Washington and Lee University
204 West Washington Street

Lexington, VA 24450

www.wlu.edu

CAMPUS AT A GLANCE & KEY FACTS

Founded in 1749, Washington and Lee University is named for two men who played pivotal roles in the University's history: George Washington, whose generous endowment of $20,000 in 1796 helped the fledgling school (then known as Liberty Hall Academy) survive, and Robert E. Lee, who provided innovative educational leadership during his transformational tenure as president of Washington College from 1865 to 1870.

The University is located in the historic city of Lexington, Virginia (population 7,000), a warm, welcoming and historic college town located in the Great Valley of Virginia between the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mountains. W&L’s 35 principal buildings include the picturesque Washington College group forming the Colonnade facing Lee Chapel, where Robert E. Lee is buried. The Colonnade and Lee Chapel are National Historic Landmarks.

The ninth oldest institution of higher education in America, Washington and Lee is composed of two undergraduate divisions, the College and the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics; and a graduate School of Law. Offering 37 undergraduate majors and 29 minors, including a number of interdisciplinary programs, the University prides itself on the depth and breadth of our curriculum, in which traditional liberal arts courses are augmented by offerings from the only fully-accredited business school and fully-accredited journalism program among the nation's top-tier liberal arts colleges.

BONNER PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

Type of Program: Scholars 

Year Began: 2002

Bonner Program Website: go.wlu.edu/bonner

Where is the Bonner Program located: Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability

Number of Bonner Students: 50

Highlighted Bonner Specific Programs:

•  Many W&L Bonners serve with the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee. The mission of The Campus Kitchens Project is to use service as a way to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. At the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee (CKWL) students combat hunger and promote nutrition by recovering and reusing food that would otherwise go to waste into balanced meals for low-income members of the community in Rockbridge County. Volunteers also develop valuable relationships with clients. They also seek to educate our students through providing opportunities for leadership; engaging a distinctive population in our community; initiating nutrition programs in the community; promoting awareness of nutrition and hunger issues; stimulating research on hunger; and attending national conferences with Campus Kitchen participants across the nation. Although Campus Kitchen provides meals locally, its effort to educate students has national and global significance.
• W&L Bonners each complete a community-based research project as their Senior Capstone experience in our program. Community Based Research (CBR) is an action-oriented collaboration between students and community non-profits. Projects are aimed at meeting pressing needs identified by the community. In CBR community partners are viewed as co-educators and are involved in different stages of the research project, from defining the research question, to participating in its design and implementation, and shaping the final deliverable. Students can do CBR as part of coursework during the academic year or independently during summer. In coursework, CBR can be done as a classroom assignment, a capstone, an independent study, or thesis 
  

CAMPUS-WIDE ENGAGEMENT AT A GLANCE

• Rockbridge Teacher Education Consortium (RTEC) mobilizes students every year to focus on issues of education as part of their academic journey to licensure.  The mission of the Rockbridge Teacher Education Consortium was formulated to capitalize on the strengths of its member institutions. Therefore, RTEC's mission is to prepare teachers who are intelligent, compassionate, honorable, and dynamic leaders in their classrooms, schools, and communities. RTEC's mission rests on the four core components of leadership, rigor, service and diversity. 
• The Nabors Service League (NSL) is a student-run community service organization that strives to promote and encourage a spirit of service and to connect service with learning. By creating a volunteer profile, you can stay up to date on service opportunities within your interest areas. In addition to connecting W&L students with local agencies, the Nabors Service League hosts two community wide service days and a series of events to raise awareness of social justice issues.