Integrity Fund established to promote Honor System at UVa-Wise

Increasing student awareness of academic honesty and integrity will be the primary focus of an endowment fund recently established with The University of Virginia’s College at Wise Foundation.

The Integrity Fund will be used to provide support for the Honor System at UVa-Wise. In 1956 the College adopted its Honor System, under which all students pledge to cooperate in acting honestly and honorably in all facets of life. The code is enforced by the College’s Honor Court, comprised of student representatives elected by their peers.

The new fund was established by University of Virginia alumnus Henry D. Bruns, II, with the help of former UVa-Wise chancellor Ernest H. Ern.

“Education and integrity are inseparable, and the tenets of the Honor System at the University have made a lifelong, positive impact upon me and my interactions with others,” Bruns said. “In creating the Integrity Fund, it is my hope that the Honor System at UVa-Wise will continue to become as strong at the College as it is at the University in Charlottesville and that others would be inclined to support this goal, as well.”

The use of the fund will be overseen by Gil Blackburn, provost and senior vice chancellor of UVa-Wise and advisor to the College’s Honor Court.

“Whether it be academics, athletics or life in general, honor is at the center of everything we do,” said Blackburn. “Thanks to the Integrity Fund, we hope to further emphasize to our students the value of the Honor System and the importance of living their lives according to honorable principles.”

Blackburn said some possible uses of the Integrity Fund include an essay contest, a focused reading among students from a book with a theme of integrity and the installation of plaques in all classrooms to communicate the College’s honor pledge. Blackburn said a contest among students to design the plaque is in the works.

The student members of the UVa-Wise Honor Court also are excited by the prospects now available thanks to the Integrity Fund.

“The Honor Court highly appreciates the new possibilities created by the Integrity Fund,” said UVa-Wise student and Honor Court Chairperson Holly Weisiger. “I would love to have the opportunity to work with the University’s Honor Committee to discuss how we can enhance the UVa-Wise Honor System.”

To make a contribution to the Integrity Fund, or for more information, contact the Office of Development at 276-328-0129.

The only branch campus of the University of Virginia, UVa-Wise is ranked among the nation’s top ten public liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. UVa-Wise offers Virginia's only undergraduate degree in software engineering, among 28 other degrees and professional programs in the liberal arts tradition of Thomas Jefferson.

Posted January 29, 2008