Academics

Exploration is at our core.

As a liberal arts university, students are encouraged to study what interests them, conduct research, and pursue global learning.  Our hands-on curriculum is designed to expose you to all we have to offer and help you develop the skills you need to get the most out of your education. 

One of the hallmarks of the W&L college experience is the accessibility of our faculty. With an 8 to 1 student to faculty ratio and 96% of classes enrolling fewer than twenty-five students, you can immerse yourself in courses while benefiting from the personal attention and guidance of your professors.

Areas of Study

Majors and Minors

We offer 36 majors and 41 minors and programs often found only at larger schools, including business, journalism, engineering and a top-tier graduate law school.

Educational Philosophy

A Liberal Arts University

We augment the liberal arts and sciences with offerings not commonly found at a small college. Our core curriculum, combined with the breadth of our course catalog, encourages students to make connections across disciplines.

The Colonnade

The College

The College departments and programs represent the liberal arts core of the University, ranging from fine arts, humanities, certain social sciences, journalism and mass communications, natural and physical sciences, computer science, and mathematics.

Huntley Hall

The Williams School

W&L is the only top liberal arts college in the United States to claim a nationally accredited undergraduate business program. The Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics is distinctive among its peers -- offering a business education within a larger liberal arts curriculum -- and most students take some classes there, regardless of major.

W&L Law

The Law School

One of the smallest of the nation's top law schools -- and W&L's only graduate program -- the Washington and Lee University School of Law seeks to cultivate broad-minded, highly skilled, and honorable practitioners of law. Our law professors also teach undergraduate students alongside law students in courses affiliated with W&L's interdisciplinary Law, Justice, and Society program.

Academics Leadership

Students are encouraged to get to know and utilize their deans and administrators.

Lena Hill
Lena Hill

Lena Hill

Provost and Professor of English

In addition to her many duties as Provost, Hill researches and teaches courses primarily in 19th- and 20th-century African-American literature. She has written a number of books and articles on the subject.

Curriculum Vitae

Paul Youngman

Paul Youngman

Associate Provost and Redenbaugh Professor of German

Youngman teaches courses on German literature and language. His research focuses on the German cultural reception of various technologies. Youngman is also a U.S. Army veteran and the recipient of the Bronze Star with “V” device.

Curriculum Vitae

Leslie Wingard Cunningham
Leslie Wingard Cunningham

Leslie Wingard Cunningham

Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Professor of English and Africana Studies

As Associate Provost, Wingard Cunningham serves as a member of the provost's leadership team, working to cultivate a coordinated, intentional and robust effort to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion across Academic Affairs.

Chawne Kimber
Chawne Kimber

Chawne Kimber

Dean of the College and Professor of Mathematics

In addition to her duties as Dean of the College at W&L, Kimber is a member of the Mathematics Department faculty. Her research interests include ordered rings and groups.

Robert D. Straughan
Robert D. Straughan

Robert D. Straughan

Crawford Family Dean of the Williams School and Professor of Business Administration

Straughan teaches International Marketing Strategy and Sustainable Business. He has authored dozens of studies on sustainable business and cross-cultural business. He works closely with students with career interests in consulting.

Curriculum Vitae

Melanie Wilson
Melanie Wilson

Melanie Wilson

Dean and Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Professor of Law

Melanie D. Wilson is the dean of W&L's Law School and the Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Professorship in Law. She writes and teaches about issues of criminal procedure, focusing on the Fourth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment and prosecutors. Before entering academia, Wilson clerked for The Hon. Richard Freeman in the Northern District of Georgia and practiced law for 13 years in both the private and public sectors.

W&L Law School

Leslie Wingard Cunningham
Chawne Kimber
Robert D. Straughan
Melanie Wilson
Lena Hill