWe want to know what our alumni are doing. Please send us a summary of what you are up to, along with a photo of you, to tidings@svu.edu.

18 Southern Virginia University

alumni notes

summer 2010 19

7 Bryan Gentry (’07)Bryan lives and works in Lynchburg, Virginia, where

he is a business writer for The Lynchburg News &

Advance. Prior to his news-writing career, he worked

with Mariner Publishing in Buena Vista to produce

Roads of Rockbridge, a compilation of the history of the

roads in Rockbridge County.

8 Anna Lloyd Beck (’07)Three-year graduate and theatre major Anna Virginia

Lloyd Beck is studying drama therapy at Kansas State

University, and will graduate with a master’s degree

later this year. As camp director, wife, and expecting

mother, Anna stays busy in Manhattan, . . . Kansas.

9 Peter Mantell (’08)Recently returned from a trip to Columbia, field

territory manager Peter Mantell is responsible for

overseeing Rosetta Stone’s Latin America expansion.

He coordinates with Latin American governments

and business groups to grow relationships with the

world’s largest language learning software.

10 Rebecca Gruidzen (’08)In the summer of 2009 Rebecca worked in Baghdad

as a management analyst for RTI International, a

leading research institute that helps develop every-

thing from pharmaceuticals to social policy. While

in Iraq, Rebecca worked reconstruction projects.

She currently is pursuing a master’s degree in public

administration with an emphasis in international

development at Clemson University.

11 Samantha Jaeger (’09)After being introduced to overseas travel through

a Southern Virginia travel study trip to China, Sam

was hooked. She now teaches ESL as a school in

Hopyeong-Dong, Korea.

Jordan Coons (’09)Each year Southern Utah University honors one MBA

student at their Excellence in Scholarship Banquet

and Southern Virginia alumnus Jordan Coons was

their choice for 2010.

12 Ben Woods (’10)Ben Woods, from Pocatello, Idaho, was commis-

sioned a second lieutenant in the United States

Marine Corps in February in Main Hall’s ballroom.

“There is no better feeling than accomplishing one of

your life goals,” Woods said. “This has honestly been

my biggest goal in life since I was about four years

old.”

Jason Barron (’07)

From a long line of Harvard graduates, Massachusetts native Jason Barron was always encouraged to study at a liberal arts college. “I come from a family of Harvard graduates. My grandfather went to Harvard, my grand-mother went to Harvard, my mother went to Harvard, and my uncle went to Harvard. Each one of them was thrilled to hear that I was going to Southern Virginia University because they knew the value of a well-rounded liberal arts education. My grandfather was the first to convince me of its importance. During my fresh-man year, he would send me personal letters and reiterate the value of a liberal arts education.” After graduation Jason worked as a 3-D modeler and animator, and then, as Jason put it, “used my web design and video skills learned at SVU to get a job for a marketing firm. There I created websites and directed, filmed, and edited commercials that aired on FOX, ABC, and NBC, and were viewed by thousands of people. Honest to goodness, I couldn’t have done it without those video production classes!” Last November he was hired by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an interac-tion designer. Although he is unable to reveal the details about much of the work he is doing, he says his work centers on developing cutting-edge software and web applications. Jason attribute his success to the liberal arts education he gained at Southern Virginia University. Both graduates of Southern Virginia, Jason and his wife, Jackie McKenzie (’05), welcomed their third son, Jonah, to their family late last year.12

11

10

9

8

7

Over the last three years numerous generous

donors have funded a variety of campus

improvements and scholarships to benefit Southern

Virginia University. Philanthropic donations—both

large and small—have enabled the university to defray

the cost of education for qualified students, and to

renovate buildings, add air conditioning to historic

Main Hall, build a beautiful new female residence hall,

and create stunning new athletic fields.

“Generous donors have made these improve-

ments and scholarships possible, and we are deeply

appreciative,” says Rodney K. Smith, president of

Southern Virginia University. “Bighearted men and

women have selflessly given nearly $14 million, allow-

ing us to make improvements to the campus and to

fund scholarships that help us continue the vital and

lasting work that happens in our classrooms.”

ScholarshipsThe university received more than $3.5 million

toward scholarship aid over the last three years.

Donations of any amount make a big difference for

students who want the educational and extracur-

ricular opportunities Southern Virginia provides. In

recent years, the number of donors has increased

dramatically and the percent of faculty and staff

who donate back to the university has doubled.

Scholarship dollars remain the university’s most

pressing need, says President Smith.

Student Center RenovationsRenovations for the Student Center, formerly called

the Student Union, were completed in 2009. The

facility now houses Jonzzey’s Café, a new university

bookstore, a mailroom, game room, and dance stu-

dio. Renovations, which cost about $1.1 million, were

made possible by anonymous donations. The build-

ing will be dedicated and named during Homecoming

week this October.

The LoftsDedicated in fall 2008, The Lofts, a new female

residence hall, cost nearly $5.5 million to construct.

The university patterned the interior of the building

after a hotel with some minor changes required to

accommodate students. Generous donations from a

number of individuals made the residence hall pos-

sible. The building is 51,000 square feet with 72 rooms

and a 210-bed capacity.

Main Hall Air ConditioningDuring the summer of 2008 two anonymous dona-

tions totaling $1.2 million made it possible for a new

heating and air conditioning system to be added to

Main Hall. It’s the first time that air conditioning has

been widely available in the building’s 120 years.

The Fields at Southern Virginia UniversityThree new athletic fields constructed on 17 acres of

university-owned land were ready for use in August

2009. They are ideal for student activities and for

athletics practices and games. A donor gave the $2.3

million necessary to construct the fields on land that

had previously been donated to the university. Since

fall, Southern Virginia’s men’s and women’s soccer

teams and the lacrosse team have played matches on

the fields; those teams along with the football team

also practice on the fields.

Visit svu.edu/giving to learn more about the excit-

ing ways you can get involved in helping Southern

Virginia University accomplish its mission to prepare

leader-servants.

Large and Small Gifts Make a $13.5 Million Difference

“Large and small gifts make a big difference and every penny counts.” —President rodney K. smith

Written By georgi ana smith (’10)

0910

_svu

10-0

01

20 Southern Virginia University

donor spotlight

summer 2010 C0910

_svu

10-0

01

Office of University CommunicationsOne University Hill DriveBuena Vista, VA 24416-3038

U.S. PostagePAID

Non-Profit Org.Permit No. 2

Buena Vista, VA24416