Glade & Glen

Issue 11 — Spring 2026

Arrivals and Departures

This has been quite a year! It’s hard to believe we closed out the spring semester. Many members of the community spent an April weekend participating in the marathon reading of Milton’s Paradise Lost, led by Margie Thickstun, HamTrek made us all wish we had hit the gym a bit more, and Class & Charter Day celebrated Hamilton’s very best students and faculty, hosting a barbeque for all to acknowledge the coming close of the academic year.

During the past 12 months, President Steven Tepper and I accomplished a significant amount of traveling as we shared updates about the vision for the College’s future — ideas that came out of the community-wide aspirational design initiative. Yes, I have road stories. But what is said in the car, stays in the car!

When you travel as much as we have, you experience many arrivals and departures. You literally and figuratively take off and land in so many ways through the conversations and meetings you have with people along the way. Each conversation, every Zoom meeting, all of the emails, led to further refinement and, finally, we have a flight plan for Hamilton’s path forward. We are excited to tell you more about it, and ask for your help, as we plan to stand up and test new ideas and programs during the next 18 months.

As we printed these pages, we were preparing for another arrival — your return to the Hill for Reunion Weekend. Your rooms were being readied, the grass was getting cut, menus were being set, and friends were finalizing travel plans. We were so happy at the prospect of having all of you back home!

And yet the bittersweet nature of a college is that individuals are always departing, too. In late spring, we said goodbye to the extraordinary Class of 2026; in June, we celebrated the amazing alumni volunteers and trustees ending terms on the Alumni Council and the board. We are so grateful for their service.

So as we depart one academic year to arrive soon at the start of another, let’s take a moment to be proud of the journey we have had this year and how far we have come. And let’s look forward to where we may go next.

Yours in Buff and Blue,

Lori Rava Dennison ’87, P’16
Vice President, Advancement

Necrology Writer and Contact

Christopher Wilkinson ’68
Email: Chris.Wilkinson@mail.wvu.edu