New Trustee sees support of Randolph as a way to honor his late business partner and friend

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of stories featuring the five new members of Randolph College's Board of Trustees.

Keith Evans’ connection to Randolph College began decades ago when he heard about the institution from his late business partner, mentor, and friend, Bob Brammer. Brammer, who served as a trustee for the College, and his wife, Dot, endowed a memorial scholarship in the name of their daughter, Lee Brammer May ’80, who passed away just years after graduating from R-MWC.

Evans, who lives in Shreveport, LA, is one of five new members of Randolph College’s Board of Trustees. He serves as the chairman of the board and president of Brammer Engineering, Inc., an oil and gas operating, consulting, and service company. Evans began his career with Shell Oil Company before joining Brammer in 1982.

In 1995, Evans purchased the company from Brammer and has continued to support the Lee Brammer May ’80 Memorial Scholarship. He sees his service on Randolph’s Board as another way to honor his late friend and mentor. “I thought the opportunity to serve on the Randolph Board was a great way for me to pay tribute to Bob and his family and to meet new people and be a small part of a great institution,” Evans said.

Evans earned a B.S. in petroleum engineering from Louisiana State University in 1980 and is a registered professional engineer in Louisiana and Texas. He is married to fellow LSU alumna Karen Oden Evans. The Evans are the proud parents of their son, John, and his wife, Meredith, and daughters Emily and Rebecca. A history buff, Evans has a special interest in the American Civil War and enjoys traveling to Virginia to visit the state's many historic sites.

He sees great potential in Randolph’s future. “The best thing about the College is its potential to grow and prosper in the future,” he said. “The energy I felt while I attended my first Board meeting was wonderful. It’s obvious to me that good things are happening at Randolph.

“The College has been through some challenging times in the last several years where many tough decisions had to be made,” he added. “The culture has certainly changed with the transition to a coed institution, but now the school is on a great path towards stability and growth. There undoubtedly will be more challenges ahead, but the opportunities for continued growth and success are real. I look forward to helping move the College to the next level.”

During his visits to campus, Evans has been impressed with Randolph’s community. “The people associated with the College are phenomenal. From John Klein and his wife, Susan, to the Board of Trustees, senior staff, faculty, staff, and students, all the folks that I have met are wonderful. The campus is very special too. We have a great combination of resources to build a future on, and that’s exciting. “

Open house participants invited to homecoming

This weekend’s Open House at Randolph College includes a unique opportunity for prospective students to participate in the College’s homecoming festivities.

The open house begins at 1 p.m. with registration, refreshments, and campus tours starting in Main Hall. Starting at 2:30 p.m., the event will include a variety of opportunities to learn about Randolph, including a student panel about life at the College and an information session about admissions, scholarships, and financial aid.

When the open house concludes at 5 p.m., all participants are invited to attend Homecoming at WildCat Stadium. The women’s soccer Homecoming game vs. Hollins University will be in its second half at 5 p.m. At 5:45, visitors can witness the spectacle of the College’s annual Chariot Race, in which student teams from each class race around the track in homemade “chariots.”

Homecoming also includes a men’s soccer game vs. Shenandoah University, music by Randolph’s student-run radio station the WWRM, a tailgate party with food vendors, and a beer garden serving beer and wine (to guests 21 and older, of course). At 9 p.m., festivities wrap up with the Homecoming Bonfire in the recreation area next to Houston Memorial Chapel.

Prospective Randolph students from schools across the United States have signed up for Saturday's Open House. You can still register online.

If you can’t make it this weekend, there are two more opportunities this fall. You can register for an Open Campus Day on November 6 (Election Day) and meet professors and students as you attend a class, or another Open House at on November 10. Also, you can set up a personal time to visit when it is best for your schedule the best.

Student Center Renovation Update: October 18, 2012

New decking, electrical wiring, and gorgeous fall views are featured on the latest photo slideshow of the Student Center renovation. The $6 million renovation project is expected to be completed by the time students return for the spring semester.

Check out the slideshow here: http://web.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter/slideshow/oct18/index.html or look at full coverage of the renovation process at www.randolphcollege.edu/studentcenter.

A view of the second floor from the old Skeller.

Decking is being installed on the exterior of the building.

Gaming team provides new venue for intercollegiate competition

By Tory Brown ’13
College Relations Intern

Randolph College now has a team that competes in video game tournaments against other colleges, and a club for anyone who enjoys playing video games.

Tim Fowler ’13, a psychology major, is the captain of the gaming team as well as president of the gaming club. “I wanted to bring all types of gamers together,” Fowler said. “There is a lot of fun in people coming together to play games.”

Before starting the gaming club and gaming team, Fowler played professionally in tournaments of StarCraft II, one of the main games played by the current team. When he found a group of willing gamers who were interested in creating a team on campus, Fowler researched a collegiate league for them to compete in. The team chose to join the Collegiate Starleague, which allows them to balance schoolwork, practice time, and other activities.

During the fall semester of 2011, Fowler decided to create an official club out of the informal team that had started. The club membership includes students who enjoy playing video games but do not play in intercollegiate competitions. The team also started competing in League of Legends, allowing more members to join the gaming team.

Last year, the team played both StarCraft II and League of Legends in tournaments against other colleges. Their success was mixed, although they did pull off a victory against the U.S. Naval Academy and West Point University.  Other than those matches, “We didn’t do that well, mostly because the team didn’t have a lot of practice time so that we could mesh and know each other’s tendencies” said Michael Harris ’13.

This year, the team is becoming more organized, which students believe will help them improve. The team has already started to play League of Legends and will begin competing in the StarCraft II season soon.

The gaming club has held tournaments in Super Smash Brothers that combined members of the team and the club. Both groups welcome new members. If you want to know more, email Fowler at tjfowler@randolphcollege.edu.

Candy Crowley ’70 takes strong role in presidential debate

Alumna Candy Crowley ’70 shined before a national audience Tuesday night as she moderated the second presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. For more than 90 minutes, she guided a conversation between President Barack Obama, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and an audience of undecided voters at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

Crowley, CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor of State of the Union with Candy Crowley, was tasked with moderating a town hall presidential debate—a challenging format that requires the moderator to manage questions from the audience, answers from the candidates, and any verbal sparring that results as the candidates clash.

Crowley made a strong showing in the debate after some feared that her role, as the first woman to moderate a presidential debate in 20 years, would be limited to inviting audience members to ask their questions. Although both presidential campaigns had agreed not to allow her to pose her own questions, she inserted herself into the debate, forcing each candidate to address issues in the questions and reigning in the discussion when it strayed far from the intended topics.

That power came in part because of her decision to stand during the debate, although initial plans would have given her a chair. “It is so hard to take command of a stage when you’re sitting down and they’re towering over you,” she said in a post-debate interview on CNN. “When I came in and saw this stage, I said, I want to stand. I want to stand up so we’re on the same level.”

When a question about gas prices turned into a debate about overall energy policy, Crowley directed the President back to the central question. “I can tell you that tomorrow morning, a lot of people in Hempstead will wake up and fill up, and they will find that the price of gas is over $4 a gallon,” Crowley said. “Is it within the purview of the government to bring those prices down, or are we looking at the new normal?”

Later, when Romney charged that Obama had blamed the Sept. 11 attacks against the American consulate in Libya on an Internet video instead of calling it a terrorist attack, Crowley helped to move the conversation forward by adding clarification. “(Obama) did call it an act of terror,” she told Romney. “It did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that.”

One of the teenagers who led an effort to ask the Commission on Presidential Debates to select a woman as a moderator this year praised Crowley for a strong performance in the debate. Emma Axelrod wrote for the Poynter Institute:

In my life, I never saw a woman on that stage acting as an authority over the two most potentially powerful men in America. That is, until Tuesday night. … Crowley was a great choice. I loved her follow-ups and thought she did a sound job of keeping the candidates under control.

After the debate, Crowley appeared in late night and early morning shows to talk about the experience and analyze the outcomes of the event. Although her schedule is currently dominated with election coverage, Crowley and the College are working to schedule a visit to campus so she can share insights with current Randolph students.

Clash of the Classes 2012 begins: fun, fundraising, and competition

It’s time to pull out your loose change, practice your bean bag toss, build your chariot, and listen carefully to lyrics on the radio to help your class win this year’s Clash of the Classes.

This annual competition leading up to Homecoming begins today as students return from Fall Break, and this year there is a new contest that will raise money for Special Olympics.

Penny Drive
Wednesday–Friday, Cheatham Dining Hall
Each class at Randolph—the classes of 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016—has a Penny Drive bucket in Cheatham Dining Hall. Money dropped into the buckets will be donated to the Special Olympics of Central Virginia, but the class that wins will have to use some strategy: Your class gets points for each penny dropped in its bucket, but it loses points for every higher-value coin dropped in.

So in order to win, drop pennies into your class’s bucket, and nickels, quarters, and dimes into the buckets of your opponents.

There are other great contests throughout this week. Each competition, other than the chariot race on Saturday, earns 400 points towards the victory.

Sign Up

Help your class win the victory in the 2012 Clash of the Classes.
Sign up for any of the competitions by contacting Jamie Chagnon, sports information director. Last minute sign ups will be accepted, but if no one from your class steps forward, you lose that chance to win the points!

Dance Contest
Wednesday, intermission of the WildCat Volleyball vs. Hollins University
One member of each class will dance, and the crowd will select the best dancer. Come cheer and vote for your dancing classmate, or volunteer to dance yourself.

Finish the Lyric
Thursday at noon, Cheatham Dining Hall
Do you know popular songs? Are you always singing along, quoting lyrics, or listening to music? You could help your class win this contest of wits and memory. This contest will challenge participants to hear a few words from a popular song and recite the rest of the lyric.

Bean bag Toss Contest
Friday, intermission of WildCat Volleyball vs. Bridgewater College
Each class can have a team of two people toss beanbags towards a target to score points.

Fourth Annual Chariot Race
Saturday during Homecoming, WildCat Stadium
This is the main event, with thousands of points at stake. Each class can enter one team with a homemade “chariot”—in the past the chariots have been anything from trash cans to toilets mounted on wheels. One team member will ride the chariot as the others pull it for a race around the track. The winning class gets 2,500 points, with lower scores given to the other teams.

Carol Haley '70 sees opportunity to serve on Randolph's Board of Trustees as another way to give back to her alma mater

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of features on the five new members of the Randolph College Board of Trustees.

Carol Haley ’70 knows she would not be where she is today without the influence of others in her life. When the opportunity to serve on Randolph College’s Board of Trustees presented itself to her, she knew it was another chance to give back to an institution that made a significant difference for her.

“I’ve been fortunate in my adult life, and I attribute much of my success to the College,” she said recently. “In the ‘60s, when I was a student, women were not encouraged to enter the sciences or to obtain advanced degrees,” Haley added. “R-MWC, on the other hand, offered us the opportunity to follow our interests--in my case, science--in a close-knit community of faculty and other students where our abilities were never questioned, but instead nurtured and honed. We were pushed to always do our best. That learning environment provided me with skills and confidence that have served me well in my personal and professional life.”

Haley, who is from New York, N.Y., graduated from R-MWC with a biology degree. She currently serves as a director of regulatory affairs with Pfizer, Inc. She completed her graduate work in biology and earned her M.S. from Old Dominion University and her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. Her career background has included positions with a global corporation, federal and state government agencies (including a stint at the Smithsonian), and in teaching, and she hopes to apply that experience to her work on the Board.

Haley has long been involved in the College. She currently volunteers as a class agent and recently served as the secretary for the College’s Alumnae/Alumni Association Board. She is excited to be a part of the College’s future.

“The College is definitely on the upswing,” she said. “This is an exciting time to be a part of developing the future direction of the school.”

One of her favorite experiences has been meeting current students. At her first Board meeting in October, Haley had a wonderful conversation with a student about life at Randolph. “Things are different,” she said. “But we had so many shared experiences. That is one of the things that I have always loved about being an alumna from this school. Whenever you run into someone, it doesn’t matter how old the person is, you are always able to relate to them. That is still the same, and it tells me the legacy of the school is being carried forward. That is so important to us as alumnae.”

Haley is excited about the chance to give back to her alma mater. “It is an honor to be chosen to serve on the Board,” she said. “I wholeheartedly embrace this responsibility and will do my best to do a good job for the school.”