University of Mary Washington - Index

University of Mary Washington - summer08 - Index

UMW was the perfect fit.
Hample has built a distinguished career awash with
firsts, not the least of which she earned this month when
she began her tenure as Mary Washington’s premier woman
president. While students, faculty, staff, and alumni continue
to celebrate the institution’s first 100 years, all also are eager
to focus on the future. And as the school embarks on a new
century, Hample, too, begins again – in a phase of her career
that is fresh, but one that also will bring her full-circle, back
to the close-knit feel of a college campus.
In her first words to the UMW community, she said:
“As I stand here on the stage knowing that I have been
named the next president of the only public university in
America named for a woman, and not just any woman –
Mary Washington – I have to tell you that it’s incredibly
exciting.”
During her introduction at the school’s Fredericksburg
campus in early March, she added, “I celebrate today, not
only being a leader, but being a woman who has been chosen
to lead a first-rate institution into a promising future.”
She made the move official this month, relocating to
the president’s house at Brompton and transitioning to her
new and very different role. About 20 times fewer students
will be affected by her decisions now. Instead of 12,000 staff
members, she is supervising fewer than 1,000, and in place
of a $1.8 billion budget, she manages $91 million.
For Hample, though, at this point in her career, smaller
is better. “The quality of an educational experience is more
important than size of the institution or organization,” she
said. “As a campus president, more than a system head,
it is easier to influence directly the quality of students’
educations.”
According to Board of Visitors Rector J. William Poole,
“She’s worked hard to get where she is, and she’s one of the
top administrators in the country.” Poole, who led UMW’s
15-member presidential search committee, said, “What made
her stand out was her administrative experience. All of the
presidents of the state universities in Pennsylvania report
to her, so she has a real understanding of what a president
has to do. She’s familiar with budgets and the process of
dealing with state government and lobbying the legislators
for funding – all of which is very similar to what she will
do here.”
The search committee, which was assisted by the
consulting firm Greenwood/Asher and Associates, comprised
faculty from both the Stafford and Fredericksburg campuses,
administrative staff, and members of the foundation board,
alumni association, and student government. The committee
spent six months scrutinizing the qualifications and references
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of a final pool of 55 candidates, most of whom were university
presidents, vice presidents, or deans. It was a painstaking
and challenging process.
Hample’s plans for UMW include increasing diversity
both in the student body and among the faculty and staff.
As vacated positions are filled, she said, she will work to
ensure the diversity of each pool of applicants. She hopes
to see inclusion embraced within the curriculum and livinglearning
environment of the campus.
She aims to enhance students’ academic experiences
and graduate opportunities. She will continue to recognize
Mary Washington’s bounty of outstanding alumni and will
do all she can to make certain they remain “exceedingly
proud” of their alma mater. She will address the issues
of faculty compensation, program accreditation, and the
state of residence halls. And she will ensure the concept of
“transparency,” making sure that everyone is on the same
page and that there are no hidden agendas.
Hample plans to expand UMW, but only in terms of its
already outstanding academics, not its student enrollment.
“One of the things I love about this institution is its size,”
she said.
She said she intends to take advantage of the school’s
picturesque campus environment, working closely with
faculty and getting to know students by name. And she’s
set on strengthening Mary Washington’s reputation as an
important player in Virginia higher education, making sure
the school continues to be seen as a contributor to the region
and to the commonwealth’s economy.
“I don’t just talk about an idea or an issue,” she said. “I
get behind it and I never let up.”
J udy – not Judith (“Southerners tend
to name you what they’re going to call
you”) – Gayle Hample was born in 1947
in Henderson, Tenn. The middle child,
sandwiched between an older brother and a younger sister,
she grew up on a large farm that produced cotton, corn,
and soybeans.
From the beginning, Hample had a penchant for hard
work. In her early adulthood, she earned a paycheck opening
boxes and stocking shelves at a bookstore, and she even
worked for a while as a hostess at that Nashville institution,
the Grand Ole Opry.
Her fervor paid a different kind of dividend as an
undergraduate student at David Lipscomb University, a small,