College of William & Mary - Organization and Administration

Organization and Administration

See also: List of presidents of the College of William & Mary and Chancellor of the College of William & Mary

The Board of Visitors is a corporation established by the General Assembly of Virginia to govern and supervise the operation of the College of William & Mary and of Richard Bland College. The corporation is composed of 17 members appointed by the Governor of Virginia, based upon on the recommendations made by the Society of the Alumni, to a maximum of two-successive four-year terms. The Board elects a Rector, Vice Rector, and Secretary and the Board meets four times annually. The Board is responsible for appointing a president, related administrative officers, and an honorary chancellor, approving degrees, admission policies, departments, and schools, and executing the fiduciary duties of supervising the College's property and finances.

The Chancellor of the College of William and Mary is largely a ceremonial role. Until 1776, the position was held by an English subject, usually the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London, who served as the College’s advocate to the crown, while a colonial President oversaw the day-to-day activities of the Williamsburg campus. Following the Revolutionary War, General George Washington was appointed as the first American chancellor; later United States President John Tyler held the post. The College has recently had a number of distinguished chancellors: former Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger (1986–1993), former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1993–2000), and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (2000–2005). Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was installed as the College's 23rd Chancellor on April 7, 2006. When her term expires in February 2012, Robert M. Gates '65 will succeed her.

The Board of Visitors delegates to a president the operating responsibility and accountability for the administrative, fiscal, and academic performance of the College as well as representing the College on public occasions such as conferral of degrees. In September 2008, W. Taylor Reveley III became the 27th President of the College, succeeding Gene Nichol. The president is assisted by a provost, the senior academic officer of the university, and several vice presidents.

Faculty members are organized into separate faculties of the Faculty of Arts and Science as well as those for the respective schools of Business, Education, Law, and Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Each faculty is presided over by a dean, who reports to the provost, and governs itself through separate by-laws approved by the Board of Visitors. The faculty are also represented by a faculty assembly that serves to advise the president and provost.

The Royal Hospital School, an independent boarding school in the United Kingdom, is a sister institution.