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Volume 6 Relation of U.B/EUB Virginia Conferences to Shenandoah University Dec. 26, 2013
assistance. After retiring from the Board, Ralph Shockey continued to serve as a personal building and
construction advisor to the President of the University.
Northern Virginia Campus. The Northern Virginia campus for the University expanded in
Loudoun County as the demand for teachers grew rapidly with the addition of more than 26 new public
schools over the two decades of the 1990s and 2000s. Also, the University initiated a new Nursing
program for students who already possessed a bachelor’s degree that utilized an accelerated model with
a distance-education component. Inova Health Corporation supported the University with financial aid,
equipment, and rental assistance for the new facility. Bill Hazel and Cecil Pruitt, two developers and
friends of the University, constructed and leased a new facility for the campus adjacent to the Howard
Hughes Institute on Route 7 in Loudoun County. The new building was beautiful and very well located
on the busiest highway in the area, only a few minutes from Leesburg.
The growth of the Northern Virginia campus with enrollments in undergraduate and graduate
business, education, and nursing were exciting and met some of the key needs of the growing Loudoun
community. The new campus extended the University’s service area and reputation. The Loudoun
campus had evolved from the basement of the City Hall in Leesburg, to the old hospital facility vacated
by the Leesburg Hospital prior to merger with Inova Health Systems, to a leased facility on the outskirts
of Leesburg, and finally to the new Route 7 Hazel-Pruitt building. Each move elevated the quality of the
programs and enhanced the already excellent technology and modern classrooms with easy Internet
connections to the main campus libraries and personnel. The Northern Virginia Campus was an
important service outreach for the University in the eyes of the Loudoun community and for the state
system of higher education in the Commonwealth, which only a decade earlier had planned to build
another state university in the community.
Brandt Student Center. One of the major issues that continually challenged the administration
was the availability of sufficient space for student activities and events. Four trustees—Bill Brandt,
Andy Ferrari, John Stokely, and Tom Offutt—provided leadership in urging the trustees to advance the
construction of a new student center. With many retention studies and comments by students and
alumni at our annual planning events that highlighted the need for this new facility, these four trustees
stepped forward and made major gifts to move this project to reality. In the last months my presidency,
the Brandt Student Center was designed and constructed, even though the building contractor, Ricketts
Construction, experienced financial difficulties and defaulted to the bonding company for completion of
the project. A new Ricketts Corporation that was supervised by the bonding company completed the
project some 6 months late. However, the project was finished within budget and provided beautiful
space for large student and faculty gatherings, small meetings, exercise facilities, post office, student
organization meeting space, food venues, recreational space, and a new bookstore.
The University named the building for Bill and Elaine Brandt, the principal donors, and it was a
magical place for students to come together and have a gathering space for creating bonds between
students and the University that had been missing for years. The Board of Trustees honored Andy and
Barbara Ferrari for their gift to the building fund by naming the large conference room and veranda “the
Ferrari Room.” Tom and Elaine Offutt and John Stokely also were praised as key supporters of the
student center project, as they were also on the new business school. Tom and John’s leadership on the
building committee was very helpful during the bankruptcy and the completion of the project.
Parking Garage. In order to build the new Brandt Student Center, the University had to address
the lack of adequate parking on campus. To provide adequate parking for resident and non-resident
Davis on History of S.C., 1982-2008 82
assistance. After retiring from the Board, Ralph Shockey continued to serve as a personal building and
construction advisor to the President of the University.
Northern Virginia Campus. The Northern Virginia campus for the University expanded in
Loudoun County as the demand for teachers grew rapidly with the addition of more than 26 new public
schools over the two decades of the 1990s and 2000s. Also, the University initiated a new Nursing
program for students who already possessed a bachelor’s degree that utilized an accelerated model with
a distance-education component. Inova Health Corporation supported the University with financial aid,
equipment, and rental assistance for the new facility. Bill Hazel and Cecil Pruitt, two developers and
friends of the University, constructed and leased a new facility for the campus adjacent to the Howard
Hughes Institute on Route 7 in Loudoun County. The new building was beautiful and very well located
on the busiest highway in the area, only a few minutes from Leesburg.
The growth of the Northern Virginia campus with enrollments in undergraduate and graduate
business, education, and nursing were exciting and met some of the key needs of the growing Loudoun
community. The new campus extended the University’s service area and reputation. The Loudoun
campus had evolved from the basement of the City Hall in Leesburg, to the old hospital facility vacated
by the Leesburg Hospital prior to merger with Inova Health Systems, to a leased facility on the outskirts
of Leesburg, and finally to the new Route 7 Hazel-Pruitt building. Each move elevated the quality of the
programs and enhanced the already excellent technology and modern classrooms with easy Internet
connections to the main campus libraries and personnel. The Northern Virginia Campus was an
important service outreach for the University in the eyes of the Loudoun community and for the state
system of higher education in the Commonwealth, which only a decade earlier had planned to build
another state university in the community.
Brandt Student Center. One of the major issues that continually challenged the administration
was the availability of sufficient space for student activities and events. Four trustees—Bill Brandt,
Andy Ferrari, John Stokely, and Tom Offutt—provided leadership in urging the trustees to advance the
construction of a new student center. With many retention studies and comments by students and
alumni at our annual planning events that highlighted the need for this new facility, these four trustees
stepped forward and made major gifts to move this project to reality. In the last months my presidency,
the Brandt Student Center was designed and constructed, even though the building contractor, Ricketts
Construction, experienced financial difficulties and defaulted to the bonding company for completion of
the project. A new Ricketts Corporation that was supervised by the bonding company completed the
project some 6 months late. However, the project was finished within budget and provided beautiful
space for large student and faculty gatherings, small meetings, exercise facilities, post office, student
organization meeting space, food venues, recreational space, and a new bookstore.
The University named the building for Bill and Elaine Brandt, the principal donors, and it was a
magical place for students to come together and have a gathering space for creating bonds between
students and the University that had been missing for years. The Board of Trustees honored Andy and
Barbara Ferrari for their gift to the building fund by naming the large conference room and veranda “the
Ferrari Room.” Tom and Elaine Offutt and John Stokely also were praised as key supporters of the
student center project, as they were also on the new business school. Tom and John’s leadership on the
building committee was very helpful during the bankruptcy and the completion of the project.
Parking Garage. In order to build the new Brandt Student Center, the University had to address
the lack of adequate parking on campus. To provide adequate parking for resident and non-resident
Davis on History of S.C., 1982-2008 82
