April 15, 2010
TO: The Board of Visitors:
John O. Wynne, Rector
Daniel R. Abramson, Vice Rector
A. Macdonald Caputo Randal J. Kirk
Susan Y. Dorsey Vincent J. Mastracco, Jr.
Helen E. Dragas The Hon. Lewis F. Payne
W. Heywood Fralin Don R. Pippin
Robert D. Hardie Warren M. Thompson
Glynn D. Key E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr., M.D.
Rahul Gorawara
FROM: Susan G. Harris
SUBJECT: Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Full Board of Visitors on April 15, 2010
The Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia met, in Open Session, at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, April 15, 2010, in the Pavilion at the Boar’s Head Inn; John O. Wynne, Rector, presided.
Daniel R. Abramson, A. Macdonald Caputo, the Hon. Alan A. Diamonstein, Ms. Susan Y. Dorsey, Ms. Helen E. Dragas, W. Heywood Fralin, Ms. Glynn D. Key, Austin Ligon, Vincent J. Mastracco Jr., the Hon. Lewis F. Payne, Don R. Pippin, and Rahul Gorawara were present.
Present as well were John T. Casteen III, Leonard W. Sandridge, Ms. Susan G. Harris, Ms. Susan A. Carkeek, Paul J. Forch, Arthur Garson Jr., M.D., James L. Hilton, R. Edward Howell, Ms. Patricia M. Lampkin, Craig K. Littlepage, Marcus L. Martin, M.D., David J. Prior, Ms. Yoke San L. Reynolds, Ms. Colette Sheehy, Robert D. Sweeney, and Ms. Jeanne Flippo Bailes. Deans, former Rectors and Board members, employees, and friends of the University as well as their spouses and guests were also in attendance, approximately 400 persons in total.
Prior to formally commencing the Board meeting, the Rector welcomed everyone to this elegant dinner to honor and celebrate John and Betsy Casteen. He stated that several speakers will focus on the Casteens’ contributions to the University of Virginia. He said the Board meeting would focus on one aspect of the Casteens’ work, their leadership in advancing the arts. The Rector began with some background on Mr. Casteen’s career, highlighting his leadership in higher education on a national and international level. He said Mr. Casteen’s grace and dignity, and his brilliant articulation, laced with important information and profound reflections and predictions, are legend. He said Mr. Casteen’s style and depth of intellect have served him and the University extraordinarily well.
The Rector added that Mr. Casteen’s determination to diversify the University and make it accessible and affordable to everyone have been critical as the University seeks to advance the scope and breadth of the students and faculty to better enable them to prosper in our ever more complex, international, and needy society.
Mr. Casteen’s commitment to strengthening the University despite large declines in state funding have allowed the University to remain strong while many others are in serious decline, and his ability to coalesce support from alumni, friends, faculty, staff, parents, and others has allowed the University to advance in ways few public universities could have imagined. Mr. Casteen set the standards many are now emulating.
The Rector commended Mr. Casteen, working with Mr. Sandridge, on managing risk and negotiating the University through many difficult situations and challenges to remain stable and reliable, free of reputational harm, for almost 20 years.
The Rector thanked Mr. Casteen and said he is a remarkable man, right for the time at Mr. Jefferson’s University, who has advanced the University with grace.
The Rector turned to the Arts Grounds project, which was launched in 1998 to provide new and expanded facilities to benefit arts and architecture students and the University community. He said the Arts precinct includes a restored Fayerweather Hall for art history; a renovated and expanded Campbell Hall for the School of Architecture; renovated galleries in the Bayly Building for the University of Virginia Art Museum; Ruffin Hall for studio art; the Band Rehearsal Hall which is under construction; and the Culbreth Road Garage. In the planning stages are a Drama building expansion which will include the Caplin thrust theatre, an arts common and an expansion of the University of Virginia Art Museum.
As a tribute to the Casteens, the entire Arts precinct will be named the Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds, which will reflect the concepts prevalent in Mr. Jefferson’s Academical Village with buildings clustered around an “open square of grass and trees” and walkways and public spaces that foster a spirit of community among students, faculty visiting artists, and patrons, he said.
The Rector asked the Board of Visitors members in the audience to stand and he called the Board to order to consider a resolution naming the Arts Grounds at the University the “Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds”. On motion, the Board approved the following resolution:
RESOLUTION NAMING THE ARTS GROUNDS AT THE UNIVERSITY THE BETSY AND JOHN CASTEEN ARTS GROUNDS
WHEREAS, John Thomas Casteen III, President of the University of Virginia from August 1990 through July 2010, launched an initiative in 1998 to ensure that the arts hold a central place at the University; and
WHEREAS, the initiative, called the Arts Grounds, brings all of the fine and performing arts programs together as a vibrant center of University and community life, and ensures that students will make the arts not only a part of their academic curricula but a part of their lives; and
WHEREAS, in 2003, John married Betsy Foote, whose role as ‘First Lady of the University’ has been marked by a deep love and passion for the arts, and who over the past seven years has brought art, grace, and warmth to the University, but especially to Carr’s Hill, culminating in a year-long celebration of the Centennial of Carr’s Hill and the publication of a definitive book about its architectural and residential history; and
WHEREAS, in recognition of John and Betsy Casteen’s commitment to offering superb programs in the arts and providing an environment in which creative women and men will thrive, and specifically in recognition of their abiding dedication and service to the arts; and
WHEREAS, in recognition of John Casteen’s immeasurable contributions to all aspects of the University during his long and successful tenure;
RESOLVED, the Rector and Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia name the Arts Grounds at the University the Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds.
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Following the voting on the resolution, the Board meeting was adjourned by the Rector at 7:45 p.m.
The Rector then recognized several former Rectors in attendance and asked them to stand and join the Board in a toast to Betsy and John Casteen. Mr. Casteen gave his remarks after the toast.
During the course of the evening, others spoke about the Casteens’ many contributions to the University, including Robert D. Sweeney, Ernest H. Ern, Thomas F. Farrell II, Nargis Cross, The Honorable Gerald L. Baliles, Gordon F. Rainey Jr., and Gordon Burris. Mr. Rainey introduced a video clip of Joshua Darden reading a letter to Mr. Jefferson, which Mr. Darden wrote for the Capital Campaign kickoff dinner in 1995. After dinner, the guests danced to the music of the Janitors.
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SGH:lah
These minutes have been posted to the University of Virginia’s
Board of Visitors website. http://www.virginia.edu/bov/publicminutes.html