The Campaign for Wofford: $93 million down, $12 million to go

New scholarship honors former Wofford chaplain and wife

Mike James endows professorship in accounting and financeWofford has received a gift of $1 million from Trustee Mike

James ’73 to permanently endow a new professorship in ac-counting and finance. The announcement was made at a meeting of the Board of Trustees Feb. 19.

The college is in the process of filling six or seven new faculty po-sitions for the fall of 2008, increasing the number of full-time teach-ing professors to at least 112. “Since we began our $105 million Campaign for Wofford College in October 2002, 10 new endowed professorships have been established, and our goal is to double this number in the next few years,” says Marion Peavey ’65, senior vice president for development and college relations. “Clearly, our trustees and friends are seriously committed to attracting the best and the brightest teachers, and to reducing the faculty-to-student ratio even below its current 1 to 11.

Peavey adds that the James professorship and the Laura and Winston Hoy Professorship in the department of English enable the college to receive a second Reeves Foundation Endowed Professor-ship under the terms of a challenge program designed by J.E. “Ed” Reeves of Summit, N.J., a key Wofford trustee for two decades.

James is a general partner in WEDGE Capital Management of Charlotte, N.C. He has worked with the college’s investment advi-sory committee since 1994, playing an important role in increasing the market value of Wofford’s endowment to almost $170 million (July 1, 2007). He continues to support the college through signifi-cant gifts earmarked for scholarships and academic programs.

“Our family has had a very special relationship with the college through several generations,” James says, whose daughter, Abigail, is a first-year Wofford student. “We not only connect through many friendships and a love of the physical place, but we also respect Wofford’s 150-year commitment to the idea that education at its best requires a good teacher working one-on-one with a good student. When we support Wofford, we look to the future and to a college preparing young people for work and service through the 2000s.”

“No one better evidences the trustees’ concern for faculty well-being than Mike James, who truly understands the value of great teaching,” says President Benjamin B. Dunlap. “His first large gift to Wofford was an endowed scholarship fund created in honor of the high school teacher who had urged Mike to come here. His most re-cent gift is a breathtaking million-dollar endowment for a professor-ship, enabling the college to meet the Reeves Foundation Challenge and thereby create two more such professorships. He has also made an extremely generous gift to establish a student-driven investment program within the business-finance major. In a multitude of ways, Mike James has set the bar for all of us in supporting the paramount importance of teaching and learning at Wofford College. The truth of the matter is, by example, Mike himself is a truly great teacher.”

by Doyle Boggs ’70

The Rev. Dr. Talmage Skinner ’56 has never wanted to leave

Wofford. Not while he was a student, not while he was serving as the college chap-lain for 17 years, and not now, even though he retired in 2003. Skinner is still a vibrant part of the Wofford community, and he has no desire to disappear any time soon.

Now, thanks to a gener-ous gift in his honor, students who might otherwise have to leave will get the chance to remain a part of the commu-nity, too; just like Skinner.

Ben Waldrop ’93, owner of Century Printing and Packaging Inc., and his wife, Aimee, have donated the ini-tial gift for the Talmage Boyd Skinner Jr. ’56 and Beverly Keadle Skinner Endowed Scholarship Fund.

The scholarship will assist students who, due to unfore-seen circumstances, are at risk of having to withdraw from the college.

“Through their passion for the school and genuine concern for the students as individuals, Beverly and Tal-mage have woven themselves into the fabric of the Wofford community,” says Waldrop. “In creating this scholarship, Aimee and I want to enable a student to remain a part of that community.”

Skinner couldn’t be hap-pier with the scholarship, and says he’s thrilled that it incorporates his wife. “The beautiful thing about this is that somebody recognizes that we were a team. Everything we did, we did together.”

Wofford President Benjamin B. Dunlap agrees that, together, the Skinners have left an indelible mark on the college. “To observe that for many years Talmage and Beverly Skinner have been the heart and soul of Wofford College is no exaggeration,” says Dunlap. “Their warmth and compassion, their breadth of spirit, and their support for the Terriers and their fans are truly the stuff of legend.”

From 1986 until his retire-ment in 2003, Skinner served

as the college chaplain. During that tenure, he touched the lives of nearly everyone with whom he came in contact. He and his wife have continued to be a positive force on the Wofford campus, and, in 2005, they were awarded the Wofford Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

“The establishment of this scholarship fund in honor of Tal-mage and Beverly Skinner recog-nizes their many years of service to Wofford and the countless numbers of young people who they have mentored,” says Marion Peavey ’65, Wofford’s senior vice president for develop-ment and college relations. “The scholarship represents a major ‘thank you’ from all who have known the Skinners over the decades, and we are fortunate to have Talmage and Beverly as part of the Wofford family.”

Dunlap was named Wof-ford’s 10th president during Skinner’s tenure as chaplain. Having grown close to the cou-ple, Dunlap recognizes that, “It’s on the personal level where their ‘little unremembered acts of kindness and of love’ have made the most lasting contribution, which is why this scholarship is so wonderfully appropriate.”

As a lifelong member of the

Beverly and Talmage Skinner ’56

Wofford community, Skinner understands the significance of this scholarship. “The most important thing to me is that this is going to help people go to Wofford,” he says.

To make a donation to the Talmage Boyd Skinner Jr. ’56 and Beverly Keadle Skinner Endowed Scholarship Fund, contact Thom Henson, assis-tant director of development at Wofford at 864-597-4213 or hensontm@wofford.edu.

by Matt Giles ’07

President Benjamin B. Dunlap presented Heroic Terrier or Leader of the Pack awards to benefactors whose gifts and leadership have made a lasting impact on the college. From left to right are: Joe Taylor ’80, Dunlap, Woody Willard ’74 and Mike James ’73.

A familiar sight: Skinner leading the alma mater after a Wofford men’s basketball game.

10 • Wofford Today • Spring 2008