Patricia M. Lampkin and William B. Quandt Receive 2012 Thomas Jefferson Awards

Patricia M. Lampkin, vice president and chief student affairs officer, and William B. Quandt, Edward R. Stettinius Jr. Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, are the recipients of the 2012 Thomas Jefferson Awards at the University of Virginia. The awards were presented today during Fall Convocation in the John Paul Jones Arena.

Lampkin and Quandt are the 63rd and 64th recipients of the Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest honor the University community bestows upon its faculty. The convocation also included recognition of 344 third-year U.Va. students who earned Intermediate Honors and a keynote address by John D. Simon, executive vice president and provost.

The Thomas Jefferson Award selection committee chose Lampkin to receive the award recognizing excellence in service, which has been sponsored since 1955 by the Robert Earll McConnell Foundation. Quandt was honored with the award recognizing excellence in scholarship, established in 2009 by the Alumni Board of Trustees of the University of Virginia Endowment Fund Inc.

The awards honor those in the University community who best exemplify in character, work and influence the principles and ideals of Thomas Jefferson, and have advanced in their daily work the objectives for which Jefferson founded the University.

Lampkin’s 34 Years of Extraordinary Service Honored

The more than 30 letters supporting Lampkin’s nomination paint a picture of a low-key, self-deprecating personification of Jeffersonian ideals and the standard-bearer of the University’s distinctive student experience.

But, more importantly, they paint a picture of a senior administrator who is always ready to extend a hand to any student, and who makes the undergraduate experience both personal and life changing. Lampkin’s generosity, kindness, guidance, dedication and compassion – coupled with her ability to find humor in even the darkest of times – have touched thousands of students.

Not only has she taken students under her wing, but she has taught many a fellow faculty member and administrator how student life works at the University – about the community of honor, the community of trust and the community of caring. She champions student self-governance and works tirelessly to support student leaders capable of guiding University organizations, and even some University operations, nominators wrote.

“Pat understands that delicate balance of personal development that occurs as our students mature during their time here with the need for exposing and involving them to rigorous thought, inquiry and professional standards,” one nominator wrote. “She helps them pursue their dreams in education, research, teaching and service of all kinds.”

A former student wrote: “Though the names and nuances change, what remains is that Pat has been an integral part of countless people’s experiences at the University. Her legacy is immense.”

A former Board of Visitors member, who worked closely with Lampkin during his eight-year tenure, wrote that he could think of no one more deserving of the Jefferson award. “Pat has demonstrated her dedication to the University over a long period of service always marked by good judgment and a deep appreciation of the core values that make the University such a special place.”

A 1987 graduate of the College who currently serves in a top government position calls Lampkin a major force in her life: “I chalk up my successes in life to her careful, wise and unobtrusive stewardship of my development as a student, as a member of the University community, and as a leader – through her words and deeds and example she provided for me and my classmates . . .. Ms. Lampkin continued to breathe life into (Jefferson’s vision) by devoting her career to continually shape what it means to be a student – and student leader – at the University.”

And a more recent graduate, who earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University, said he got to know Lampkin during the summer he spent on Grounds between his third and fourth years, a time when he began to discern how she goes about helping students to learn and grow.

Every Tuesday evening, Lampkin would welcome students to her home in Pavilion V for dinners. “None of us realized their real purpose, which is evident in retrospect,” he wrote. “Pat brought us together in an informal setting that cultivated the creation of personal relationships that in turn enabled each of us and our respective organizations to carry out our duties more effectively.”

A former Lawn resident, six years out, wrote that when she says Lampkin embodies Jeffersonian ideals, she means two things: that “Pat champions the illimitable freedom of the human mind,” and that she “champions a fearless pursuit of truth through reason.”

Award Honors Quandt’s Legacy of Academic Distinction

In letter after letter, from colleagues and university presidents, Bill Quandt is praised for his distinguished career – before he joined the University and in the 18 years since. He has integrated all of the lessons learned from his diplomatic career and folded them into lessons taught in the classroom, making his lectures in high demand for any student interested in global dynamics and politics.

His colleagues call him a celebrated teacher, a distinguished diplomat, a most productive and visionary scholar and a great colleague. He works easily across fields and disciplines, collaborating to enhance the outcome for his students.

The popularity of his classes often leaves many wait-listed students begging to get in.

As a former senior staff member of the National Security Council and aide to President Jimmy Carter, Quandt helped craft the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. He is an expert on the Middle East, particularly Egypt, Israel and American foreign policy in the region. He was a consultant to ABC News during the Gulf War.

A high-ranking University administrator, who worked closely with Quandt, wrote in his nomination letter that Quandt “added substance and value to the University and to education in it, brought new distinctions to our scholarly community, and symbolized in every way the best elements of faculty accomplishment in a university created for the purpose of discovering and promulgating useful knowledge.”

He noted that Quandt made uncommon contributions to global dialogue among scholars, and later took on the challenge of establishing the position of vice provost for international affairs during a period in which the University needed his wisdom and experience.

The nominator credits Quandt for creating the building blocks of the University’s current international prominence. “Bill’s vision was global. His capacity to inspire the extra effort required to take larger numbers of better-prepared students and their faculty mentors to Africa, the Middle East, India and Pakistan, the south Asian peninsula, Australia and New Zealand, China and Japan, and central and south America was the glue that originally brought together the components of programs that will last.”

A former U.Va. provost who also worked with Quandt praised his work on expanding the global outreach of the University. He remembered Quandt setting about the task of developing a University-wide strategy for international efforts and the great respect he showed fellow faculty members who were already leading international programs. He looked to support what was already established, he wrote. “But Bill also looked more broadly at regions where students could gain the most from study-abroad opportunities and, in his stylish but persuasive way, he convinced faculty to initiate programs in these areas.”

Many of Quandt’s colleagues in the Department of Politics called him “indefatigable” in his service to the University and to teaching. “Bill has won the All-University Teaching Award in 2005 and has … almost single-handedly produced a dozen Ph.D. students presently working in higher education and government,” one wrote.

Even chairs of other departments offered their support and said that throughout his tenure, Quandt has expanded his role as an instructor far beyond the call of duty.

A member of another department also wrote that he exemplifies the very best Jeffersonian ideals and principles. In summary, she said, “His skillful and nuanced reading of politicians and political texts, his unwavering commitment to the field of Middle Eastern politics, his genuine respect for democracy, human rights and human dignity, and his sensitivity to delicate cultural issues are truly awe-inspiring.”