
Endowed Department Funds
Alumni continue to support remarkable funds that allow majors to travel to do research, experience the discipline in the field or other labs, and to attend and present at conferences. We greatly appreciate the work and lives of the individuals honored by the funds as well as those who generously contribute to these funds. You make a real difference in the educational experience of many students.
If you would like to know more about these funds or how to contribute, please contact the Earth and Environmental Geoscience Department Head.
- R. Preston Hawkins IV Geology Award: Established by family, friends, and colleagues of Preston Hawkins ’91 to assist students conducting field research. Preston loved geology field work as a student and spent his career as a lead field geologist, respected for his expertise in subsurface exploration in environmental, groundwater, engineering studies, and UXO remediation projects, with North American Exploration of Virginia (NAEVA) Geophysics, Inc. in Charlottesville, VA. Preston was an avid fishermen and outdoorsmen.
- Samuel J. Kozak-Odell S. McGuire-Edgar W. Spencer-Frederick L. Schwab Award: For nearly three decades, the Geology Department at W&L thrived under the direction of professors Samuel Kozak, Odell McGuire, Fred Schwab and Edgar Spencer. To honor the memory of Professor Kozak and the careers of Spencer and McGuire, this fund was established in 2001 to provide financial support for students to travel to professional meetings, to prepare publications and to present the results of their research. Professor Schwab’s name was added to the fund upon his retirement. All four professors were instrumental in shaping the academic success of the department and for developing strong, personal relationships with their students. What started as classroom, laboratory and field student-faculty relationships expanded into long-lasting friendships.
- Ed Spencer transferred to W&L from Vanderbilt University and graduated from Washington and Lee in 1953. After finishing his doctoral work at Columbia, he returned to W&L in 1958 as the second member of a two-person department. Soon after, Spencer became chair of the department and served in that capacity until 1995. He died in 2020.
- Sam Kozak met Spencer in Montana while working on his thesis and came to W&L for a one-term replacement position. After finishing his Ph.D. at Iowa, he joined the W&L faculty in 1961 and remained an active member of the teaching faculty until his untimely death in 1997.
- In 1962, Odell McGuire became the third member of what had been a two-person department and taught geology until his retirement in 1994. He died in 2008.
- Fred Schwab joined the faculty at W&L in 1967 after finishing his doctorate at Harvard and most of his research focused on sedimentology. He retired from W&L in 2003.
- Edgar W. Spencer ’53 Geology Field Research Fund: Established in 2018 by Quinn T. Kiley ’95 to provide support for student field research under the supervision of a W&L geology professor. Kiley established the award in 2017 to honor Ed Spencer, the Ruth Parmly Professor of Geology and a member of the W&L Class of 1953. Spencer returned to the university in 1957 to teach geology and spent his life and career unraveling the mysteries of the Earth’s interior and the structure of mountain systems. He retired in 2001 and died in 2020.
- Spencer taught courses on oceanography, meteorology, structural geology and geophysics, as well as seminars on Greek natural philosophy and the geology of the Pyrenees. His research, in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana and in the Appalachians, was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the American Geological Institute, the American Chemical Society and the Mellon Foundation. In 1990, he received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Virginia Council of Higher Education.
- The highlight of every academic year for him was his Spring Term geology field course. Spencer regularly traveled around the country with students and other faculty to explore regional geology in locations that included the West Coast from California to Washington, New England, the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and the Southwest.
- Spencer also focused on research, conducting fieldwork and leading countless field trips in the Blue Ridge Mountains and other parts of the world. He published geologic quadrangle maps of the Appalachian region and a map interpretation book and was the author of several textbooks on structural and introductory geology. He was the recipient of the Virginia Geological Field Conference’s 2013 Anna Jonah Award for Outstanding Contribution to Virginia Geology. His most recent book, “Guide to the Geology and Natural History of the Blue Ridge Mountains” (2017), was named an Outstanding Title for 2018 by the American Library Association and was also named Best Guidebook of 2019 by the Geoscience Information Society.
Department Info
- P: 540-458-8800
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Earth and Environmental Geoscience Department
204 West Washington Street
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia 24450