Distinguished Leader in Education to Address Class of 2010
Dr. Edward Brickell, Adjunct Professor of English and Education at the College and former President of Eastern Virginia Medical School, speaks at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 15.
By Dr. Kate Loring | April 12, 2010
Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Va. – Dr. Edward E. Brickell, adjunct professor of English and Education at Virginia Wesleyan College and distinguished leader in education, will address the Class of 2010 at Virginia Wesleyan College’s 41st Commencement Ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 15, in the Jane P. Batten Student Center.
After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Dr. Brickell began his professional career in 1951 as a high school English teacher and baseball coach. Eventually, he entered the ranks of administration, becoming an assistant high school principal and then a principal.
He served as superintendent of the South Norfolk and Franklin City Public Schools, and as Assistant Professor of English/Assistant to the President at the College of William and Mary, before becoming Virginia Beach City Public Schools Superintendent in 1968. When he retired from that post in 1987, his 19-year tenure was the longest in the state. A year later, he was invited to assume the presidency of Eastern Virginia Medical School and he remained there until 2000, retiring as President Emeritus. In all those positions, Dr. Brickell was well-known and admired for maintaining high academic standards and for his humane, thoughtful, and principled leadership. During his years in school administration, he once remarked that they were “gratifying and satisfying because you were often in a position to make good things happen for people.” In 2004, he began teaching as an Adjunct Professor of English and Education at Virginia Wesleyan College, and the College is fortunate that that relationship continues today.
Dr. Brickell has been recognized and honored by many education and community groups. He received First Citizen Awards from the cities of South Norfolk and Virginia Beach and was named State Administrator of the Year by several groups. He has also served as Rector of the William and Mary Board of Visitors, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Tidewater Community College, Chairman of the Friends of Virginia Wesleyan College, President of the Virginia Association of School Administrators, and President of the Virginia Beach Public Library Foundation. The list of his community activities exceeds two pages and includes leadership positions on local and state government advisory committees and commissions and service on the boards of hospitals, businesses, foundations, and organizations supporting youth programs, the arts, recreation, and much more.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William and Mary, Dr. Brickell also holds a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Chicago, and both a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in School Administration and a Doctor of Education degree from the College of William and Mary. In 1998, he received a Doctor of Humane Letters (hon.) from the College of William and Mary.
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