VCU news

By Tom Gresham

When Bill Mattox arrived on the Virginia Commonwealth University campus in 1978, he was an adrift, uncertain young man. His first crack at college at The College of William and Mary had not gone well, and he’d been “invited not to return,” he recalled. He wasn’t even sure that he wanted to go back to school and considered the possibility of simply entering the workforce full time, setting ideas of a degree aside for good.

Mattox, a Richmond native, however, elected to give VCU a try, enrolling as a commuter student. At the university, he found a strong support network and a renewed interest in his studies. In particular, Dan Jordan, a history professor in the College of Humanities and Sciences, served as an avid advocate for Mattox, helping him get his credits transferred and working to make sure he was focused and motivated in the classroom.

“He really went the extra mile for me,” Mattox said. “He was a mentor in the best sense, and his guidance ended up being very important to me.”

Years later, Mattox decided to give back to VCU and honor his former mentor. He endowed a student scholarship in Jordan’s name. The scholarship is only one of the many ways that Mattox, who graduated from VCU with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1980, has remained attached to his alma mater. Other activities include service on alumni and advisory boards for the College of Humanities and Sciences and on an athletic booster club. He’s also been a VCU men’s basketball season-ticket holder since the late 1980s and endowed a scholarship for a student-athlete, named after former VCU athletic director Richard Sander.

The endowed scholarships are part of a pattern of giving to VCU that Mattox has maintained for 29 consecutive years. That consistency makes Mattox one of the university’s longest-running alumni donors, and it qualifies him for the Black & Gold Loyalty Society, the university’s new way of honoring those graduates who most reliably give back to the university. The program honors alumni who have made financial donations to VCU for at least five consecutive years.

The Black & Gold Loyalty Society launches this month with 1,425 members, including 48 like Mattox who have given for at least 25 straight years. Together, society members have provided $113 million in lifetime giving to VCU.

“Annual giving has a huge impact on the university,” said Michael P. Andrews (M.S.’05/E), director of annual giving at VCU. “We wanted to find a way of rewarding the loyalty of those alumni who give to VCU every year and to encourage other alumni to do the same.”

Society members will receive special invitations to VCU events. They also will receive a VCU lapel pin that features the stage they have reached in their consecutive years of annual giving, ranging in five-year increments from five years to 25 years.

Gifts of any amount qualify for society inclusion. Andrews points out that alumni giving provides not only financial benefits to the university but it also helps with various outside evaluations of VCU.

“You’re helping VCU no matter how much you give,” Andrews said.

Mattox remembers that a few years after he graduated from VCU he began to send in a modest annual check. He also helped at some phoneathon events, calling fellow alumni to see if they would consider donating. His motivation, he said, was to contribute any way he could to the university that had meant a great deal to him.

Mattox still lives in Richmond, serving as a senior vice president at Colliers International, a full-service commercial real estate brokerage company. He has kept tabs on VCU’s growth, and he is proud of the university’s evolution. He said one of the benefits of remaining involved with VCU has been watching its development up close – not only touring new facilities and keeping up with the physical changes, he said, but speaking with the students and faculty who are the heart of the university. Mattox said Jim Coleman, Ph.D., dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, and his development and alumni relations team keep him involved and inspired. There is no question that his relationship to VCU has only deepened with time, he said.

“My experience at VCU was great, and I’m so appreciative of that,” Mattox said. “The university gave me a second chance, and it’s gratifying to give back in some way.”

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