Frank Batten, retired chairman and CEO of Landmark Communications, Inc., in Norfolk, and his wife, Jane, have once again demonstrated their remarkable commitment to Hollins University with a major financial gift.

In support of The Hollins Campaign for Women Who Are Going Places, the largest comprehensive fundraising campaign in the university’s history, the Battens have presented a gift of $3 million to further endow the school’s leadership program that bears their name.

Hollins’ Batten Leadership Institute, which the family’s generosity helped to create in 2002, provides a diverse array of programs and initiatives that focus on students’ personal, interpersonal, and intellectual development. Guided by the philosophy that leadership cannot be separated from the individual, the Institute helps each student develop her potential through personal growth.

“This gift typifies the Battens’ firm belief in this signature program and the enormous impact it is making in the lives of young women,” said Hollins President Nancy Gray. “These funds will further enhance the institute’s unique approach, which focuses on the idea that each woman’s leadership abilities begin with developing a strong sense of self, combined with skill development, mentoring, and real world leadership projects, both on campus and off.

“In short, this gift will create even more opportunities for women to lead,” she concluded. “And the fact that it comes during this period of global economic uncertainty is a tremendous vote of confidence for Hollins and its ability to manage these fiscal challenges.”

The Batten family’s close relationship with Hollins goes back more than 80 years. Frank Batten’s mother, Dorothy Martin, attended Hollins in the early 1920s, and he served three terms on the Hollins Board of Trustees between 1969 and 1991; Jane Batten is a member of the Class of 1958 and was guest speaker last May at Hollins’ 166th Commencement Exercises; and their daughter, Dorothy Batten, graduated from Hollins in 1985.

Frank and Jane Batten gave $2 million to Hollins in 1995 to fund the Batten Scholars program, which celebrates academic achievement by providing scholarship awards up to and including full tuition, and financial aid for individual research and creative projects. In recognition of their support, the Battens were presented the Hollins Medal in 1999, awarded “for distinction, service to Hollins University and to women’s life and education in general.”

In 2003, the Battens presented Hollins with a gift of over $2.2 million to fund an endowed chair in the history of women and leadership. They further endowed the Batten Leadership Institute with a $2 million gift in 2006.

With the Batten gift, The Hollins Campaign for Women Who Are Going Places has $96 million in commitments toward the campaign goal of $125 million. The campaign concludes in June 2010.