Peay Endowment Expands Impact on Post

Among the many scholars in the ranks of VMI’s faculty this academic year are Donald Martin ’13 and Philip Crane ’16. What makes them stand out from their colleagues is that they are on post under the auspices of the General J.H. Binford Peay III 1962 Endowment for Academic Excellence. Crane and Martin—who teach in the international studies and political science department and the civil and environmental engineering department, respectively—are participating in the Peay Fellowship program, one of the four elements of the Peay Endowment.

The Peay Endowment’s beginnings go back to a conversation among alumni volunteers that took place in early 2016. “Whenever you get at least two alumni together,” said Thomas G. Slater Jr. ’66, the current Peay Endowment vice chairman, “they start talking about VMI.” According to Slater, the late Donald M. Wilkinson ’61—who had served as a volunteer for many years and at the time was the chairman of the campaign An Uncommon Purpose—met some alumni at a non-VMI event in Richmond. Their conversation soon turned to VMI and, more specifically, what would be necessary to keep it competitive in terms of academics.

It might surprise some that the academic program in 2016 would have been of concern. A sustained effort by the Institute, in partnership with alumni and friends, had taken academics from strength to strength and won VMI a solid reputation for academic excellence. VMI had expanded its offerings of majors and minors, increased programs related to international study, maintained a low cadet-to-faculty ratio of 10:1, and recruited and retained a high-quality faculty. Furthermore, the Jackson-Hope Fund provided funds to improve many aspects of the academic program and support the faculty.

Certainly, VMI was proud of this achievement, but it was readily evident that it was operating in an increasingly competitive environment. Prestigious colleges and universities like VMI were vying for the best professors and best students, as well as the private funding necessary to maintain distinguished academic programs.

“They touched on faculty recruitment and retention. We needed to offer them a competitive salary to get them to post and to support them once they were here,” recalled Slater. Merit-based scholarships were another area of need. “They didn’t want VMI to be beaten out for the best kids because of financial concerns.” Like many other alumni, they also wanted to have more alumni on the faculty.

With Wilkinson taking a leadership role, several alumni volunteers came up with a concept for a permanent endowment devoted entirely to the support of the Institute’s academic program. The endowment had another purpose: To honor the service to the country and the Institute of VMI’s 14th superintendent, retired U.S. Army Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62. In his strategic plan for VMI, Vision 2039, Peay had emphasized the need to achieve and sustain excellence in the academic program. During his tenure, he put immense effort into its thorough improvement, resulting in dramatic progress across the board. “The leaders behind the effort to establish the Peay Endowment knew that General Peay had made academic excellence a priority and that his leadership was an essential element in VMI’s academic program. It was important, therefore, to them to honor his devotion to improving academics,” said Terrie I. Conrad, VMI Foundation vice president of gift planning and estate administration, who serves as staff representative to the endowment.

The endowment was meant to fund a bold program consisting of four elements, each of which is important to VMI’s academic future: Merit scholarships, faculty chairs, fellowships, and operational resources. Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. John P. Jumper ’66, who is now the endowment’s chairman and was the president of the VMI Board of Visitors when the plan was presented to the board, recalled, “The program spoke for itself. It was plain how each element would improve academics and, therefore, sharpen our competitive edge.”

The program has grown rapidly since the BOV approved its formation in January 2017, thanks to considerable fundraising success in its support. In fact, the endowment’s value is now more than $62 million. Asked to what he attributed this remarkable growth, James E. Rogers ’67, one of the endowment’s vice chairmen, replied, “First, people have responded so well because they realize that, if we want our graduates to continue to make the same level of impact on our country that their predecessors did, they’ll need the best academic preparation. Second, they share a deep admiration for General Peay’s service to the Institute which he thoroughly transformed, and not just in terms of its physical plant, but, more importantly, its culture.”

All aspects of the Peay Endowment have drawn considerable support from the VMI family. So far, however, the Peay Chairs have garnered the most, and now 11 faculty members across the disciplines hold these chairs.

The Institute’s faculty are renowned for their dedication to improving the academic enterprise and for their devotion to cadets, a devotion that has transformed countless lives. These chairs are a means by which VMI can recruit, reward, and retain faculty, according to the 2023 Annual Report of the Peay Endowment, “whose accomplishments in the domains of teaching, cadet development, research, and citizenship are of the highest order, and whose influence on the lives of cadets is profound and lifelong.”

Jumper credits a large part of this success to the decision of the Jackson-Hope Fund Board of Overseers to consolidate chairs established under its auspices with the Peay Chairs program. “I give a lot of credit to the leaders of the Jackson-Hope Fund, such as G.G. Phillips Jr. ’60, for this change, which considerably reduced the administrative burden.”

Slater recalls that when he was a cadet, having an alumnus as a professor was not a rare thing. “Some departments had several, and many of the true legends among our faculty were alumni. They had a feel for the place, and they understood the value of the way VMI did things.”

The goal of the Peay Fellows program is to increase the number of alumni on the faculty by funding 2 years of graduate study for those alumni who have demonstrated the ability, passion, and potential to succeed as college-level faculty and then 2-year terms as instructors-in-residence.

Jumper said, “This program has been more than 10 years in the making. Many people have been trying to find a way to get more alumni onto the faculty while not interfering with the ongoing quest for faculty excellence.”

Brig. Gen. Robert Moreschi, Ph.D., deputy superintendent for academics and dean of the faculty, said of the program’s value, “It demonstrates to current cadets a career path they might not have envisioned for themselves. Donnie and Phil—both of whom are Institute Honors graduates—can talk to cadets about their respective journeys from graduation to commissioning to graduate school. For faculty and staff, having alumni in a department adds a voice to conversations about the VMI experience that is an insider’s view of cadet life, and that is certainly valuable to new employees but also long-time employees.”

Asked about the program’s goals, Slater replied, “I am glad this program is off the ground. In the longer term, I’d love to have 20% of the faculty be alumni, and we now have the method and the means to do it.”

Administered as part of the Institute Honors program, the Peay Merit Scholarships now support eight cadets. To qualify for one of the scholarships, however, the applicants—whether current cadets or aspiring rats—must not only be highly qualified academically but also have demonstrated leadership and a commitment to national service and participated in organized athletics at an elevated level.

According to Moreschi, the scholarship aids in the Institute’s efforts to attract the best young people to VMI. “As the scholarship is a full ride, it allows VMI to better compete for students who might otherwise attend one of the federal service academies or another senior military college. Furthermore, by augmenting our existing merit scholarships, we can make VMI more affordable to additional deserving students.”

Finally, the endowment’s Academic Excellence Fund provides the dean with additional resources to take advantage of new opportunities, reinforce successes, and meet critical needs within the other three components of the Peay Endowment. “General Moreschi works this fund very hard to get the most out of it,” Jumper said. “Wherever he uses it, it certainly helps keep the entire program on track.”

As to the future, the fundraising goal is simple but ambitious: More than double the current size of the endowment to $125 million. “Right now, we’re on the right track,” said Slater. “But there’s a lot more to do, and, therefore, there’s a need for a lot more money.”

When asked how they’d “pitch” the endowment to a potential donor, Slater and Jumper stressed the endowment’s overall goals. “Anyone who is interested in honoring all that General Peay did for VMI and thousands of cadets should know that he appreciates this effort deeply and that any and all support of the endowment means a great deal to him,” replied Jumper.

Slater said, “It’s all about keeping our competitive edge sharp. We need the best faculty to prepare our cadets for their chosen careers. When I was in barracks, I knew two men who became Rhodes Scholars—Si Bunting ’63 and Bob Randolph ’67. In the future, I’d like all cadets and alumni to be able to say something like that. So, we need to make sure we won’t lose high-quality young people to the service academies or other prestigious schools. Overall, I applaud where VMI’s academic program is today. But let’s not get complacent. Let’s not let up. Let’s keep pushing.”