Development and Alumni Relations Welcome New Director Of Major Gifts & Assistant Director of Alumni Relations

Chestertown, MD, December 22, 2003 — The Washington College Office of Development and Alumni and Parent Relations has announced the appointment of two new staffers this December. E. Deal Tompkins will join the department as Director of Major Gifts and alumnus Gehrett W. Ellis '93 assumes the position of Assistant Director of Alumni & Parent Relations.

Tompkins is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, VA, and has done extensive masters program work at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He currently resides in Roanoke, VA, and will relocate to the Chestertown area.

Bill MacIntosh, Vice President for Development and Alumni and Parent Relations, noted that Tompkins' 30 years of experience in higher education, especially his extensive development activities at small liberal arts colleges, will boost the College's advancement efforts in the area of major gifts.

“Deal brings a broad professional background to our Development Office, ranging from admissions to planned giving and major gifts,” said MacIntosh. “We very much look forward to working with him and to his future successes here.”

After earning his B.A. in psychology from Randolph-Macon College, Tompkins started his academic career as a teacher in Roanoke, VA, followed by positions in admissions at Randolph-Macon. Following a five-year stint as owner and president of the family's hardware business, he began in earnest his higher education fundraising experience with planned giving and capital and planned gifts positions at Randolph-Macon and later at Sweet Briar College. His responsibilities at Washington College will include the identification, cultivation and solicitation of major gifts prospects, providing stewardship to this constituency, managing a significant portfolio of major donors, devising development strategies for prospects and current major donors, and working closely with the other senior members of the Development Office. He starts in February 2004.

In addition to Tompkins, alumnus Gehrett W. Ellis '93 has been welcomed to the WC Development team as the Assistant Director of Alumni & Parent Relations.

“I know he is very eager to work for Washington College at this time and he will be a welcomed addition to our office,” said Eleanor Shriver Magee '93, Director of Alumni & Parent Relations.

Ellis earned a B.A. in humanities from Washington College in 1993, graduating with departmental honors and achieving honors on his thesis. At graduation, he received the Clark-Porter Medal, awarded annually by the faculty to the senior whose character and personal integrity have most clearly enhanced the quality of campus life. As a student-leader, he served on the Student Conduct Council, the Senior Class Gift Committee, and was a member of The Elm staff. Upon completing graduate work at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, Ellis began a successful career in the technology/internet industry and served as project and product manager for companies in Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, where he worked for CDNow, the former number one online music retailer. In addition, Ellis has done considerable volunteer work, fundraising and publicity for the creative and fine arts community of Philadelphia. Most recently, Ellis lived in England pursuing interests outside of the technology/internet industry. Ellis' duties will include organizing and managing the College's phonathon, overseeing the matching gift program, event planning, and constituent relations. He assumes his duties in January 2004.

“I welcome both Deal and Gehrett to our team,” said MacIntosh. “They join Washington College at a very exciting time, and their energy and efforts will greatly contribute to the unprecedented growth we are experiencing.”

WC English Lecturer Erin Murphy Nominated For Prestigious Pushcart Literary Prize

Chestertown, MD, December 4, 2003 — Erin Murphy, a Lecturer in English at Washington College, has been nominated for a 2003 Pushcart Prize for her poem “Studies,” published in the August 2003 issue of the poetry journal Red River Review. A 1990 graduate of the College, Murphy recently took Second Place in the 2003 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award competition, received Second Place honors in the 2003 Literal Latte Poetry Awards, and was a finalist for this year's Pablo Neruda Award.

“Studies” is a poem in two voices that deals with the clinical and personal aspects of Alzheimer's disease. The editors of Red River Review gave it the journal's “highest possible ranking” and voted to nominate it for this year's Pushcart Prize.

The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses series has been published every year since 1976 and is one of the most honored literary projects in America. Small press journal and book editors can make up to six nominations from their year's publications by the December 1 deadline. Hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in the pages of the annual Pushcart collections. Writers who were first noticed in their pages include Raymond Carver, Tim O'Brien, Jayne Anne Phillips, Susan Minot, John Irving, and Philip Lopate.

Murphy, who served as Creative Writing Editor for the 2003 issue of the Washington College Review, acknowledges her excitement about the nomination.

“I don't write poems for the money or the glory, although it's certainly thrilling when an honor such as the Pushcart nomination comes along,” she said. “I have a thing for language and poetry the way mechanics have a thing for cars. I like to get under the hood of a poem and tinker with words, see what I can make them do. Whatever the outcome, the Pushcart nomination will rev me up to write even more.”

New Online Admissions Guide Recognizes Washington College As A College Of Distinction

Companion Guidebook to Website to be Released in 2004

Chestertown, MD, December 4, 2003 — In recognition of its tradition of teaching excellence and successful alumni, Washington College has been selected as a College of Distinction by a new online guide. The Colleges of Distinction website and forthcoming guidebook, to be published in 2004, offer consumers an honest, insider's look at a wide variety of very different schools, each with a national reputation for excellence, and profile the best bets in higher education today as designated by a committee of educators, college admissions professionals and high school counselors.

According to the guide's creator, Wes Creel, “four distinctions” were emphasized to select the 120 schools profiled in Colleges of Distinction: engaged students, great teaching, vibrant community and successful outcomes.

“Our guide asks: Which colleges are the best places to learn, to grow and to succeed?” Creel said. “The answers might surprise you. You'll find both prominent names and ‘hidden gems' on our list. What they have in common is their excellent reputation among high school guidance counselors and education professionals, not to mention employers and graduate schools. Their classrooms are among the most exciting in the country, and their programs are some of the most innovative.”

“We are very proud of this honor,” said Dr. John S. Toll, President of Washington College. “It reaffirms our commitment to a small student/faculty ratio, to engaged learning and research opportunities for students, and to teaching that inspires our students and transforms their lives. Truly, those are the distinctions that set us apart.”

Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The College has been recognized by The Princeton Review as one of The Best Mid-Atlantic Colleges and by Washington Post education columnist Jay Matthews as one of the “Hidden Gems” in higher education.

For more information about Colleges of Distinction, visit www.collegesofdistinction.com.

Washington College Announces Spring 2004 Graduate Courses In English, History And Psychology

Chestertown, MD, December 2, 2003 — Students, teachers and mental healthcare professionals are invited to register for Spring Semester 2004 graduate courses at Washington College. The College offers Master of Arts degrees in English, History and Psychology that can help to meet requirements for advanced professional certifications. The Spring 2004 term runs January 19 to May 6. The following courses will be offered:

ENG 597-10 Ritual Unbound: Reading Sacrifice in Modernist Fiction, Thursday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
ENG 597-11 International Fiction, Tuesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
HIS 598-10 Victorian England, Wednesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
HIS 598-11 Economic History of Medieval Europe, Tuesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
HIS 599-10 Interwar U.S. Foreign Relations, Thursday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
PSY 508-10 Research Methods and Advanced Statistics, Monday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
PSY 541-10 Dynamics of Group Interaction, Tuesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
PSY 571-10 Advanced Counseling, Monday, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
PSY 598-10 Human Sexuality, Wednesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.

For complete information on Washington College's graduate course offerings, including detailed course descriptions and registration forms, visit http://grad.washcoll.edu. All Spring Semester classes will be held on Washington College's Chestertown campus. Students must pre-register by December 20 to guarantee texts. The Bookstore will be open 6:00-7:00 p.m. January 19-22, 2004, for students to purchase texts. Graduate tuition is $750 per course plus a non-refundable course registration fee of $50. A late registration fee of $150 per course will be assessed to students who register after the first week of classes. Pre-registration forms will be accepted at the Registrar's Office in person; by mail at Registrar's Office, Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620; by phone at 410-778-7299; or by fax at 410-810-7159.

Although only one course completed prior to admission to Washington College's graduate program will count toward the Master's degree, students may take an unlimited number of courses without making an application. For admissions information and materials, please contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at 410-810-7131.