94-02-01 Brown Family Gift Endows Residential College at U.Va.

BROWN FAMILY GIFT ENDOWS RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE AT U.VA.

       CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 1 -- The University of Virginia
has received a gift of more than $2.5 million to endow its first
residential college, President John T. Casteen III has announced.
       Board of Visitors member and alumnus W.L. Lyons Brown Jr.;
his mother, Sara Shallenberger Brown; the W.L. Lyons Brown
Foundation; Brown-Forman Corporation and other members of the
Brown family have established the endowment in memory of four
relatives who attended the University from the turn of the
century to 1932.  Brown, a 1958 graduate of the University,
chairs the board's committee on student affairs and athletics.
       Casteen said the gift assures that the college, started as
an experiment eight years ago, will become a permanent community
of approximately 300 students and faculty who live, study and
dine together.  Five faculty live at the college, and about 40
others are affiliated as fellows.
       "With this gift, the Brown family has ensured that future
students here will have access to a way of life built on Thomas
Jefferson's vision for the original academical village," Casteen
said.
       In recognition of the gift, one of the largest so far in the
University's capital campaign, the college will be called Brown
College, Casteen said.  Monroe Hill House, an early 19th-century
home on property once owned by James Monroe, will continue as the
principal's residence.
       Income from the Brown endowment is expected to cover the
college's annual operating expenses and eventually to support
expansion of its academic programs and visiting fellowships.  It
will also establish a library reading room specializing in
environmental topics, to be named in honor of Sara Shallenberger
Brown.  Mrs. Brown, a long-time supporter of environmental
research and conservation, is a former director of the National
Audubon Society, a governor emeritus of the Nature Conservancy
and was honored by the Garden Club of America for national
service in conservation.    
       Academic programs, ranging from formal courses to
spontaneous discussion groups, have been an integral part of the
college since its beginning, according to co-principals Maruta
and Benjamin Ray.  Maruta Ray is a dean in the College of Arts
and Sciences and a professor of German; her husband is a
professor of religious studies.
       In addition to the Rays, other faculty residing in the
college include Carl Trindle, an associate professor of chemistry
who is director of studies and who teaches seminars for college
residents; Tom Scanlan, an assistant professor of English; and
Elizabeth Cooley, a Claude Moore Health Sciences librarian.
       Although the residence halls on Monroe Hill became U.Va.'s
first modern residential college in 1986, the site's roots
predate the University.  First patented in 1735 by Abraham Lewis,
the property was acquired by James Monroe in 1790.  A small
building at the south end was built by Monroe in that year and
was his law office until 1799.  The University, which purchased
the property in 1817, will continue to emphasize Brown College's
links to Monroe Hill.
       More than 525 students have applied for the approximately
100 spaces that will be available in the college next fall.                  
         
       The New College, U.Va.'s second residential community of 520
students, opened in the fall of 1992.  Others are planned as part
of the University's Plan for the Year 2000.
                                              ###
                                                                             
January 31, 1994

[Submitted by: Karen A. Castle  (kac@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu)
               Thu, 3 Feb 94 09:32:45 EST]