Event honoring the role of women in VWC's history pays tribute to the accomplishments of some of College’s most dedicated supporters
By Laynee Timlin | April 13, 2012
As part of the year-long celebration of the College’s 50th anniversary, the Women’s Resource Center sponsored a special event on March 30 to honor the contributions made by women to Virginia Wesleyan. “50 Years of Women at Wesleyan” featured a reception and photographic exhibit as well as a series of speakers who offered reminiscences and recognition for these remarkable women.
Sharon Payne, Director of the Women’s Resource Center and Professor of Health and Human Services/Social Work, welcomed attendees to the event and introduced Associate Professor of History Sara Sewell, who noted that “women have certainly made their mark on Virginia Wesleyan.”
Sewell talked about the significant accomplishments of women who have made history since the early 1960s when the College was founded. She reflected on how dramatically the lives of women have changed during the last 50 years and how those changes have played out on college campuses–from the days of curfews, house mothers, and single-sex dorms to the more liberated roles for females today.
Sewell also shared her joy in coordinating the effort to organize the black and white photographic exhibit that tells the story of Wesleyan women during the last five decades. After the College’s 50th anniversary year, the exhibit will have a permanent home on campus in the Women’s Resource Center.
The photographic display is accompanied by a printed excerpt from the memoirs of Helen Hoffman, one of the first two women appointed to the Virginia Wesleyan Board of Trustees in 1964. A tireless advocate for Virginia Wesleyan in its early years, Hoffman believed in the College’s development and potential but recognized its challenges. She led a concerted effort to establish a base of support.
“I believed we could form a nucleus of women who would act as our supporters and would speak on behalf of the College in the Tidewater area,” wrote Hoffman. “I invited nine of my friends, whom I knew to be interested in education, to come to my house for lunch. I described this budding College and shared what we wanted to accomplish.”
And the rest is history. This small group of women founded by Hoffman became the “Women for Wesleyan” and served as the College’s honorary alumnae until the school was mature enough to graduate its own and has continued to provide support for the College over the past 50 years. One of the featured speakers at the recent event was Helen Hoffman’s daughter, Anne Schumadine, who has followed in her mother’s footsteps and is a member of the VWC Board of Trustees.
Other speakers included Martha Jo Wilson, widow of beloved former Dean of the College William Wilson; Mary Lou Hultgren, first instructor of sociology and anthropology at VWC; Ann Shappell, a member of the College’s first graduating class and assistant director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom; and Sandra Snyder Brooks, former French professor and current director of library services.