President’s House Dedicated to Honor Linda Lorimer ’74

In recognition of her visionary leadership in guiding two presidential searches, Hollins has renamed the President’s House in tribute to Linda Koch Lorimer ’74.

Lorimer House honors the alumna and member of the Board of Trustees who chaired the search committees that appointed Presidents Nancy Oliver Gray in 2004 and Pareena Lawrence in 2017. Lorimer also served on the search committee that chose Nora Kizer Bell as Hollins’ tenth president in 2002.

Recently retired as vice president of global and strategic initiatives at Yale University, Lorimer has been an international leader in the education of women and higher education administration. In 1983 she became one of Yale’s three associate provosts, making her the youngest person in university history to reach that administrative rank. Three years later, she was named president of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, the youngest president the college had ever hired and its first female president. She returned to Yale in 1992 to become vice president and secretary, one of only six university officers, and in 2013 attained the position from which she retired.

At Hollins, Lorimer has served as a trustee beginning in 1984-87 and then again from 2001 to the present.

Scholarship Fund Honors President Emeritus Nancy Oliver Gray

$2.3 million raised to provide scholarships for undergraduate students

In 2017, to honor President Gray’s leadership and legacy at Hollins, the university established the Nancy Oliver Gray Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Over the course of her twelve-year tenure at Hollins, Gray dedicated herself to Hollins students, with the goal of providing a Hollins education to any qualified woman.

To that end, Gray focused on Hollins’ financial stability. At the time of her arrival in 2004, Hollins had $15 million in debt. The university was debt-free by 2007.

Gray also focused on increasing the university’s endowment to help ensure the school’s bright future and wide reach. Under her leadership, the school’s endowment has grown from $101 million in 2005 to $161 million in 2016.

In the year since it was established, the Nancy Oliver Gray Endowed Scholarship Fund has received $2.3 million in gifts and pledges. To receive a $5 million matching donation from an anonymous donor, donations to the scholarship fund also contributed to the effort to raise $10 million by June 2017.
The Nancy Oliver Gray Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships to undergraduate students at Hollins, ensuring that young women of all backgrounds have access to a Hollins education.

Birthday Milestone

Kathryn “Kay” O’Keeffe, one of Hollins University’s oldest living supporters, to turn 100 years old.

Hollins University offers happy birthday wishes to Hollins alumna, class of 1939, Kathryn “Kay” O’Keeffe of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She will reach an amazing milestone of 100 years of age on October 23, 2017. She is one of the oldest living Hollins alumnae and living major supporters.

O’Keeffe earned “Top Scholar” during her sophomore year at Hollins and went on to receive her master’s degree in chemical engineering from Connecticut College in 1941. O’Keeffe is a member of the Levavi Oculos and Heritage Societies at Hollins for both her magnanimous outright and planned giving. Some of her most notable and generous support can be seen in the Wetherill Visual Arts Center in the O’Keeffe Seminar Room and with the Mary Woodrum O’Keeffe Lecture Fund, as well as the landscaping surrounding Wyndham Robertson Library.

O’Keeffe has many Hollins legacies:
Grandmother – Mary Woodrum O’Keeffe, class of 1864 (deceased)
Cousin – Emily Kirk, class of 1939 (deceased)
Great-niece – Edwige Camm Knight, class of 1995 of Brooklyn, New York
Cousin – Chantal Vaiden O’Keeffe, class of 2000 of Lynchburg, Virginia

O’Keeffe has many Hollins friends. Happy birthday to you, dear Kay O’Keeffe.

Challenge Met and Exceeded

$14 million in new gifts from over 3,000 alumnae and friends

On December 20, 2016, an anonymous donor came forward and issued a challenge to Hollins: if, and only if, Hollins raised $10 million in new gifts and pledges for any purpose between December 20, 2016 and June 30, 2017, the donor would give Hollins $5 million upon receipt of proper documentation. No amount less than $10 million would qualify for the match.

So, what happened? In short, you did it! As of the end of June, Hollins had exceeded the $10 million challenge, achieving $14 million in new gifts and pledges from more than 3,000 alumnae and friends.

Gifts of every level made a difference. From the smallest to the largest gift, alumnae wanted to help in whatever way they could: reunion gifts to the Hollins Fund, multi-year pledges, 175 Club membership, and support for scholarships, capital needs, or career program assistance.

In addition, many alumnae stepped up to help as Class Chairs, Class Fund Chairs, and Reunion Gift Chairs. Some classes offered their own challenges within the context of the larger challenge. Alumnae across the board embraced the challenge, added their own creativity and generosity, and drove us across the finish line in grand style.

We are profoundly grateful to have achieved such astounding success in such a short period. Thank you, to every person who contributed and pledged.