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Virginia Wesleyan to Celebrate Inaugural Founders Day September 8
New tradition will commemorate College's founding, recognize important individuals in VWC history
News Release | August 30, 2016
Virginia Wesleyan College will celebrate 55 years since its chartering with its first-ever Founders Day on September 8.
According to Lori McCarel, Executive Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations, the idea for a Founders Day originated last year when Dr. Scott D. Miller, President of Virginia Wesleyan, appointed a committee of faculty, staff and alumni to “celebrate our past and formulate plans that would create an annual tradition.” Founders Day festivities will include an Alumni Awards Ceremony and Founders Day Convocation.
Although the College was founded in 1961, the initial Founders Day tradition comes nearly 50 years after the first classes were held at Virginia Wesleyan and will serve as an opportunity to honor the College's founding and recognize important individuals in VWC history.
One such individual is Trustee Emeritus George Birdsong, who will serve as keynote speaker during the Founders Day Convocation in the Jane P. Batten Student Center (Sept. 8, 11 a.m.). Birdsong is CEO and General Counsel for the Birdsong Corporation, the largest peanut sheller in the U.S., based in Suffolk, Virginia. He joined the Virginia Wesleyan College Board of Trustees in 1989 and served as Board Chair from 2007-2010.
Mr. Birdsong and his wife, Sue, trace their connections with the College back to the groundbreaking for Bray Village (Village I) on July 18, 1965. Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr., and Sue’s father, Major T. Benton, who was Mayor of Suffolk, were also in attendance. George’s Uncle, Harvard R. Birdsong, was a key participant at the groundbreaking and a charter member of the Virginia Wesleyan College Board of Trustees. For his steadfast support in the prosperity of the College, George Birdsong was recognized this spring with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
The Birdsong family and the Birdsong Corporation were recently recognized with the naming of the Birdsong School of Social Science at Virginia Wesleyan. Among their contributions to the College have been support for construction of Birdsong Hall and Birdsong Field, and creation of an endowment that annually funds the Office of Community Service.
“George Birdsong—and the entire Birdsong Family—have been instrumental in the life and success of this remarkable College since its founding,” Dr. Miller said. “It is an honor for us to have him as our first Founders Day Convocation keynote speaker.”
During the event, the College will recognize Dr. Stephen S. Mansfield, College Archivist and former Dean of the College, and Gary D. Bonnewell ’79, the first VWC graduate to serve as Chair of the Board of Trustees, with honorary doctoral degrees.
Bonnewell will also be recognized with the dedication of a classroom in the Floyd E. Kellam, Jr. Social Science Lab in the Village II complex.
The College will also celebrate its 2016 Alumni Award recipients as part of the festivities. This year’s honorees include Lindsey E. Reynolds ’98 (Distinguished Alumna Award), Amy Mallett Rickard ’98 (Alumni Service Award) and Rodney D. Young Jr. ’07 (Graduate of the Last Decade Award).
Chartered in 1961, Virginia Wesleyan College first opened its doors to students on September 14, 1966. The concept for the four-year, private college—the first of its kind in South Hampton Roads—began as an idea of Methodist minister Joseph S. Johnston, who would later become Virginia Wesleyan’s first president.
Within two years of planning, the school had a name, a charter, and an expanding body of supporters from the United Methodist Church and the regional business community.
Since the College's first graduating class of approximately 75 pioneering students in 1970, the Virginia Wesleyan community has grown to include some 1,400 students and 9,000 alumni.
The Founders Day Celebration will be held Thursday, September 8, at 11 a.m. in the Jane P. Batten Student Center.