Reichard Receives 2012 YWCA Tribute to Women Award

Emory & Henry College President Rosalind Reichard has been awarded the 2012 YWCA Tribute to Women Award in recognition of her accomplishments as president of the College, including her role in advancing the institution to a national model for academic excellence built on service.

Reichard will receive the award in a ceremony on Thursday, April 19, at the Holiday Inn near Exit 7 in Bristol, Va.
Reichard will be recognized for her success in bringing national attention to the College through a focus on community service and teaching excellence. She also will be honored for her success in bringing environmental leadership to the more than $30 million of new construction on the campus and through the economic impact that construction and other initiatives have had on the region.

Since she began as president of Emory & Henry in 2006, Reichard encouraged unique college-community partnerships that intimately involved students with the people and places of Southwest Virginia. For those efforts, Emory & Henry was honored with the 2010 President’s Award, which is given by the U.S. Department of Education and is the highest national recognition for service and service learning.

Soon thereafter, the College was recognized by Newsweek Magazine as one of the top five institutions nationwide in providing service learning and community service. USA Today followed the following year with a ranking that placed Emory & Henry among the top 20 in the same category. In naming Emory & Henry as one of the top 30 liberal arts colleges in the nation, Washington Monthly praised Emory & Henry for what it “does for the country.”

Part of Reichard’s emphasis on service has been a commitment to the environment. To that end, her tenure has been marked by more than $30 million of new construction and renovation at the College with another $8 million planned for this year.  All new construction has achieved some level of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Design) certification.

In 2007, Reichard became the first college president in Southwest Virginia to sign the Presidents Climate Commitment, challenging the College to be carbon neutral within 25 years. To help meet that commitment, the College has begun using electric vehicles, encouraged campus-wide recycling (inning a statewide recycling competition in 2010) and acquired approximately 200 acres in forested land to be used as an environmental preserve to help offset carbon emissions.

In addition, Emory & Henry is developing a new campus in Marion, Va., where the College’s first doctoral program (a physical therapy program) will be launched during the next academic year and which is expected to have an $11 million annual impact on the local economy.