Virginia Wesleyan College

Virginia Wesleyan College
	Virginia Wesleyan College
Motto	Bring a spark, light a fire
Established	1961
Type	Private college
Religious affiliation	United Methodist Church
Endowment	US $48 million
President	William T. Greer, Jr.
Dean	Timothy G. O'Rourke
Academic staff	83
Students	1,446
Location	Norfolk, VA, USA; 36°52′4.8″N 76°11′15.4″W / 36.868000°N 76.187611°WCoordinates: 36°52′4.8″N 76°11′15.4″W / 36.868000°N 76.187611°W
Campus	Suburban, 300 acres (1.21 km2)
Colors	Blue and Silver
Athletics	NCAA Division III, ODAC
Nickname	Marlins
Mascot	Bob Marlin
Website	www.vwc.edu

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Virginia Wesleyan College is a small Methodist liberal arts college on the border of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, Virginia.

Academics[]

Virginia Wesleyan offers majors in a wider range of fields than many small liberal arts colleges, ranging from traditional liberal arts programs to more pre-professional programs. Students at Virginia Wesleyan may major in:

American Studies
Art
Atheist Studies
Biology
Chemistry
Classical Studies
Communications
Computer Science
Criminal Justice
Earth and Environmental Sciences
English
Environmental Studies
French
German
Health and Human Services
History
International Studies
Latin
Mathematics
Music
Philosophy
Political Science
Pre-engineering
Psychology
Recreation and Leisure Studies
Religious Studies
Social Sciences
Social Studies
Sociology
Spanish
Theatre
Theatre and English
Women's and Gender Studies

Students at Virginia Wesleyan benefit from the individualized attention and close mentoring relationships typical of small liberal arts colleges, developed through a number of distinctive programs. Each first-year student at Virginia Wesleyan enrolls in a First-Year Seminar that focuses on intensive exploration of a specialized topic, in a class no larger than fifteen students. Another recognized feature of the academic program at the college is its Winter Session, a three-week term between the fall and spring semesters that offers innovative and experimental courses, including travel courses to locations ranging from Belize to New Zealand. Students may also participate in the Honors and Scholars Program and the PORTfolio Program, which promotes the exploration of the liberal arts through real-world applications.

The college has recently begun a major commitment to making Living & Learning Communities available to first-year students. In these communities, groups of fifteen first-year students, all of whom live in the same residence hall, immerse themselves in intensive study of a topic of mutual interest, dedicating two of their first-semester courses to that subject. The fact that the students in each community live in the same residence hall allows for opportunity to integrate these studies more thoroughly into the fabric of campus life, providing for group activities, external speakers, and out-of-class activities focused on the chosen topic. Recent and current topics of Living & Learning Communities include American Politics, Women in Science, and the Environment.

The college has also begun a transition from a 3 credit system to a 4 credit system. Under the old system, the students participated in 3 hours of one class per week totaling 5 classes for a total of 15 credit hours per semester. This system was amended in Fall 2011 to include an extra hour per class and to remove one class from the work load. This change was made as a hope for improvement in individual class experience. With one less class for the students schedule, the students could put more focus into 4 classes. Professors are given discretion as to how to add the 4th hour. The 4th hour ranges from extended class time to outer class projects.

Greek life[]

North-American Interfraternity Conference Fraternities:

National Panhellenic Conference Sororities:

Alpha Sigma Alpha
Phi Sigma Sigma
Sigma Sigma Sigma

National Panhellenic Council Sororities:

Campus[]

Virginia Wesleyan is separated into four different villages over a 300-acre (1.2 km²) tract. Villages I and II offer combined living-learning environments on the Jeffersonian model, in which dormitory space, classrooms, and faculty and staff offices share the same buildings.

In the summer and fall of 2008, the college's Hofheimer Library underwent a major renovation and modernization that included expanded wireless internet access, twenty-four hour study space, and an art gallery. Soon after renovations were also done to the school's cafeteria during the winter break of 2009. These renovations included a pizza and pasta bar, an improved salad station, a dessert bar, and new seating.

Athletics[]

Virginia Wesleyan competes in Division III of the NCAA, as a member of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The men's basketball team won the national championship in 2006, and the following year returned to the championship game, which they lost. The women's soccer team made it to the final four in 2006 after winning the ODAC tournament for the first time in program history.

Men's Sports:

Baseball
Basketball
Cheerleading
Cross Country
Golf
Lacrosse
Soccer
Tennis
Track & Field

Women's Sports:

Basketball
Cheerleading
Cross Country
Field Hockey
Lacrosse
Soccer
Softball
Tennis
Track & Field
Volleyball

PORTfolio Program[]

The PORTfolio Program is a selective four-year curricular innovation that allows students to extend and apply their in-class education through progressive learning experiences and off-campus opportunities. The program is open to any incoming first year student and can supplement any major by engaging the student in reflection, reaction and adjustment of her/his personal and educational and career goals. PORTfolio students chronicle their journey, self-discovery, experiences, skills and growth continually through their four years by developing an electronic portfolio posted on the web. An integrated set of specially designed liberal arts seminars, Winter Session courses, co-curricular activities and experiential learning opportunities, offer our students a distinctive path to connect the best of a liberal education with real-world applications. PORTfolio is one of the most exciting new developments in higher education in many years and this unique program is only available at Virginia Wesleyan College.

Realizing that today's students will spend all of their working lives in the new millennium, the PORTfolio Program prepares students for long term success by emphasizing the vital ties between the liberal arts and the world. It shows students that the liberal arts are both enriching in terms of personal development and enabling in terms of future careers. Our focus is to share the liberal arts perspectives on the world and encourage the ability to question, deal with change, solve problems, and utilize critical thinking, working independently or in a group. The curriculum of the PORTfolio Program is designed so that participants will explore themselves—their analytical, practical and creative intelligences as well as their strengths in leadership and scholarship. They will explore the community (in the broadest sense of the word), the history and tradition of the liberal arts and the independent American college. The program also provides opportunities for the perfecting of oral, written and technological communication skills.

Notable alumni[]

Randy Peele - head coach of men's basketball at Winthrop University
Bob Valvano - American sportscaster
Keller Williams - Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter