Exciting things are happening at Virginia Wesleyan University — and they have been for quite a while. The school, located on an idyllic campus in Virginia Beach, has made no secret of its ambition to be a leader in both higher education and civic affairs for residents of Hampton Roads.
This week brought a major development on that front. VWU announced plans this week to rebrand as Batten University in July to honor a family with deep ties to the region and a laudable record of philanthropic investments in higher education. The university’s name will change, but its commitment to improving lives throughout the region remains steadfast.
Sixty-six years have passed since plans coalesced to launch a private four-year liberal arts college in south Hampton Roads. Joseph Johnston, a Methodist minister and the first president of Virginia Wesleyan College, was the driving force behind an effort that would not have succeeded without considerable public support and regional buy-in.
Milestones accrued — the college’s first students enrolled in 1966, its first commencement took place in 1970 — as the institution found its footing and refined its focus. Those were energetic times for higher education in Hampton Roads — Old Dominion University in Norfolk became independent of William & Mary in 1962; Christopher Newport University in Newport News was founded in 1960 — but Virginia Wesleyan firmly established its place and laid the foundation for its future success.
Scott Miller became the school’s fourth president in 2015 and things have changed rapidly in the decade since he took the helm, including the elevation to university status in 2017. VWU launched an honors college in 2016, opened the Greer Environmental Sciences Center in 2017, established a collaborative campus in Tokyo in 2020, and announced in 2023 that the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art would relocate to the campus.
Those achievements were possible, either in total or in part, due to the generosity of the Batten family, whose gifts to the university reflect a long-standing commitment to improving higher education.
Frank Batten, the former publisher of The Virginian-Pilot, chairman of Landmark Communications and founder of the Weather Channel, and his wife Jane P. Batten established themselves as supporters of several schools — among them the University of Virginia and William & Mary — before Frank’s death in 2009.
Jane Batten has continued and expanded that legacy, with a particular focus on Virginian Wesleyan. She joined the school’s Board of Trustees in 1981, telling The Washington Post that she “became convinced of the promise of this place that, even in its earliest days, was known for really strong teaching.”
Her name, and that of her family, is all over the school’s campus, including the Jane P. Batten Student Center, the Jane P. Batten & David R. Black School for International Studies and the Batten Honors College. By some estimates, she has given more than $150 million to VWU over the years.
Naturally, she prefers to focus on the effect of those donations rather than their sums. The Battens’ support has allowed the school to expand its focus on environmental stewardship and sustainability and funded scholarships and other programming that opened the door to a college education for countless students.
Come July, those decades of support will be honored when the school adopts its new name, Batten University. While there is precedent for such a change — Post reporting highlighted Rowan University, formerly Glassboro State, in New Jersey and Trine University, formerly Tri State University, in Indiana as schools that have similarly honored generous benefactors — it does represent a bold gamble, one that is likely to alienate a subset of their alumni who are justifiably proud of what VWU represents.
At Wednesday’s event, Batten addressed those concerns, saying, “I promise that our over 60-year history and heritage is not being abandoned. We’re building on our Methodist ethic of service and education.”
More than six decades since the first seed was planted, Virginia Wesleyan has blossomed into an institution known for providing students a quality education and serving as an influential voice in the community. As Batten University, that mission will continue, and Hampton Roads is the better for it.