Appendix A Commission Member Biographies
The president appointed 12 members, all drawn from the faculty, staff, students and alumni:
Chair
Brian C. Murchison
Brian C. Murchison is the Charles S. Rowe Professor in the School of Law. He graduated from Yale College in 1974 and then spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Benin, West Africa. He met his wife, Ann, a fellow Peace Corps teacher, in Benin. He returned to Yale for law school and practiced at a firm in Washington, D.C. In 1982, he joined the W&L Law faculty. He administered the Frances Lewis Law Center, the Law School's research arm, and he co-founded the Black Lung Legal Clinic. He was Acting Dean of the Law School in 2006-07. His main writings have been about the First Amendment. He is a member of ODK. He has participated regularly in the Law and Literature Weekend Seminars for the Alumni College. He and his wife have three grown children in the D.C. area.
Faculty
Ted DeLaney '85; Melissa R. Kerin; Thomas Camden '76
Theodore C. (Ted) DeLaney is a native of Lexington who grew up riding his bicycle on the Washington and Lee University campus. He attended and graduated from Lylburn Downing School in Lexington, when it had grades 1 through 12 and was all-black. In 1962 he did a brief stint in a Franciscan monastery before returning to Lexington in search of a job. He began working at W&L in August 1963, only two months before his 20th birthday. That first year he had a job as a janitor, but the Biology Department soon hired and trained him as a laboratory technician. After working on campus about 17 years, he began taking courses part time, and in 1983 became a full-time W&L student. At the time of his graduation, Ted was 41 years old. Subsequently, he taught United States history at The Asheville School for three years before pursuing a doctorate in American history at the College of William and Mary. Ted was an A.B.D. fellow at W&L from 1991 to 1993 before taking a teaching job at the State University of New York at Geneseo. He joined the W&L history faculty in 1995 and has served a five-year term as department head. Ted's son and daughter-in-law are both alumni of the W&L Law School. His wife, Patricia, is treasurer of the City of Lexington, an elective office she has held since 1975.
Melissa R. Kerin is an associate professor of art history whose primary field of research is the art and material culture of South Asia from the medieval and modern periods. Along with a number of articles and chapters, Kerin has authored two books. Her third book project, under contract with Oxford University Press, is an edited volume analyzing the ethical treatment of cultural heritage in the U.S., South Asia and the Middle East. She is currently finishing a manuscript, Bodies of Offerings: The Materiality and Vitality of Tibetan Shrines, which received an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (2014-15) and Howard Foundation Fellowship (2018-19). Since joining the faculty of Washington and Lee's Art and Art History Department in 2011, Kerin has taught a range of courses related to the interconnections among art, religion, memory and identity. Kerin holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School.
Tom Camden, associate professor and head of Special Collections and University Archives, serves as a steward of Washington and Lee's documentary heritage. Tom, whose family settled in Rockbridge County in the 1760s, is a 1976 graduate of Washington and Lee with a degree in religion, and holds advanced degrees from the University of Tennessee and the Modern Archives Institute at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the Georgia Certified Public Manager Program as well as of the Commonwealth Management Institute, the Office of Public Policy Training at the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. After 12 years in Virginia state government, Tom returned to Washington and Lee and his current position in January 2013.
Students
Elizabeth Mugo '19; Daniele San Román '19L; Heeth Varnedoe '19
Elizabeth Mugo is a rising senior who calls both Ruiru, Kenya, and Irmo, South Carolina, home. She is a sociology and anthropology major with a double minor in Africana studies and poverty and human capability studies. Elizabeth has served as a member of the University Committee on Inclusiveness and Campus Climate (UCICC), co-vice president and co-president of the Student Association for Black Unity (SABU), a member of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) Advisory Board, and an Owings Fellow. As a member and senior intern in the Bonner Program, a co-curricular community engagement program, she has served with various community partners and service organizations such as the Rockbridge Area Community Anti-Racism Effort (CARE), College Access, and the Burish Intern Program at Rockbridge County High School. Elizabeth is also a member of Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK). This past year, Elizabeth held the position of vice president of the Executive Committee, and she now serves as president.
Daniele San Román is a rising third-year law student from Long Island, New York. She holds a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Pennsylvania State University. Daniele has served as a student representative on the Law School Task Force and as a Kirgis Fellow, providing mentorship and guidance to first-year law students. Throughout her time at W&L, she has served as a hearing advisor and a Law Ambassador, giving tours to prospective students. Daniele was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) this past year.
Heeth Varnedoe is a rising senior from Thomasville, Georgia. Heeth is an economics major and poverty studies minor. For the past three years, Heeth has served as his class's representative to the Executive Committee. Heeth is a member of Kathekon and has served on the Quality Enhancement Plan selection task force. He is also heavily involved in Washington and Lee's Shepherd Poverty Program, where he serves as a pre-orientation trip leader for the Volunteer Venture program. Heeth is a member of Chi Psi fraternity and Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK).
Staff
Mary Main; Trenya Mason '05L
Mary Main, the executive director of Human Resources, is responsible for the administration of the university's compensation and benefit programs, talent management and workforce development, workplace policies and employee relations. She serves as co-chair of the University Committee on Inclusiveness and Campus Climate (UCICC), and as a member of the university's Employee Benefits Committee, the Retirement Plan Investment Committee, the Steering Committee of the Strategic Plan, and the Diversity Sub-committee of the Steering Committee. Additionally, Mary serves on the Southern U.S. Region Board of the College and University Professional Association of Human Resources (CUPA-HR). She holds a master's degree in public administration/HR from Drake University and a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University. Prior to arriving at W&L two years ago, Mary served for nine years as assistant vice president for human resources at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
Trenya Mason holds a B.A. in political science and Afro-American studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law. She joined W&L Law in 2015 as the assistant dean of Law Student Affairs, where she provides management support and leadership in all areas of law student life and culture, and serves as the primary point of contact for law student-related matters. She currently serves on a number of university committees, including as one of three chairs of the Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Board, on the QEP Selection Task Force, on the Strategic Planning Student Life Task Force, on the Campus Kitchen Advisory Board, on the Diversity & First-Gen Working Group, on the Student Affairs Committee, and on the staff search committees. Prior to joining W&L Law, Trenya practiced consumer bankruptcy law in Alexandria, Virginia, and Richmond, Virginia, serving clients in both northern and central Virginia. Trenya's professional memberships include the Virginia State Bar, the American Bar Association, Corporate Counsel for Women of Color, and the National Association of Law School Affairs Professionals.
Alumni
Cynthia Cheatham '07; Mike McGarry '87; Phil Norwood '69
Cynthia Cheatham graduated with a B.A. in politics and Spanish and participated in the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability. She returned to her hometown of Washington, D.C., and continued her studies at Georgetown University, receiving an M.A. from the School of Foreign Service with a focus on Latin American studies and government. She has worked in politics and human rights, and currently manages a career development program for underrepresented students in the United States and a similar program based in Latin America at the Society for Neuroscience. As a student at W&L, Cynthia was on the leadership team of English for Speakers of Other Languages, head resident assistant, and vice-president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and received the Holleman Fellowship. As an alumna, she has just completed her fourth year as a member of the Alumni Board of Directors; joined the steering committee for the 2009 and 2017 Black Alumni Reunions; participated on several career panels; and attended the 2018 Women's Leadership Summit as a facilitator.
Mike McGarry was a member of SAE and founding member and later president of Kathekon during his time at Washington and Lee University. Since graduation, Mike has served Washington and Lee as a class agent, reunion committee member, and alumni admission chair for the Charlotte Alumni Chapter. Mike is a member of the Alumni Board of Directors and the immediate past president of the Alumni Association. Along with four other alumni, Mike helped found the George Maxwell McGrew Scholarship. Mike and his wife, B. Lee, have two daughters, both of whom graduated from Washington and Lee.
Philip Norwood, of Charlotte, North Carolina, received a B.A. with honors in English. He continued his education at Duke (M.A.) and the University of Georgia School of Law (J.D. cum laude). Following several years in the private practice of law, in 1980 Norwood began a career as a commercial real estate executive, serving as CEO of three different development, acquisition, management and leasing organizations. He currently serves as chair of Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, a real estate, alternative energy and infrastructure company headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. He has served in a number of volunteer positions over the past 30 years at W&L, first as class agent and 25th reunion chair, then as a member of the Williams School Advisory Board. He was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1996 and served for 12 years, the last five as rector. He recently served as co-chair of the Honor Our Past, Build Our Future capital campaign and is a co-chair of his class's upcoming 50th reunion.