A Century of Equestrian Excellence at Sweet Briar College

Sweet Briar College posted a fascinating historical overview, "100 Years of Equestrian Excellence: Forward thinking, forward riding," on December 22, 2020 by Dana Poleski.

Poleski highlights some of the key college staff like Harriet Howell Rogers, who served as a professor of physical education and the director of riding from 1924 to 1963. She "...recognized how popular riding was with the students and how influential it could be for both academic and personal development."

Rogers was just one of many people working over the years to build and maintain some "...of the best facilities in the nation and a reputation for equestrian excellence and achievement...(that) set the stage for the next 50 years of remarkable competitive and educational accomplishments."

Sweet Briar Featured Positively for Fall Plans

Sweet Briar in Virginia was favorably mentioned in a couple of newspaper articles this past week.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch published "This college is tiny and isolated, and for some students during the pandemic, that sounds perfect" on June 28, 2020 with reporting by Susan Svruluga.

The Lynchburg News & Advance followed on July 4, 2020 with reporting by Jamey Cross in "Sweet Briar College uniquely suited to weather storm, reopen in August." 

Value of HBCUs is Apparent when talking with Alumni of Closed Institutions

The New York Times published an interesting article in late June, "‘Your Heritage Is Taken Away’: The Closing of 3 Historically Black Colleges," by Wadzanai Mhute. 

While Mhute initially references the struggles facing Bennett College in North Carolina and Pennsylvania's Cheyney University, the article focuses on the sense of support and feeling of community voiced by alumni of three HBCUs that closed, Concordia College in Selma, AL [1922-2018], Morristown College in Morristown, TN [1881-1994], and Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville, VA [1888-2013].

You can read more about each of the three closed institutions by reviewing post on the College History Garden blog:

Concordia College

• Saturday, February 24, 2018 Concordia College Alabama will Close

Morristown College

• Saturday, October 30, 2010 Morristown College (TN)
• Monday, October 31, 2016 Morristown College (TN) Campus Purchased

Saint Paul's College

• Thursday, August 30, 2012 Saint Paul's College (VA) #1
• Monday, May 13, 2013 Saint Paul's College (VA) #2
• Friday, May 31, 2013 St. Paul's College (VA) #3
• Sunday, December 28, 2014 President of Saint Paul's College Recognized
• Wednesday, February 20, 2019 Museum and Archives Maintains Memory of Saint Paul's College

Editorial Reflections on Success of Sweet Briar

I've been traveling for a few weeks and am a bit late in posting a link to another wonderful editorial, "More accolades for Sweet Briar," on September 20, 2018 by The Roanoke Times.  The author used the recent release of U.S. News college rankings as an opportunity to reflect on events of recent years as Sweet Briar alumni stepped up to take a more active role in support of the institution.

Newspapers can provide an important service with insightful reporting and editorials on local colleges that go beyond reprinting of institutional press releases.  

You can also read a post on the College History Garden blog from March 8, 2015, "Lessons from Sweet Briar...a reminder of how we benefit from a good editorial page," that highlights both The Roanoke Times and The News & Advance from Lynchburg, VA.

Meredith Woo Makes the Case for Sweet Briar and Investing in Women's Higher Education

Marguerite Joutz of The New York Times interviewed Sweet Briar College president, Meredith Woo, for an article, "Sweet Briar College Almost Closed.  What Will It Take to Thrive?"  President Woo provides a strong case for continued investment in women's higher education and highlights the strengths of Sweet Briar College.

Ferrum College President Shares Views on Running a Small College

Ferrum College and president David Johns are featured by The Roanoke Times in "New Ferrum president takes a big picture view of running a small college."  The article with reporting by Casey Fabris was published on March 19, 2018.

Fabis presents a picture of a president who maintains an active and visible role on campus and in the broader community.  Johns shares priorities common for other small institutions: college access, retention, and student success.  He also notes that, “Anything that you can think about that is true in terms of running a community, a town, is true about being in charge of a college.”

Ferrum College, founded in 1913, is located in southwest Virginia.  It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and enrolls 1,294 students.

Detailed View of Fundraising for Sweet Briar

The Chronicle of Philanthropy posted an extensive article, "Sweet Briar's $44 Million Rescue Offers Unusual Fundraising Lessons."  Reporter Drew Lindsay interviewed a number of Sweet Briar staff members and others involved in fundraising for the college. He provides a detailed view of successful efforts to support the institution over the past couple of years.  The article was published March 7, 2018.

Future of Higher Ed: VOA features Three Leaders

Voice of America's Learning English published an interesting audio segment and transcript "Experts Debate Financial Future of American Higher Education," on February 24, 2018.  Pete Musto and Dorothy Gundy conducted interviews with Teresa Tomlinson, board chair of Sweet Briar College, Valerie Calderon, senior researcher with Gallup, and Richard Ekman, president for the Council of Independent Colleges.

Tomlinson described accomplishments over recent years as Sweet Briar has reduced expenses and paid off debt.  Calderon summarizes results of a recent Gallup survey of chief business officers from 400 institutions of higher education.  Through CIC, Eckman works with 650 independent colleges and he reports that they have been successfully adapting to meet changing needs of students and society.  He notes that, "…recent media reports of a higher education crisis are untrue. He adds that, historically, few colleges have closed permanently. Schools that come close to closing are often bought by or combined with other similar or larger schools."

The VOA post is also accompanied by a short 4-question survey to assess key points in the article.

Sweet Briar's Next Chapter: Editorial from The Roanoke Times

The Roanoke Times posted an editorial, "Sweet Briar's next chapter," on September 22, 2017 to coincide with the inauguration of Meredith Woo as the institution's 13th president.  The survey of recent events at Sweet Briar provides useful perspective since it is based on a foundation of extensive reporting by the paper.  

The editorial notes that, "Sweet Briar was never in poor financial shape. It was simply poorly run..." and commends former president Phillip Stone and alumni for their efforts.  President Woo is also praised for building on the momentum and concludes, "Here’s the big story: Sweet Briar is doing what many critics think lots of colleges should be doing — cutting administrative costs, cutting tuition and refocusing curriculum to match the modern marketplace."

Passport to the Past: Sweet Briar hosts Explore weekend for Young Women in High School

Lynn Rainville, director of the Tusculum Institute at Sweet Briar College will be leading a "Passport to the Past" weekend on October 6-7, 2017 for high school students.  This program will feature archaeology and joins other "Explore" weekends scheduled throughout the year that focus on engineering, environment, and other topics.

This first Explore Archaeology weekend will begin with basic questions: How does an archaeologist locate sites to excavate? How do architectural historians date a building? How do public historians share information about the lives of people in the past?

Rainville notes that participants will focus on Sweet Briar and that the college's "…3,250 acres of breathtaking beauty and nature also contain a multitude of artifacts, ruins and neo-classical architecture…These features reveal Sweet Briar’s rich, multi-century heritage.”

The Tusculum Institute at Sweet Briar isa historic preservation resource center, dedicated to preserving and studying the region's historic assets within a context of environmental stewardship.  The institute's web pages include links to a wide variety of interesting resources.

For those on Facebook, consider "liking" the Tusculum Institute at Sweet Briar page to access the stream of interesting posts highlighting various activities and resources.

Sweet Briar College Attracts Attention for Curricular and Pricing Changes

Sweet Briar College continues to attract a lot of interest in the press and there were at least three articles this past week as students started the fall semester.  New SBC president, Meredith Woo also announced plans for curricular changes and an initiative designed to reduce tuition and discounting. 

Lawrence Biemiller's "After All but Closing, Sweet Briar Will Shift Curriculum and Pricing," was published by The Chronicle of Higher Education on September 6, 2017.  Diverse Issues in Higher Education also published, "Sweet Briar Preparing for Fresh Start," by Catherine Morris on the same date. 

Lucie Laovsky's "Back From The Brink Sweet Briar College Slashes Tuition--Who's Next?" was published by Forbes on September 7, 2017 and as the headline implies, focuses on tuition and discounting.

An earlier article by Paula C. Squires, "Remaking Sweet Briar," was published by Virginia Business on August 30, 2017 and includes a lengthy interview with President Woo.

Virginia Union University Expands Physics through New Resources and Partnership

Colleen Flaherty reported this week on the reintroduction of physics at Virginia Union University (VUU) in Richmond, VA for Inside Higher Ed.  Flaherty's article, "Physics Revival at Virginia Union," describes the rationale for emphasizing the major when it is under pressure on some other campuses across the country.  She highlights the work of professor Shaheen Islam who secured a grant from NSF and is recruiting students for the program.  VUU also invested significant resources and a joint 3+2 physics and engineering program was created with Howard University.

The Richmond Free Press covered the ribbon cutting for the new physics lab on July 13, 2016, "New physics lab, majors at VUU."  You can also visit the VUU web site for more information.

Small Colleges are Thinking Strategically about Community Relationships

I enjoyed reading Douglas Belkin's article, "To Save Themselves, Small Colleges Offer Lifeline to Their Hometown," last week in the Wall Street Journal.  Belkin focuses his reporting on several small colleges that are thinking strategically about relationships with their respective communities.  He included references to Albion College, Monmouth College, Ripon College, Niagra University, and Emory and Henry College.

You can also read, "Ripon College Recognized for Renovation of Downtown Building," that was posted on the Small College Garden in September 2015.  In addition, the College Towns & University Cities blog includes posts featuring institutions working with their communities.

Phillip C. Stone offers a Summary of Lessons Learned at Sweet Briar

Phillip C. Stone's opinion piece, "Sweet Briar president: More than miracles needed to save small colleges," offers a number of lessons he has learned through his recent service as Sweet Briar College.

In the article published in the Washington Post on August 5, 2016, Stone argues that the fundamentals of women's liberal arts colleges are solid.  He then follows by suggesting that institutions need to spend well below their means.  They also need to treasure their alumnae, not just for possible financial contributions, but more importantly, for the service they can provide.

Sweet Briar: Redefining ties between alumnae and college

Gary Robertson of Virginia Business has an interesting article, "Redefining college ties

Alumnae devote money and talent to Sweet Briar’s revival," posted May 28, 2016.  Robertson focuses on the critical role alumnae are playing at Sweet Briar and features interviews with students, alumnae, and president Phillip C. Stone.

Women's Colleges Featured in Vanity Fair

Lisa Birnbach's article in the May issue of Vanity Fair, "How Sweet Briar Came Back from Financial Ruin and Proved Women's Colleges Are Still Relevant," focuses on nine of the 42 women's colleges.  Her article includes brief sketches of the selected institutions and highlights strengths and unique characteristics.  The institutions with their locations are included in the table below.  Birnbach concludes by noting that the institutions are increasingly attractive alternatives for many young women.

Institution Name	City, State	2015-2016 Enrollment
Barnard College	New York, New York	2,536
Bryn Mawr College	Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania	1,346
Hollins University	Roanoke, Virginia	750
Mills College	Oakland, California	867
Mount Holyoke College	South Hadley, Massachusetts	2,215
Smith College	Northhampton, Massachusetts	2,500
Stephens College	Columbia, Missouri	667
Sweet Briar College	Sweet Briar, Virginia	250
Wellesley College	Wellesley, Massachusetts	2,344

Lessons Learned from Saving Sweet Briar...

Stacey Sickels Locke's post includes a link to the December issue of CASE Currents with her excellent article, "Saving Sweet Briar: The inside story of how a scrappy group of
passionate alumnae kept their alma mater’s doors open—and what
advancement can learn from it."

The article includes images of students and the campus.  There a list of advancement lessons learned and a timeline of events leading up to the opening of the fall 2015 semester.

Interview with President Stone of Sweet Briar College

Fascinating interview with Phillip Stone, president of Sweet Briar College on WABE in Atlanta from October 19, 2015.

Interview with Sweet Briar's President Featured

Steve Kolowich interviewed Sweet Briar College's president Phillip C. Stone and the videos are available through The Chronicle of Higher Education website.  The three segments provide an excellent overview of the institution' heritage that served as the foundation for the successful effort of alumnae to fight for the soul of Sweet Briar.  Stone also reflects on strategies for insuring that Sweet Briar will thrive in the future.     

Where Do Sweet Briar, and Other Liberal Arts Colleges, Go From Here?  Video Segment #1 [7:45]

What Did They Save When They Saved Sweet Briar?  Video Segment #2 [12:25]

How Sweet Briar Plans to Keep Surviving?  Video Segment #3 [8:07]

Antioch College and Sweet Briar College Featured

The August 2015 issue of University Business has an article by Matt Zalaznick that focuses on Antioch College and Sweet Briar College, "When a college bounces back from the brink."  Zalaznick's particular interest is how the institutions restore student and parent confidence after facing closure.