Hollins University has received a $75 million donation from an anonymous alumna, the largest in its history and believed to be the largest private donation to a women’s college, the university announced Thursday.
The gift will fund scholarships and undergraduate financial need. It will be given in $25 million increments to the Hollins endowment over the next three fiscal years, the school said in a news release. The first $25 million will be given no later than June 2022 and will establish the Levavi Oculos Endowed Scholarship Fund, which will support students beginning in fall 2023. By the 2025-2026 school year, Hollins estimates that a minimum of 125 students will benefit from the gift.
“Levavi Oculos” refers to a psalm in the Bible and is also written on the university’s seal. All of Hollins’ undergraduates are women, while men are allowed to enroll in graduate-level programs.
“This gift is such a profound and powerful statement about the value of higher education for women,” President Mary Dana Hinton said in a statement. “The transformational educational opportunities created by it will have a visible and sustained impact for generations of women to come at Hollins. Most of all, this generosity will enable future students who otherwise would not be able to attend college to access that opportunity.”
The donor spoke about the catalyst for her gift.
“Hollins’ mission and the value of its enduring presence and direction as a progressive institution were the catalyst for my gift and the urgency of making the funds available immediately,” she said in a statement. “It ensures Hollins can move forward, with confidence, as an institution committed to women and the liberal arts.”
It is one of the largest gifts given to any college or university in Virginia. Other sizeable donations include: a 2007 anonymous donation of $100 million, largely for need-based scholarships, to Washington and Lee University; a 2007 gift of $100 million by Frank Batten Sr. to establish a school of leadership at the University of Virginia; a $100 million donation in 2019 from alumnus David Walentas to assist first-generation college students; and a $120 million gift in 2019 from alumni Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff to establish the U.Va. School of Data Science.
Michael Rao, president of Virginia Commonwealth University, has been elected chair of the American Council on Education Board of Directors, the council announced Tuesday.
Rao, VCU’s fifth president, has been at the helm of the university — and VCU Health System — since 2009. He was selected as ACE’s chair Tuesday during ACE’s business meeting and his term will begin in March. Rao, who currently serves as ACE vice chair, is being passed the baton by a fellow Richmonder, Ronald A. Crutcher, the University of Richmond’s president emeritus. Rao’s term as chair will last a year.
“In these turbulent and challenging times, ACE’s work to convene, organize, mobilize and lead advocacy efforts that shape effective public policy and help colleges and universities best serve their students, their communities and the wider public good has never been more important,” ACE President Ted Mitchell said in a statement. “I deeply appreciate Michael’s … commitment, leadership and willingness to serve … and I want to express my utmost gratitude to Ron for all he has done over the past year for ACE and the entire higher education community.”
ACE convenes, organizes, mobilizes and leads advocacy efforts that shape public policy and assist colleges and universities. It represents more than 1,700 colleges and universities.
Talent, taxes and regulations, broadband access and energy are the top concerns for Virginia businesses, according to survey results gathered for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’sBlueprint Virginia 2030, an action plan for strengthening Virginia’s economy. And those are also priorities for Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, he said Friday in a speech during the Virginia Economic Summit & Forum on Trade in Richmond.
“We … as Team Virginia have an opportunity to implement … our Day One game plan,” Youngkin said, “but also with the Blueprint Virginia 2023, we have a multiyear, if not multidecade, game for Virginia to win.
“When I read through the blueprint, I’m even more encouraged because I saw so many areas of overlap where all the conversations that I had getting ready to run for governor are backed up in the conversations that all of you had,” Youngkin told summit attendees.
Talent is the No. 1 concern of Virginia businesses, said Virginia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barry DuVal.
Workforce and education focus of plans
The majority of the 7,150 businesses, economic development and other stakeholders surveyed for Blueprint Virginia 2030 chose “workforce and education” as the area that would have the most impact on Virginia’s overall economic competitiveness. Only 40% of respondents agreed that “Virginia is doing a good job preparing the workforce that businesses need.”
“We should be thinking about a talent attraction campaign,” not only for worker retention, DuVal said, “but [also] bringing other people here to have more workers to fill those jobs we’re going to create.”
The plurality (43%) of those surveyed said that if Virginia could make additional investments in education and workforce development programs, those investments should go toward internships, apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs. Twenty-two percent chose K-12 education.
Youngkin’s goal for workforce development is that every high school student will graduate either college-ready or career-ready, he said. The governor-elect plans to expand alternatives in the public school system, including offering career and technical education in all public schools.
“We need a statewide vision for building Virginia’s talent supply to ensure it aligns with the current and future needs of business,” Youngkin said, and to recognize regional advantages
Cybersecurity and information technology workers are one pressing need, DuVal said.
Partnerships between higher education programs and private industry are one way to ensure students graduate with necessary advanced degrees, Youngkin said. He will continue to support the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a workforce initiative created by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Virginia Community College System to provides customizable recruitment and training services at no cost to eligible companies that are expanding or locating within Virginia.
Virginia also needs people to fill vacant jobs, Youngkin said: “Jobs that sit unfilled don’t accomplish our goals” for economic growth.
Seventy percent of those surveyed agreed that “Virginia’s legal climate is a significant consideration in a business’s decision on whether to locate or expand here,” and 78% said they were concerned about an increasing burdensome regulatory landscape in Virginia.
The top answer for what the commonwealth could provide so that entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses can see more success was “a more appealing regulatory and tax structure.”
Said Youngkin: “My administration will in fact go to work slashing 25% of job-killing regulations.” The pace of permitting and licensing regulation needs to accelerate to match the pace of business, he added.
‘Comprehensive review’ of taxes wanted
The Chamber and Youngkin agree that Virginia has to address taxation to be competitive. The blueprint recommends that businesses work with the governor and General Assembly on a comprehensive review of the state’s tax system.
The state’s recently announced historic $2.6 billion surplus represents more taxation than state government needed, Youngkin said, meaning Virginians were overtaxed last year.
The state’s cost of living is driving people away, Youngkin said. He plans to double the state’s standard tax deduction, provide a one-time tax rebate, eliminate the grocery tax and suspend for one year the most recent increase in the gas tax.
“I strongly encourage Gov. Northam to include these provisions in his outgoing budget that he will introduce in two weeks” to the legislature, Youngkin said.
Investment in infrastructure
Every region except Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia responded that broadband was their top concentration for infrastructure investment, DuVal said.
Youngkin reiterated that he’s committed to investing in high-speed, affordable broadband access statewide, a point he made on the campaign trail this year.
Affordability and decreasing carbon emissions tied for the most responses in Hampton Roads when it came to energy, DuVal said. Northern Virginia’s top priority for energy was also decreasing carbon emissions, the key driver of climate change. The rest of the state was split between energy reliability and affordability.
Youngkin will take an “all of the above” approach to energy, he said, pursuing wind and solar, as well as “clean-burning fossil fuels” and nuclear energy.
“I think we have an exceptional opportunity to … distinguish ourselves in our capability to do nuclear power,” Youngkin said. “Sometimes I feel that we forgot that nuclear power is a [carbon-free] energy.”
Natural gas is part of ensuring reliable energy, he said. Columbia Gas Transmission’s Virginia Reliability Project to replace 48 miles of its existing natural gas pipeline system in Hampton Roads is vital, especially to Virginia’s offshore wind opportunities, he added.
The blueprint’s other areas of focus are health care and life sciences; innovation and technology; advanced manufacturing; housing; corporate sustainability and the environment; military and veteran affairs; and safety, preparedness and resiliency.
College students in Martinsville can get on the fast track to careers with British race car manufacturer Radical Sportscars.
In May, the Peterborough, England-based company opened its first U.S.-based sales office at Patrick & Henry Community College’s Manufacturing and Engineering Technology Complex, close to the school’s Racing College of Virginia. That will be followed in early 2022 with a facility to fabricate replacement panels for its vehicles, which resemble a hybrid between a kart racer and a Formula One car.
It’s a first step toward Radical eventually building race cars in Martinsville.
Virginia made a strong pitch when Radical began seeking a U.S. location, says CEO Joe Anwyll. About 60% of the 176 vehicles Radical will manufacture this year will be sent to America — a time-consuming process for connoisseurs accustomed to speed — and the company has had a U.S. presence for about a decade through a handful of authorized dealers, as well as hosting a Le Mans-style racing series at nearby Virginia International Raceway.
Radical was particularly attracted by the racing college, which has provided a talent pipeline for students in auto racing careers, including NASCAR, as well as for vehicle manufacturing and engineering.
Along with the instructors’ expertise and testing facilities available to Radical at Patrick & Henry’s Racing College, the company saw a “readymade” workforce with the skills it needs to be successful.
“They are A-listers for us,” Anwyll says of the college.
For students, Radical represents an additional opportunity for internships, apprenticeships and jobs. Fifty-four students are enrolled in the motorsports program.
Anwyll hopes fabrication of panels can begin by March, in time for the next racing season, with plans for kit assembly and, finally, manufacture of all parts in the future.
Radical will start with four employees in its sales office, set to open by the beginning of the second quarter of 2022, but Mark Heath, president and CEO of Martinsville Henry County Economic Development Corp., says the operation could grow to
30 workers.
Radical is a solid brand in an area of Virginia known for racing, Heath says. VIR and Martinsville Speedway combined bring a little more than $400 million in annual economic impact to Virginia. “In the racing world, it would have a lot of value for us.”
Ranked as CNBC’s Top State for Business for two consecutive years, Virginia earned the distinction in part for its “wealth of colleges and universities.” These are some of the educators and leaders who are helping to grow that national reputation for academic excellence.
Bergmeister
Suzanne Bergmeister
Executive director, Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship
at James Madison University
Harrisonburg
After working for the past 15 years as the University of Louisville’s full-time entrepreneur-in-residence and for the past four years as assistant director for its entrepreneurship center, Suzanne Bergmeister moved to Harrisonburg this summer to lead James Madison University’s Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship. “I was able to sell my house and buy a house here and move and get most of my stuff unpacked and start work all in about two weeks,” says Bergmeister, who has a background in venture capital. She’s not starting small with her JMU to-do list. “We are trying to instill an entrepreneurial mindset and get people … excited about innovation and creativity, because entrepreneurs change the world.”
Cipriano
Pamela Cipriano
Dean, University of Virginia School of Nursing
Charlottesville
The pandemic has laid bare how essential nurses are, as well as their sacrifices, says Pamela Cipriano, who earned her first nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania more than 40 years ago and has been a prominent voice for nurses for decades. “They take on the emotional burdens of the work, [and] they exhaust themselves doing everything that they can that they know a patient and family needs,” she says. Aside from overseeing U.Va.’s nursing school curriculum and its combined 800 undergrad and graduate students, Cipriano started her four-year term as president of the International Council of Nurses, which spans 130 countries, in November. She also advises Time’s Up Healthcare, a national initiative to end sexual harassment and gender-based inequality in the field.
Clement
Whitt Clement
Special counsel,
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP; rector, University of Virginia
Richmond
A Danville native and former seven-term state delegate who helped launch Hunton Andrews Kurth’s state government relations practice and served as chair of the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia and the state Bar Association, Whitt Clement began his two-year stint as U.Va.’s rector in July. A Double ’Hoo (with degrees from the university and its law school), Clement is focused on providing more financial assistance for students, especially those from lower-income backgrounds, and maintaining safety during the lingering pandemic. Clement also is working closely with Charlottesville on an affordable housing initiative in the city’s 2030 master plan. Additionally top of mind, he says, is U.Va.’s history with regard to race. “We have a checkered past like other educational institutions,” Clement says.
Doerzaph
Zachary Doerzaph
Executive director, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Blacksburg
Zachary Doerzaph has been a car geek since playing with Hot Wheels as a child. He restored his first car, a 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle, at age 14. But now he’s not just playing with cars. In October, he became the executive director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which has conducted pioneering research in the fields of smart highways and autonomous vehicles. A California native, Doerzaph has worked for Tech for 21 years. “I would say my mindset has expanded,” he says. “As a kid, I was really into sort of the car itself, and as I entered graduate school and really thought about what it is I wanted to do and I grew up …let’s just say broadening of my area of interest occurred, and safety is kind of a real core piece to me.”
Hall
James Emerson Hall
Manager, Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center
Fishersville
At the Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center, a state-run facility that provides occupational training and rehabilitation services to people with disabilities at a scenic college-like campus nestled in the Shenandoah Valley, James Hall leads four departments — each revolving around vocational evaluation and education or a combination of the two. Hall joined the Wilson Center in 2016 after working as a special education teacher and public school administrator for several years. “We get to take [clients] from a place of nonemployment to a place of employment, which is life-changing, not only for them, but also for their families and their communities as a whole and really for the commonwealth.”
Matlock
David Matlock
Executive director, Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center
Abingdon
“I’m in the opportunity business,” says David Matlock. His higher education center provides “kindergarten through career” educational opportunities for the Southwest region’s residents, including a K5 STEM Academy, hybrid and online degree programs from 10 colleges and universities, a college for older adults, and professional and recreational learning classes. “We are a great place doing great things because of great people, and I’m just the lucky person that gets to be the talking head,” he says. Additionally, Matlock and his wife started The Justin Foundation, which provides scholarships and leadership training to public school students in their town of Damascus. It’s named for a local 19-year-old who died from a methadone overdose.
Morrissey
Sharon Morrissey
Senior vice chancellor of academic and workforce programs, Virginia Community College System
Richmond
Sharon Morrissey co-chaired a task force that created a six-year strategic plan, adopted in March, for Virginia’s 23 community colleges. “By the year 2027, we won’t have any equity gaps in terms of race, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status for our students’ learning outcomes and success,” she says of the plan’s goals. Morrissey rose through the ranks in North Carolina’s community college system, starting as an English instructor and working her way up to chief academic officer, before moving to Virginia in 2014. A 2021 Lead Virginia class member, Morrissey’s current focus is “how can we quickly ramp up to produce the workforce that Virginia needs, but all the while doing it with an eye toward making sure that we are not leaving any students behind.”
Partridge
Steven Partridge
Vice president of strategy, research
and workforce innovation, Northern Virginia Community College
Annandale
At family dinners, it’s not unusual for Steven Partridge to ask his three sons — a fourth grader, a high schooler and a Virginia Military Institute cadet — if they’d sign up for a certain workshop or a new program if it meant they’d be more likely to snag a well-paying job down the line. “They’re my guinea pigs,” says Partridge, who arrived at Virginia’s largest community college in 2016. He often collaborates with business, government and nonprofit leaders, ensuring that tomorrow’s workers meet the needs of the region’s major employers. Another top priority: making sure every NOVA student understands how to find a promising career. A member of Lead Virginia’s 2021 class, Partridge has focused his career on economic development and workforce education.
Perrigan
Keith Perrigan
Superintendent, Bristol Virginia Public Schools
Bristol
Bristol Virginia Public Schools Superintendent Keith Perrigan hasn’t taken his foot off the gas. On top of starting the Region VII Virtual Academy with 16 other school divisions, being on the state’s Commission on School Construction and Modernization and advocating as president of the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia to the General Assembly for funding needed improvements to school facilities, Perrigan started the school system’s Bearcat Bridge program. The career and technical education initiative connects high school seniors to mentors and apprenticeships, and a group of business leaders speaks to students monthly. Some students receive donated cars (which auto mechanic students work on) as scholarships to ensure their transportation to work. Students receive a “Work Ready” diploma seal from the Bristol Chamber of Commerce.
Sparkman-Key
Narketta Sparkman-Key
Academic affairs director for faculty diversity and retention, Old Dominion University
Norfolk
Some of us watched Netflix’s “Tiger King” during the start of the pandemic; Narketta Sparkman-Key learned how to design handbags and has launched a business — Belinda Bea, named for her aunt and grandmother — selling three styles of “boss bags.” Sparkman-Key is a boss herself, running ODU’s initiative to recruit and retain more faculty of color. Although ODU is not perfect, she says, “we’re in this place of change, requiring authenticity and transparency, not just lip service.” The Detroit native has been at ODU since 2012, where she’s spent a significant amount of energy promoting inclusion and diversity, including developing a website that spells out ODU’s values for prospective faculty members.
Virginia Economic Development Partnership President and CEO Stephen Moret will leave VEDP to become president and CEO of Indianapolis-based Strada Education Network in January, Strada and VEDP announced Wednesday.
Moret expects that VEDP’s board will appoint Executive Vice President Jason El Koubi to serve as interim CEO and a nationwide search will be conducted for a permanent successor.
“In my opinion, the VEDP CEO job will be the most attractive economic development opening in America for a variety of reasons, including the advantages and stability of VEDP’s unique authority structure and the attractiveness of Virginia as a premier state for quality of life and for business. It is a really special opportunity for the right person,” Moret said.
Moret said his top priority as he moves toward the exit is to ensure a smooth transition and provide any support requested from the incoming administration of Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin.
In 2019, Moret was named Virginia Business’ Business Person of the Year, based mainly on his shepherding of VEDP, which was struggling and dysfunctional when Moret arrived in 2017, and his work in attracting Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion-plus HQ2 East Coast headquarters to Arlington County, a project expected to create 25,000 jobs in the largest economic development deal in state history.
Instead of relying solely on economic incentives to lure the e-tail giant, Moret focused on workforce education, securing more than $1 billion in state funding for the Tech Talent Investment Program to strengthen high-tech education across Virginia, as well as starting the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria. Moret also led the launch of the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, the state’s custom recruitment and workforce training initiative.
“Virginia is second to none in economic development, thanks to Stephen’s leadership,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement Wednesday. “We have attracted more than $77 billion in capital investment and 100,000 new jobs in just the past four years alone. Virginia has delivered something unique in the country — becoming one of the best states for workers and earning [CNBC’s] Top State for Business title more times than anyone else. Stephen has been at the center of all this work, and Virginia is a better place for it. It’s no surprise that others are eager for his talents, and we wish him all the best in Indianapolis.”
Dan Pleasant, chairman of VEDP’s board of directors, was part of the search committee when Moret was hired, and recalled Moret being the right fit.
“We thought he was the right person, and it turned out he was definitely the right person,” Pleasant said with a laugh.
Moret leads by example, Pleasant added, and is very creative when it comes to doing deals. The Amazon HQ2 deal is just one example of his creativity, Pleasant said, noting how Moret positioned Virginia apart from the competition.
Higher impact
Strada Education Network was founded in 1960 as United Student Aid Funds or USA Funds and was formerly the nation’s largest guarantor of loans made by the Federal Family Education Loan Program. In 2017, the organization was renamed Strada, and it has become a nonprofit social impact organization, a public charity, focused on “increasing individuals’ economic mobility through purposeful connections between education and employment.”
“Our approach combines innovative research, thought leadership, strategic philanthropy and investments, and support for Strada Collaborative, a nonprofit that provides critical resources, educational support, and career experiences leading to equitable education and employment pathways,” a spokeswoman for Strada wrote in an email.
Moving into this line of work aligns with Moret’s personal values, he said in emailed comments to Virginia Business on Wednesday.
“For decades, I have had a deep personal, professional and intellectual interest in the connections between postsecondary education and employment,” Moret said. “I have witnessed the transformational impact of higher ed in my life and in the lives of many others. Through my professional work in multiple settings, I also have seen the impact higher ed can have on the economic competitiveness and growth of regions, states and our country as a whole. Indeed, my interest in the linkages between higher ed and economic opportunity has been so great that I completed my doctoral dissertation at Penn on that very topic several years ago.”
Moret described growing up with feelings of “economic insecurity” that lingered with him as he grew up. He saw higher education as “a pathway to economic security and mobility.”
“I can still vividly recall weighing my college options and potential major when I was 18, balancing my interests and aspirations against fears of student loan debt that I might later have trouble repaying,” he said.
Moret earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Louisiana State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also holds a doctorate degree in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.
Moret said when he visited with Strada’s search committee and ultimately its full board, he shared that he believes “Strada is better positioned than any other single organization to help revitalize and broaden participation in the American Dream.
“While there are bigger organizations than Strada, I’m not aware of any nonprofit of Strada’s scale [or larger] that has Strada’s focused mission paired with such a distinctive, multidimensional approach to accomplishing it,” Moret said.
Moret said he was not seeking for another position and that he has loved his work at VEDP and felt embraced by the business and political leadership of the commonwealth. He also said he had cultivated good relationships with both 2021 gubernatorial candidates.
“Strada was [and is] simply an opportunity of singular interest to me, and it offers an opportunity to make an impact at a national level,” he said. “The timing was simply coincidental, as the Strada CEO position happened to open up this year. I have been inspired by Strada’s mission for many years.”
‘A transformative leader’
Observers often give Moret credit for Virginia’s two-time streak as CNBC’s No. 1 state for business, a title regained in 2019 after the state sank to No. 13 in 2016. But he’s humble about his success.
“While I’m proud of many of the specific things we accomplished, such as winning [Amazon] HQ2 or creating a top-ranked custom workforce initiative [the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program], I hope that my legacy will be that we built a great team, dramatically improved collaboration and communication with partners, and shared a clear and compelling vision for how Virginia can become one of the leading states in America in terms of economic development, economic competitiveness, and growth,” he said.
“While we accomplished much of that vision, there is still much to do. I recently laid out some of the biggest remaining economic development opportunities in separate briefings with former Gov. McAuliffe and now Gov.-elect Youngkin prior to the election.”
Business leaders from around the commonwealth sang Moret’s praises about his work over the past five years.
Dan Clemente, the chairman and CEO of Vienna-based Clemente Development Co. Inc. and member of the VEDP’s board of governors, said that the best thing he did during his time as chairman of the board was signing the contract with Moret: “There’s only one Stephen Moret.”
“He pulled everything together. We were struggling when we hired him,” Clemente said, referring to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission’s review of VEDP at the time. “He came in knowing that all of this was under examination, and he came in and took over.”
Jennifer Wakefield, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership, said she has the utmost respect for Moret and the team he assembled.
“He predated me, so I don’t know the before times, but I know the Moret times, and they have been wonderful,” Wakefield said. “He’s really helped to elevate Virginia to the best state for business through his very thoughtful, strategic approach. … It’s definitely a loss for Virginia, but I think that with the plan and the team that he’s assembled in place, we’re stronger for him having served the commonwealth.”
Moret worked with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to land Amazon.com Inc.’s coveted second headquarters. Photo courtesy Governor of Virginia
John F. Reinhart, former CEO of the Virginia Port Authority, called Moret “an incredible intellect and creative and collaborative professional.”
Reinhart served on VEDP’s board, and Moret served on the Port’s board as both organizations recovered from financial challenges that occurred before the leaders’ tenures.
“He understood the supply chain and what it took to make things happen,” said Reinhart, who retired earlier this year. “As we were trying to go after economic development projects … he got it. He understood it and could voice that.”
Two projects that stand out to Reinhart as legacies Moret will leave behind are his work on workforce development and Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm project to erect bring 180 wind turbines 27 miles off Virginia Beach’s coast. These projects will have impacts for decades to come, Reinhart said.
“He was a very transformative leader and set an example for all those he worked with,” Reinhart said.
Pleasant, with the VEDP, said one of the things Moret did that was changing the VEDP’s relationship with rural areas, such as Danville, where lives. “He’s a big advocate of bringing opportunity to rural Virginia,” Pleasant said. When Ikea announced it was leaving the area, Pleasant recalls Moret assuring him that someone would move in within six months.
“I don’t know that I have ever met anyone that had a stronger work ethic,” Pleasant said.
Before he came to Virginia, Moret was president and CEO of the Louisiana State University Foundation, where he put together a plan for a $1.5 billion LSU fundraising campaign, the largest in state history.
In 2008, Moret became Louisiana’s secretary of economic development under Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. After taking a trip to Georgia to learn about its training program, he implemented Louisiana’s FastStart program, an economic development initiative to quickly train workers in skills needed by specific businesses or sectors at no cost. In 2010, Business Facilities named FastStart the country’s best state workforce program, bumping Georgia from the top spot. Moret later replicated the initiative here as the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, one of his signature accomplishments.
Prior to becoming a Louisiana cabinet member, Moret served as chief executive of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Before joining the chamber, Moret was a consultant with global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. in Arlington. He also has served as a public policy fellow with the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and a consultant to Harvard Business School.
Moret expects to relocate to Indianapolis, where Strada is based, in January, when he starts his new job, but will split his time between Henrico and Indiana until the summer, when the rest of his family will move, he said.
Reinhart called Moret “moral, ethical and tireless. People trust him.”
An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about Strada Education Network.
Reston-based education technology company Blackboard Inc. and Boca Raton, Florida-based Anthology Inc. higher education software company announced Oct. 25 that they had completed their merger.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Anthology will be the parent company of the combined organization, with the Blackboard name remaining as a brand. Anthology has more than 150 million users across 80 countries. The company will retain the Blackboard office in Reston but be headquartered in Boca Raton.
Anthology Chairman and CEO Jim Milton will lead the combined company.
“The closing of the transaction represents the next chapter for Anthology and Blackboard, as our collective offerings can deliver unmatched personalized experiences and insights across the full learner lifecycle,” Milton said in a statement. “Our combined broad set of capabilities — including teaching and learning, student information systems, enterprise resource planning, community engagement, student success and student engagement — will provide our clients with a full suite of enterprise-level products and services.”
New York-based private equity firm Veritas Capital is the majority owner of the combined entity. New York-based Leeds Equity Partners holds a minority stake in the company, as well as Providence, Rhode Island-based Providence Equity Partners LLC, Blackboard’s previous majority owner.
The Steward School campus in Henrico County looks a bit different this year. With five mobile classrooms, a tent on the patio and masked faces, the school has noticeably adapted to the demands of teaching students amid a pandemic.
“In a lot of ways, we’ve gotten somewhat back to normal,” Head of School Dan Frank says, “but we do have some limitations about buses [and] we continue to need the learning cottages [mobile classrooms] because of class size limits and, of course, we’re masked, per the mandate.”
Like other private schools in Virginia, Steward incurred steep costs installing Plexiglas and other infrastructure to combat the spread of COVID-19 but says it has comfortably covered expenses due to recent enrollment increases.
School administrators attribute the enrollment increases to families seeking more stability for children who have had their education disrupted by remote and hybrid learning over the past 20 months.
Despite state law requiring public schools to offer in-person instruction to the fullest extent possible since March, private schools have been more likely to hold in-person classes since fall 2020, although state health officials have recorded coronavirus outbreaks at schools since then. In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduced the recommended distance between students from six feet to three feet, which allowed private schools to increase enrollment.
Pandemic infrastructure expenses such as installing Plexiglass barriers are “the price of doing business,” says Ginny Colwell, head of school for St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly. Photo by Will Schermerhorn
As of early October, only children ages 12 and older were eligible to receive COVID vaccines, and the Virginia Department of Health recorded outbreaks in progress — meaning at least two positive cases — at schools in 20 counties at both private and public institutions since the start of the 2021-22 school year.
Nationally and in Virginia, applications to private schools have increased since the pandemic, and more students are on waitlists. In an August 2020 survey of National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) members, 58% of respondents reported that a larger than average number of families from non-private schools were making admissions inquiries. By late March, another NAIS survey reported that admission numbers had stayed steady or improved from the previous year at more than two-thirds of responding private schools, and 57% of responding NAIS-member schools said they had received more applications compared with the same time during the previous year.
The Steward School, Morrison School in Bristol, Fredericksburg Christian School (FCS) and St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly have waitlists for some — if not most — grades.
While St. Paul VI Head of School Ginny Colwell says her school’s waitlists are the result of intentional growth control rather than space constraints, other schools attribute their waitlists to their schools’ good reputations and families seeking alternatives to remote learning.
Steward School had a roughly 20% to 30% increase in student applications, and it has 650 students enrolled this fall, Frank says. Last year, distancing requirements meant that FCS had to turn down around 50 applicants, a loss of roughly $500,000 in tuition. This year, it had 991 students enrolled as of early October, up from 859 students last year, when social distancing measures were in place. Morrison School has 62 students enrolled, nine more than the previous year, but the school has provided about $9,000 more than the $120,000 budgeted for tuition assistance.
At the Catholic Diocese of Arlington’s schools, enrollment this school year increased more than 6% from the prior year, bringing total enrollment to almost 17,000 students.
St. Paul VI jumped from 964 to 1,090.
Private schools have largely borne the costs of distancing and safety measures, although some, like Morrison School, have received help from their communities. Morrison received air purifiers from Aerus, which has a manufacturing facility in Bristol, and masks from local companies Westfall Orthodontics and Universal Cos. In April, Gov. Ralph Northam invited state private schools to apply for $46.6 million in federal funding to assist with pandemic- related operating costs.
Extra costs
According to NAIS, 65% of responding members in October 2020 had purchased tents, trailers or added building space to allow for social distancing. Nearly all reported buying masks or face shields, 84% invested in plastic or Plexiglas dividers, and 64% said they had upgraded their heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems or purchased new systems.
The Steward School upgraded its HVAC system, bought more sanitizing supplies and provided students and employees with personal protective equipment. The school also hired more nurses and counselors, invested in five mobile classrooms and purchased technology, including livestreaming equipment. Regular, randomized COVID testing among students and staff members has also proved expensive.
Fredericksburg Christian School Superintendent Rick Yost says that, not counting extra janitorial costs, his school spent an average of $2,428 a month on sanitizing treatments and $2,722 on extra surface cleaning for high-touch areas like door knobs. He estimates that his school spent around $30,000 to $40,000 just installing Plexiglas dividers in the elementary school. St. Paul VI’s Colwell estimates her school spent roughly $30,000 on Plexiglas barriers between students who sit facing forward at instruction tables, two to a table. Gallons of hand sanitizer have been deployed, and the school uses air purifiers throughout its buildings.
“We’re not really surprised by the costs that we have,” Colwell says. “The CDC has been very good with what they feel [is needed] and what they recommend, so we have spent money [to comply with the CDC’s COVID recommendations]. … It’s the price of doing business, really.” St. Paul VI’s donors helped offset expenses, she says.
Morrison School in Bristol took revenue hits from pandemic-related enrollment restrictions and increased tuition needs, says Head of School Jami Verderosa. Photo by Earl Niekirk
Also, a well-timed move from Fairfax city to Chantilly in summer 2020, in which St. Paul VI’s campus grew from 16 to 68 acres, provided for more outdoor space, including a large patio. It’s equipped with restaurant-quality outdoor heaters, and students can eat at picnic tables mask-free when the weather cooperates.
Morrison School pieced together federal funding and private donations to cover its expenses. It was also able to receive Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Although the school, which has small class sizes and is dedicated to children with different learning needs, wasn’t able to hold its annual golf tournament fundraiser last year due to the pandemic, most of its usual participants still donated, says Head of School Jami Verderosa, and the school will hold this year’s tournament in April.
“It’s because of the great staff and the supporters and donors that we have that we have been able to continue to grow,” she says.
Because of a partnership with a public school, Morrison received $26,283 in federal CARES Act funding money, which it used to hire additional personnel to clean daily. This year, two high school students volunteer after school on a rotating basis to assist the school’s custodian with cleaning. The school also added and replaced some Chromebooks in case the school had to go virtual again.
Because the school was built in 2015, the administration hasn’t upgraded its HVAC, but it did install Plexiglas dividers.
The biggest pandemic-related hits to the school’s revenue came from limited enrollment and increased tuition assistance needs, Verderosa says. Morrison was not able to hold a summer program in 2020. “That’s a lot of income that comes in …and that’s a big recruitment [tool] for us for the fall, so that was a big setback because then we didn’t have families that could try our program [before] the school year,” she says. Also, the school did not offer a pre-K and kindergarten program in the ’20-’21 school year because additional classrooms were needed to physically distance students in other grades, although those programs returned this fall.
Similarly, The Steward School had to increase the number of buses it uses for athletic teams to accommodate distancing measures, meaning it sometimes has to charter buses to use in addition to its own, or to charter double the number of buses for longer trips.
And like public schools, independent schools are also encountering labor problems. Fredericksburg Christian School has been having trouble finding bus drivers. Along with transporting athletic teams to games, the school runs five bus routes to outlying counties daily.
Hiring difficulties
Labor shortages in private schools vary across the state. Despite struggling to find bus drivers, FCS was able to hire an admissions director and more teachers. The school raised its pay rate in order to attract extended care workers, and principals and teachers filled in during the interim.
School administrators say their schools have encountered some teacher turnover, but they attribute it to teachers leaving the industry due to increased stress and workloads, rather than an inability to compete for talent with public schools, which can offer higher pay but also have larger classes. “We asked a lot of our faculty last year,” Colwell says, “and they did not disappoint. I’m just impressed with the resilience and the positive outlook that many of our faculty [had] last year.”
Morrison School has been searching for a high school teacher with a math or special education certification since mid-August. For now, other staff members cover the class and duties.
St. Paul VI Catholic High School hired 18 teachers this year, some because teachers retired and some due to enrollment growth, as well as eight staff members, ranging from security and custodial employees to administrative assistants and teachers’ aides.
In recent years, independent schools in Virginia fared slightly better than independent schools nationally, according to National Association of Independent Schools data. In Virginia, the total number of students enrolled in independent schools dipped 0.46% between 2019 and 2021, but 52.5% of schools reported enrollment growth in that period. Nationally, independent schools saw a 1.7% decrease in enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year, but 44.9% reported increased enrollment.
Despite the unexpected expenses brought by the pandemic, most private schools have seen high enough increases in enrollment numbers to offset the new needs, or in some cases, even see a net gain. “I spent 20 years in the business world before I came to do this, and our saying was, ‘Volume cures all ills,’” Yost says. “It’s true also in private education: Enrollment takes care of those things.”
After a year of learning how to operate in a pandemic, schools are glad to be fully in-person. Steward’s campus is full of “happy noise,” Frank says, with students and teachers chatting and engaging each other in-person.
“We are still offering full athletics, full fine arts,” he says. “We were able to bring back our lunch program this year. … We have not scaled back on faculty and staff. We have not cut any classes or other types of programming. We are robust as we were pre-pandemic.”
Virginia Tech has launched a research institute focused on national security with presences in Blacksburg and the Washington, D.C., metro area, the university announced Tuesday.
The Virginia Tech National Security Institute aspires to become “the nation’s preeminent academic organization at the nexus of interdisciplinary research, technology, policy and talent development to advance national security,” according to a news release. Tech has long had ties to the Department of Defense, which contributed $50 million in federal funding to the university in fiscal year 2020,
The institute will bring together researchers, programs and resources from across the university and integrate student learning and research on national intelligence, defense, law enforcement, homeland security and cybersecurity, the university said. The Pamplin College of Business, the School of Public and International Affairs, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology will be part of the institute’s programming, as will industry leaders Raytheon, Mitre, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, which will offer students internships.
Eric Paterson has been named the executive director of the institute. He previously served as the interim director for the Hume Center for more than two years and has led the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering as department head for 10 years.
The Department of Defense is Virginia Tech’s largest source of federal funding, giving approximately $50 million in fiscal 2020. In January, the DOD awarded Virginia Tech a $1.5 million grant to prepare students for careers in cybersecurity through the Hume Center.
“As chairman of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, I am pleased that Virginia Tech is strategically organizing and prioritizing its national security research and workforce efforts,” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement. “Given the university’s nearly $50 million Department of Defense research portfolio, and its strategic locations in Northern Virginia near key national intelligence agencies and the Pentagon, this purposeful focusing of Virginia Tech’s efforts in national security is welcome news. Virginia Tech’s new National Security Institute will help our nation develop new security-related technological advancements while helping train the future generations of intelligence leaders.”
The institute is the third thematic research institute at Virginia Tech. It joins Virginia Tech’s transportation institute and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.
Stoney Trent, previously the chief of missions for the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and the principal adviser for the Office for Research and Innovation at Virginia Tech, led the effort to start the institute. A group of deans, institute directors and vice presidents reviewed the proposal, and the charter was approved in the spring.
The University of Virginia will start offering a real estate minor for the first time this spring.
The 15-credit interdisciplinary minor, housed within the McIntire School of Commerce, will be taught by faculty across multiple areas, including the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Architecture, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
To be eligible, students must enroll in a “Foundations of Real Estate Finance” class in the spring of their second year.
Andrew Sanderford, the Robert M. White Jr. Bicentennial Professor of Real Estate and an associate professor of commerce, will serve as an administrator of the minor, along with other professors in the commerce, engineering and architecture schools.
“It feels great to be able to create a space for students interested in changing the face of the built environment – to have a path through the different schools that will allow them to pursue their curiosity in real estate,” Sanderford, a Charlottesville native who graduated from the college with a degree in history in 2005 and from the School of Architecture in 2010, said in a statement.
“The curriculum represents some of the classic ways to think about real estate, but will also have its own unique U.Va. spin that will allow really smart people to tell us what’s important about how to change the world. We’re excited about the volume of cool ideas that will come from the students.”
Applications will be accepted beginning Nov. 1 and are due Feb. 21, 2022.
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