Williamsburg Alliance gives William & Mary community two awards
The College of William & Mary was recognized twice at the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance’s Annual Membership Meeting at Great Wolf Lodge Sept. 28. The Alliance honored the W&M student body as the “corporate citizen of the year” and bestowed its most prestigious award, the Roll of the Drum Award, on Jim Golden, the College’s vice president for strategic initiatives.
In its citation about the William & Mary student body the Chamber said, “The record of student service to our community is extraordinary… By any measure, these students are setting an outstanding example of engaged citizenship and our area is fortunate that they are here. “
The citation highlighted William & Mary students’ work with 120 local nonprofit agencies and schools on tutoring, anti-poverty programs, low-income housing, environment and sustainability activities and noted that 600 students participated in regional, national or international service trips in 2010-2011. According to a campus survey, William & Mary students logged 333,453 service hours during the 2010-2011 academic year. This is up from the 262,000 hours reported in 2009-2010.
"It is amazing how much the William and Mary students contribute to our area and I'm not sure we, the residents, fully understand the magnitude of the contribution. The Alliance board saw giving this award to the student body as an opportunity to bring the facts to light and to say, thanks for all you do,” said Joseph Cantrell, immediate past president of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance and chief financial officer, Kings Creek Plantation.
W&M students’ contributions to the community have been broadly recognized. In September 2010, the College was listed among the “Most Service-Minded Schools” by Newsweek and the Kaplan College Guide. In 2011, Break Away, a nonprofit organization that helps colleges promote alternative break programs, included W&M on its top-ten lists of schools with the most alternative break trips, schools with the most participants and schools with the highest percentage of participants. Last May, the College was named to the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction for the second consecutive year. In June, William & Mary’s Branch Out alternative break program was named program of the year in Break Away’s 2011 National Alternative Break Awards, and, in August, the school was selected to participate in the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge.
W&M students have a deep connection with the community, one that begins even before the students start their first day as freshmen. Since 2010, the College’s Office of Community Engagement and Scholarship (OCES) has held a pre-orientation service program. The "7 Generations" service trip program provides new freshmen and transfer students a chance to study and work on social justice issues as well as get to know other students before they officially begin their College careers. Additionally, approximately 200 new students participate in SHOW (Students Helping Out Williamsburg) Day, working in service projects throughout the local region before the start of classes in the fall term.
Kaveh Sadeghian, President of the Student Assembly, and Molly Bulman, Vice President of the Student Assembly, accepted the award.
Created in the 1960’s, the Roll of the Drum Award is given annually to recognize an individual for outstanding work on behalf of the community and the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance. Golden was honored “in recognition of his outstanding service on behalf of both the community and the Alliance,” a press release said.
“Roll of the Drum is the Alliance’s most prestigious award. In the case of Jim Golden it couldn’t be more well deserved,” said Dick Schreiber, president and CEO of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance.
Past recipients include Sanford (Sandy) B. Wanner, longtime county administrator and public servant; Jeanne Ziedler, former Mayor of Williamsburg; and State Senator Tommy Norment.
“Greater Williamsburg is a wonderful community and it is a real honor to receive this award, particularly given the distinguished people who have received it in the past,” Golden said. “I’m delighted that the William & Mary student body was recognized at the same event.”
Golden served six years on the Alliance Board – two years as treasurer, two as business vice chair, one year as chair and one as past chair.
After arriving at the College in 1999, Golden has led William & Mary’s economic development efforts - first as director of economic development and corporate affairs and then as associate vice president for economic development. In 2008 he was named vice president for strategic initiatives. Throughout his William & Mary career Golden has been actively engaged with the community. He chaired both the Historic Triangle Task Force on Economic Diversification and the Alliance Task Force on Comprehensive Planning. He also serves on the boards of the Williamsburg Health Foundation and the Williamsburg-James City County Education Foundation.
Prior to coming to William & Mary in 1999, Golden was a senior executive at the Tenneco Corporation. Before that, he completed a 31-year Army career and retired as a Brigadier General. Golden joined the tenured faculty at the U.S. Military Academy after service as an artillery officer.
Golden graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. He received a master’s in public administration from the Kennedy School at Harvard University in 1967 and earned his doctorate in economics from Harvard in 1972.
