"Our schools are part of the fabric of our lives and always will be."
The Northeast has no shortage of liberal arts colleges, but Alice and Lee Spencer, P’12, say their daughter, Faith Spencer Armstrong, C’12, knew she wanted to pursue her undergraduate degree below the Mason-Dixon line. Though the Spencers raised Faith and her brother, Will, in New York and Vermont, Lee grew up in Oklahoma and has relatives throughout the South—so, parts of the region have long been familiar to the family. Additionally, Alice and Lee say, Faith’s dedication to outdoor athletics has cultivated a preference for warm weather. Sewanee was recommended by Faith’s college advisor at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, and by one of Lee’s colleagues on the Randolph-Macon College board of trustees. Maybe most persuasively, a couple of Faith’s Hotchkiss friends matriculated to Sewanee ahead of her and spoke highly of the University. “I think that’s always the best recommendation—when someone your own age [attends] a school and really likes it,” Lee says. “That made a big impact.”
During Faith’s time on campus, the Spencers contributed major gifts to their daughter’s main co-curricular pursuits, women’s soccer and women’s track and field, and they were co-chairs of the Sewanee Parents’ Council. Though they haven’t returned to the Mountain since Faith’s graduation, their philanthropic leadership has only grown over the past decade. Most recently, they provided significant support for the replacement of turf on Hardee-McGee and Puett fields. Lee describes this gift as motivated by gratitude for Faith’s career as a Sewanee Tiger, as well as a desire to meet the University’s most pressing needs. “[Faith] benefited from those fields,” he says, “and it’s also important for Sewanee to stay competitive in the world of athletics. We saw a need and have tried to fill it.”
Sewanee was a natural fit for Faith, as her parents describe it. In addition to excelling on the soccer and track teams, she was a member of Theta Kappa Phi. As a psychology major, she enjoyed the University’s small class sizes, which enabled her to get to know faculty members. “If she had a good soccer game, she would find a congratulatory note from a professor in her mailbox,” Lee says. During her senior year, Faith picked up a course credit by learning to play the fiddle. “She wound up getting an A in that class,” Lee notes. “And at graduation, [her class] performed on the lawn. We were as proud of that as we were of any of her athletic or other achievements at Sewanee.”
at the 2024 Masters Tournament in Augusta, GA
Almost immediately after earning her Sewanee degree, Faith landed a job teaching at an elementary school in rural, Southern India. She learned about the position while attending a family event, where she met the school’s founder, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.“He was impressed with Faith’s background and offered her a job on the spot,” Lee says. In her new role, Faith was required to devise lesson plans and manage classroom discipline—all while acclimating to a new culture. Fortunately, Alice and Lee say, their daughter not only surmounted these hurdles but genuinely thrived. “She brought some innovations to the school, like starting a student council,” Alice says. The Spencers credit Faith’s quick adjustment to strong interpersonal skills, which she honed at Sewanee. “People say there are IQ and SQ, which is Social Quotient,” Lee says. “In dealing with people, having a high SQ is invaluable.”
While Faith was in India, Alice and Lee visited and were able to see Faith’s classroom in action. It was a memorable afternoon, Lee says. “Faith asked a question dealing with photosynthesis. A 10-year-old girl stood up and gave a better answer than I would have given.”
Motivated by her experience in India, Faith received a master’s degree in elementary education from the College of Charleston in 2017. She married in 2018 and is now focused on raising her children, but Alice and Lee say she may return to the classroom eventually. Excellence in education runs in the family—Lee, who holds degrees from Princeton University and Yale Law School and is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Randolph-Macon, served as a teaching assistant at Yale and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, in addition to his decades-long career in law. Alice is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, serving on its President’s Commission for 20 years. She worked in public television and as a museum educator at the Smithsonian Institution and now serves on the board of the Shelburne Museum. The Spencers have been energetic fundraisers for Wheaton and the Stowe Land Trust, and they support a range of educational institutions through the Arthur D. Dana Foundation, the family’s charitable organization.
Supporting Sewanee has been an easy decision, Lee says, noting that his parents were faculty members at Oklahoma Baptist University. “Our schools are part of the fabric of our lives and always will be.” Their recent gift to Sewanee Athletics is the latest in a series of University investments, including the Spencer/Slay Award, which is given annually to an outstanding senior female track athlete and honors Faith, La’Toyia “Tiki” Slay Cooley, C’11, and their track teammates. “Tiki was an outstanding graduate and couldn’t be a nicer person, so we were delighted to suggest her name as part of [the award],” Lee says.
The Spencers have also established the Spencer Family Endowed Scholarship and the Spencer Family Cornerstone Scholarship, the latter of which is a merit-based award given with preference for graduates of New England boarding schools. One goal of the Cornerstone scholarship, Lee says, is to broaden the University’s name recognition. “Sewanee is an outstanding school, and we hope its fame continues to rise outside of its immediate area.”
Vice President for University Relations Deborah S. Vaughn, P’20, says the Spencers’ philanthropy demonstrates how donors can not only shape students’ trajectories but also steer the University’s future. “Lee and Alice have been true partners for Sewanee in every sense of the word,” she says. “While creating opportunities for high-achieving students, they have also opened doors for the University as an institution. It’s impossible to overstate the value of their generosity.”
