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virginia mcKinley
by elizabeth keel

You may know Warren Wilson College and not know Virginia McKinley, the Vice President of Academic Affairs—a University of California at Santa Cruz undergraduate sporting a doctorate from Yale. Virginia is a thoughtful and reserved person who loves learning—and until national media put the spotlight on Warren Wilson College, few knew that this lady redefined performance for academic administrators.

During the decade that represents her tenure as Academic Dean, Virginia turned the academic heat to high. Her decade began with 38 faculty members of which 71% held terminal degrees and six were women. Doubling in size, diversification and quality, now 95% of the faculty hold terminal degrees, half the faculty are women, and 10% are international professors. And, the quality of the student body is remarkable. In more years than one, the College’s freshman class held the highest average SAT score in North Carolina—a state already home to impressive Colleges and Universities. 27% of Warren Wilson graduates go on to graduate or professional schools; there is an impressive list of those schools in their brochure.

Marked paperwork piled on her desk spoke to considerable focus on students—I thought of Andy Rooney. She welcomed me to a sitting area that removed her from those pressing distractions, giving me her complete attention —I thought how fortunate her students are. The ease of her welcome belied what I knew to be a difficult and busy schedule—my own office juggled a bit to set up this interview. The trait of humility in truly amazing people always surprises me, but her path to Academic Dean was also a surprise.

Virginia received a public school education in those Santa Cruz Redwoods above the Pacific Ocean. In her senior year, her French teacher insisted that once through the classroom door, the only language spoken was French. Until that teacher, Virginia’s experience with languages included vocabulary, rules of grammar, written assignments and basic communication. This subtle new rule meant she was hooked, turning the high school love affair into an undergraduate major with its subsequent graduate degree.

The learning environment at Santa Cruz meant Virginia lived on campus near a teacher who also lived on campus, meaning they spoke French everyday. And it was French, not academics that brought Virginia to the Swannanoa.
Yet, her path to Warren Wilson was anything but direct. A friend from graduate school was teaching at the College. The Swannanoa bug bit her when visiting her friend. When Warren Wilson added two languages and English as a second language to its curriculum, Virginia wanted to apply, but did not. She had no background in English as a second language and did not feel qualified to respond to the position notice. A few years later at a professional association conference, she ran into her friend, who wondered, “why haven’t you applied for a position at Warren Wilson?” She responded that she didn’t feel her qualifications met the requirements of the position —hearing her say that, I personally was humbled. A doctorate in French from Yale, teaching experience, and, after all English was battling French in her life for its position as a second language! Yet, her personal standards meant her lack of formal training in the discipline of English as a second language kept her from applying. To which her friend replied, “They changed the job description to interest in teaching English as a second language.” She applied, was offered the position, and moved to Warren Wilson.

In 1993, the College would go through an accreditation process. Virginia was asked to chair the accreditation committee. It was the work on that committee that stimulated her interest in academic administration and led to her appointment as Academic Dean. This past year, she’s been working with others on campus to transform their Freshman Seminars into meaty sessions related to student responsibility, given the College’s philosophy of work as part of education. The College relies on student work crews for campus maintenance, academic support services, service opportunities and requirements, as well as the campus Writing Center.

She holds herself responsible for giving students an adequate introduction to an education in the liberal arts at a college level. It is important to her that freshmen students transition into a life of learning while working to contribute to the cost of their education and serving their community.

Her sanity is kept, as she juggles these responsibilities, through music. She is an accomplished musician; you might catch her in the pit orchestra playing a wood and silver flute made by local flutemaker Chris Abell if you show up for a musical at the College. She adds her love for penny flutes with a twinkle in her eye.

During the current academic year, Virginia announced her retirement from Warren Wilson—not a complete retirement, simply a gift to herself of the opportunity to release her workday from borders and boundaries; to discover new loves and nurture old ones.

With no aversion to risk, she’s taking this leap into her future with some concepts of what she will do, but mostly an open mind. Clearly her risk is mitigated by blended talents for math, music and art, supplemented by a love for her community and books. That means she’s already entertaining invitations onto corporate boards. Her heart, as it turns out, has landed for now, at what she considers one of the best community gathering places in the country: Malaprops Bookstore.

Virginia said she had thought she’d play her flute more, but she ended up taking a break for an extended visit with family in California and Oregon. Remembering my summer driving the truly gorgeous US1 in a suburban with eight boys between the ages of six and eleven, I couldn’t help but smile thinking of Virginia Mckinley on the same highway in a Miata convertible.
On her return, she found she really enjoyed her home. Home had been more of a launching pad during her tenure as academic dean. Now, home is different for her. She loves the light coming through the window by a table in her den. So, she parks herself there to exercise her artistic energies making blank greeting cards. I left our conversation with a mental note to go by the Warren Wilson Bookstore to ask for her cards.

Asked whether she returns to campus often, she explained that she was quite content to allow the new Academic Dean to do his job. A realist, she remarked, “Besides, what good would my presence do? He doesn’t answer to me. He has my full support, which includes freedom to direct academics as he chooses.”

There’s only one thing left to say: Virginia McKinley, thank you for your continued contributions to our area's academic and artistic communities.

Elizabeth Keel has been practicing public accounting for almost 30 years. She has served on the board of directors for the NC Association of Certified Public Accountants and is the founding member of their Work Life Committee, a committee founded to work with women wanting balance in their professional lives. The founding partner of Burleson, Earley & Keel, pllc (a group of CPAs practicing on the second floor of the Grove Arcade) she has no business writing this article but sheer admiration made her do it.

WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA WOMAN
is a publication of INFINITE CIRCLES, INC.