THE INSTITUTE REPORT Volume XV August 28, 1987 Numberl An occasional publication of the Public Information Office, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia 24450. Tel. (703) 463-6207. Corps to Hear ucture on AIDS The Corps ofCadets will have an important opportunity next week to hear a noted University of Virginia physician talk to them on the realities ofAcquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the deadly viral disease that kills by destroying the body's ability to fight illnesses. Dr. Richard Keeling, a hematologist at the University of Virginia H?spital and director ofthe University's Student Health Department, wIll address the Corps on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 7:30p.m. in Cameron Hall. The program is also open to faculty and staff. As chairman of the American College Health Association's task force on AIDS, Dr. Keeling is a national figure in the effort to educate the nation's college-age population about the deadly virus. In the last two years, the Tidewater Virginia native, who is married and the father of three, has conducted seminars at more than 100 nationwide colleges and universities. He is a 1969 graduate ofthe University of Virginia Joseph M. Spivey, III Bruce B. Cameron and received his medical degree at Thfts University. Spivey Named Board of Visitors President SAT Scores Show Marked Increase Joseph M. Spivey, III, a Richmond attorney with the state's largest law firm, Hunton and Williams, has been elected president ofthe VMI College Board scores for VMI's 407 new cadets, who matriculated Board of Visitors, whose members also selected business executive Aug. 19, represent the highest differential ever between the national Bruce B. Cameron, of Wilmington, N.C., as vice president. average and that of the new fourth class, whose average SAT score is Election of officers of the 17-member board was held in early just over 1080, up 44 points from last year and some 175 points above August at the board's annual summer meeting. the indicated national average of905. Itis the highest SAT average for an entering VMI class in more than twenty years and the fifth best in Spivey, a 1957 VMI graduate who was recently reappointed to a VMI history. second four-year term on the board, succeeds Lynchburg business leader George P. Ramsey, Jr., who stepped down after two years as The new cadet class also represents a significant improvement in president. He has one year of board service remaining. Cameron, a selectivity, said Col. William J. Buchanan, retiring director of 1938 VMI graduate who is also beginning his eighth year on the board, ~dmissions, whose acceptance rate among the 1200 "true" applica­ succeeds retiring vice president 1. Robert Philpott, ofLexington, N.C. tlons was 63 percent, down nearly to percent from last year in an effort to keep the class size near 400. Retirement for Buchanan who has New members of the board, appointed in August by Governor served as admissions officer for the past decade, became eff~ctive with Gerald L. Baliles, are William A. Hazel, of Broad Run, and Dr. the arrival of the new fourth class. Harvey S. Sadow, ofNew Canaan, Conn. Hazel, a developer and con­ tractor in Northern Virginia, is chairman ofthe board of William A. Approximately 44 members of the class are receiving athletic scholarship aid in nine sports, and, as always, they easily meet the Hazel, Inc., ofChantilly. Dr. Sadow, a graduate ofVMI'sclass of 1944, is president and chief executive officer ofthe Boehringer Ingelheim academic eligibility standards prescribed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. In addition to 14 foreign students in the class, Corp., a German-based chemical firm located at Ridgefield, Conn. there are brothers who are not twins and two ofthree valedictorians They replace retiring board members Philpott and James F. Betts, of from the same school, Brunswick Academy, in Lawrenceville, Va. The Richmond. The Governor's reappointments also included a second three June graduates ended up with perfect grades and thus shared four-year term for James W. Enochs, Jr., of Hopewell. the title ofvaledictorian. Tho came to VMI. The third, a girl, will be entering Washington and Lee. The only set ofbrothers in the class are Of Dukes and Bagpipes from Virginia Beach. One is a transfer from a Virginia university, while the other is entering college for the first time. Kilted soldiers of the Atholl Highlanders of Scotland, complete Seven members ofthe class are natives of the Republic of China; with pipers and drummers ofthe Atholl Highlander Pipe Band, will two are from Thailand; and there is one each from Brazil, Canada, make a parade appearance at VMI on Friday, Sept. 25, during the Hong Kong, Panama, and Vietnam. Two are resident aliens, one is a historic group's first visit to the United States. Commanding the permanent resident, and the other eleven are on student visas. Athollmen will be the tenth Duke of AthoU, George I. Murray, into whose family the dukedom passed in 1629. During their one-day visit to VMI, the historic group, called the last remaining private army in Europe, will join the Corps of Cadets in the 4 p.m. Friday parade. Their U.S. visit will also take them to a number ofSeptember events, including the New Hampshire Highland Games; the Williamsburg Scottish Festival; a parade appearance in Alexandria; and the 225th anniversity celebration ofthe founding of the town of Athol, Mass. The Atholl Highlanders, who number about 80 in all, preserve the ancient traditions ofScotland by providing the honor guard at royal visits and participation in other such festive occasions. They have their headquarters at Blair Castle, where the Dukes ofAtholl have lived for seven centuries. The castle was opened to public visitation in 1936. The 407 members o/the new cadet class make it thefifth largest in VMI history Page 2, Tbe Institute Report, August 28, 1987 Museum Displays Wyeth Portrait of Jackson While likenesses of Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson are generally commonplace at VMI, the VMI Museum currently has on display a Jackson portrait that is a departure from the usual image of the professor who led the Corps of Cadets off to war in 1861. The large and dramatic oil-on-canvas painting is a full- figure study of Jackson by artist N. C. Wyeth, who with his son Andrew and grand­ son James became a three-generation family dynasty in American art. The portrait by the senior Wyeth shows Jackson and his horse illuminated against clouds of mist or smoke. N. C. Wyeth, 1882-1945, first gained fame as an illustrator of classic Brig. Gen; John W Knapp literature. His portrait of Jackson was painted in 1910 as the frontis­ piece for the Civil War novel The Long Roll by Virginia author Mary Johnston, a native of Botetourt County. The painting has been Dean Gets USAR Division Command reproduced in a number of publications, most recently on the back cover of Virginia Cavalcade magazine. Brig. Gen. John W. Knapp, dean of the faculty at VMI, is the new commander of the U.S. Army Reserve's 80th Division (Training), The Jackson portrait was recently purchased in California by a made up of some 5,000 Reservists in 22 Virginia communities and one private collector who has placed it on loan to the VMI Museum. It is unit in Baltimore, Md. Division headquarters are in Richmond. The expected to be on exhibit until next summer. The first public display 33-year veteran of Army Reserve service succeeded Maj. Gen. John ofthe painting at VMI in July coincided with the Washington, D.C., P. Henderson, Jr., who retired from the command in July. opening of the Corcoran Gallery's monumental exhibition of paintings by the three Wyeth family artists. That exhibition, which Gen. Knapp, whose military service has included five separate showed in Russia earlier this year, is scheduled to close this weekend. assignments with the 80th Division, was deputy commander of the 97th Army Reserve Command at Fort George G. Meade, Md. Commissioned at graduation from VMI in 1954, he served on active New PNS is 1960 VMI Graduate military duty until March 1958, when he joined the 80th Division. In past Division assignments he has served as instructor with the 2079th Ceremonies July 17 in the Naval ROTC unit at VMI saw command USAR School; battalion commander; brigade deputy commander; of the Navy-Marine Corps unit handed over to Col. William H. commander, 80th Training Command; and deputy commander, 80th Dabney, a 33-year Marine veteran whose combat decorations include Maneuver Training Command. the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry in Vietnam. Gen. Knapp is, in addition, vice chairman ofthe U.S. Army Science Col. Dabney, a 1960 VMI graduate from Gloucester County, Board and a member of the Secretary of the Army's Task Force to succeeded Col. Thomas 1. Solak, also of the U.S. Marine Corps, who Evaluate Reserve Component Personnel Management Systems. had served as professor of naval science since 1984. Col. Solak's new A former civil engineering professor and VMI department head, assignment will take him to Marine Corps headquarters in Gen. Knapp has been a member of the faculty since 1959 and dean Washington, D.C. Col. Dabney comes to VMI from assignment at the since 1984. He is a registered professional engineer, holds M.S. and National Defense University at Fort McNair, also in Washington, Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University in environmental where he was a senior military fellow at the Strategic Concepts engineering, and is widely recognized for his contributions to Development Center. education and engineering research. The new naval science professor, who heads a unit in which some 30 percent of the VMI Corps of Cadets is enrolled, entered VMI in 1957 after a year of college and three years of enlisted service with the WAC: Thoughts on Writing and Learning Third Marine Division in Japan and Okinawa.