A great circumstance
New W&J president to welcome record incoming class
Dr. Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, the new president at Washington & Jefferson College, is proud to be welcoming the largest incoming freshman class in the school’s history. With 482 incoming freshmen, the total student population will be 1,200 this fall.
“I’m really inheriting a great circumstance,” she said Monday. “It’s awesome. We can feel the energy and momentum on campus. Our hope is to continue to stay in the 400s every year; that’s a big goal for us.”
MacLeod Walls, 50, took over as the 14th president of the liberal arts college July 1, succeeding the retiring Dr. John C. Knapp. The Nebraska native served as president of William Jewell College, a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Mo., since 2016. Before that, she served in numerous academic and senior leadership roles at Nebraska Wesleyan University University and Bryan College of Health Sciences in Lincoln, Neb.
She earned her doctorate in English literature and classical rhetoric from Texas Christian University and Bachelor of Arts in English and history from Hiram College, where she earned Phi Beta Kappa.
At a time when colleges across the country are facing declining enrollments, MacLeod Walls said W&J has several initiatives in place that helped attract students. They include a tuition reduction of nearly 50% to $28,000 a year; a $50 million gift from the estate of Anica Rawnsley, which resulted in a significant increase in the enrollment of Washington County residents and a 74% jump in first-generation enrollment, and an earlier approach than most colleges in financial aid.
“We’re facing the enrollment clip just like everybody else,” MacLeod Walls said. “The traditional middle-class, white college rate is going down. I also see that as a major opportunity for us because we can engage demographics that we historically haven’t or haven’t been attracted to W&J. The Hispanic American population is growing, the African American population is growing. The challenge for us is how can we engage with those groups? The overall diversity of our student population is not as high as we would like.”
MacLeod Walls said she can’t help but notice the many similarities between William Jewell and Washington & Jefferson: Each is a private liberal college; William Jewell College’s acronym is WJC while Washington & Jefferson is W&J; both of the schools’ colors are red and black, and each is a suburb of a big city.
As she acclimates to her new role and Western Pennsylvania, she already has goals in mind, such as establishing graduate programs and adult-focused programs.
“We are a traditional liberal arts college, but at the same time there are so many populations that are seeking education, need education,” MacLeod Walls said. “We need to be accessible to that group.”
MacLeod Walls also stressed the importance of fundraising, an area in which she has been successful.
Under her leadership, William Jewell College raised more philanthropic support than ever had, as she developed partnerships with an array of organizations and served on various boards such as the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Keystone Community Corp., overseeing Kansas City’s burgeoning Innovation Hub.
“Fundraising continues to be a vitally important element of this institution,” she said. “I love fundraising. I’m eager to get out there and meet as many alums as I possibly can.”
MacLeod Walls said she was attracted to W&J by the school’s “outstanding academic reputation.”
“I knew of the institution, being president of one of its peer institutions,” MacLeod Walls said. “As I learned more about it, I became really interested in the fact that this is a traditional place, but at the same time, it’s very committed to innovation. That’s what small liberal arts colleges need to be doing right now. I’m a big believer in innovation in higher education.”
Another goal is to establish a new strategic plan and marketing vision for W&J, something else in which she was very successful at William Jewell..
“We’re working on a branding campaign,” MacLeod Walls said. “We need to focus on what is our identity and what matters most.”
That could involve having more of a presence in the city of Pittsburgh.
“We are sort of taken for granted by Greater Pittsburgh,” MacLeod Walls said. “I think we are a true gem within this larger community. How can we be working with industries, corporations and businesses to provide pathways for our students and to make sure we’re telling the W&J story?”
MacLeod Walls is joined on campus by her husband, the Rev. Dr. Craig MacLeod Walls, the founding director of the Center for Faith and Culture at William Jewell College, and the couple’s golden retriever, Buckeye. They have two college-age sons, Alec and John.
Classes at W&J begin Aug. 27. The new president is eager to welcome students and working on last-minute details, such as how to house the large incoming class and class schedules, which has included raising the cap on class size due to the large influx that will be coming to campus.
“We’re adjusting and it’s a good adjustment,” MacLeod Walls said. “We are a really refined institution of higher learning and totally scrappy. I love that we embody the Pittsburgh attitude, the Pennsylvania attitude. I think that is attractive to people. They know they’re going to come to a high-quality place that cares about their background, experiences and their families.”