Childress Makes Handsome Gift to W&L J. Donald Childress ’70, rector of the Board of Trustees, has given $5 million to the University. He makes the gift at the earliest planning stages of the forthcoming capital campaign, which will help fund the priorities of the decade-long strategic plan the board approved in 2007. Former rector Phil Norwood ’69 and current trustee Warren Stephens ’79 are co-chairs of the campaign. The University will announce the campaign’s ultimate goal in 2010.
p h o t o b y P a t r i c k H i n e l y ’ 7 3
Half of Childress’ gift will establish two new professorships at W&L—the J. Donald Childress Professorship in Foreign Languages (preferably Spanish) and the Sidney Gause Childress Professorship in the Arts (named for Childress’ wife, Sidney). Childress has also designated $500,000 of his gift for a challenge fund for the new W&L Hillel House, a $4 million project that will result in a new facility for Hillel. With $1.5 million left to raise, the Childress challenge represents a third of the remaining funding. Childress has not yet designated $2 million of his gift. “This is a magnificent gesture on Don Childress’ part,” said President Ken Ruscio ’76. “We are extraordinarily grateful for both his leadership and his vision in identifying initiatives that are so critically important to the University’s future.” In establishing the new professorships, Childress also boosts the Lenfest Challenge for Faculty Compensation. In 2007, Gerry Lenfest ’53, ’55L committed $33 million as a challenge gift to match dollar-for-dollar any new gifts to support faculty compensation. Consequently, the Childress gift will mean an additional $5 million in endowment for faculty salaries. (See the inside front cover for a new feature of the Lenfest challenge.) “I was pleased to be able to make an investment in what will prove to be an important campaign for Washington and Lee,” said Childress. “There are many needs and many opportunities in our educational priorities, which stem from the strategic plan. There are many aspects of this plan, and they all cost money. I thought it was my obligation as an alumnus and as a trustee to step up with this gift.” For more on the Lenfest Challenge, see www.wlu.edu/x482.xml or call the Development Office at (540) 458-8410.
5743a_08.indd3 4
Don Childress ’70
For more information on Hillel House or the Childress challenge, contact Joan Robins, director of W&L Hillel, at (540) 458-8443 or robinsj@wlu.edu.
12/2/08 7:55:05 AM