“We saw a gap that needed to be filled, and it was an area where we thought we could actually make a difference in students’ life and educational experiences.”
In the fall of 1975 after graduating from Sewanee with an English degree, Holland West arrived in New York City with a suitcase and a small, black-and-white television. He says he still didn’t know whether he wanted to pursue a business or law career, but he was ready to “embrace new experiences, challenge myself, and take risks”—and he thanks Sewanee for instilling him with that drive and confidence.
West remained in New York for law school and until his retirement, establishing himself as a leading capital markets, private investment funds, and derivatives lawyer. Currently, he serves as managing principal of Topsail Insights LLC in Chapel Hill, NC, a strategic services firm that offers business, commercial, and financial guidance to corporations and nonprofits. “Experiencing New York changed my life,” West shares, “and Sewanee gave me the roadmap to get there.”
Growing up in Canton, NC, which West describes as “a very small paper mill town,” distant travel wasn’t in his sights. Without the scholarship funding that enabled him to enroll at Sewanee, he says he likely would have attended “a big, state school,” such as UNC Chapel Hill. “Sewanee was a much better environment for me to get on track academically,” he notes. “Like every Sewanee student, I studied a wide array of liberal arts subjects—and it completely broadened my world and my aspirations.”
West says that, as a freshman, he was particularly enthralled by his English courses. Reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina turned him toward a major in English literature, although he initially believed he’d major in political science. “The experience of being taught by certain professors—primarily by [Professor of English] Tam Carlson—piqued my interest in literature and the wider world,” West notes. In fact, Dr. Carlson’s influence on West was so profound that, as West describes, “My mother, who was a single parent, reached out to Tam to thank him, because she knew the educational and mentoring impact he’d had on my life.”
Although West relished his coursework at Sewanee, he never considered studying abroad. “I would see postings [in academic buildings] about a Christmas trip or a summer trip,” he explains. “But I didn’t have the financial resources to do it. I needed to work during the summer to earn school and spending money.”
In contrast, West’s wife Debbie, whom he met while working in New York City, spent a semester at Oxford during her undergraduate years at Ohio Wesleyan University and says she continues to cherish the experience. “I was the oldest child in my family, so my sisters ended up studying abroad too,” she notes. The Wests’ three children also studied internationally in college. “Travel abroad certainly had a positive influence on my wife, Debbie, and my children,” West says. As he describes, when Debbie decided to support study abroad scholarships at Ohio Wesleyan, “It resonated with me as an opportunity to have a real impact on Sewanee students.”
Working with Sewanee’s Office of Global Citizenship, Debbie and Holland, along with their children, established the Holland West (C’1975) & Family Study Away Endowment in December 2021. The Sewanee Pledge ensures that students can study internationally for a semester while paying the same cost as a semester at Sewanee—so, the Wests are instead focused on covering a range of non-academic expenses associated with studying abroad. As Holland explains, the costs of “airfare, travel, immunizations, visas, and passports” can add up quickly. Additionally, students with financial hardships often can’t afford to skip a semester of work-study income. “The educational world, like the rest of society, is in many ways inequitable to students in need,” West notes. In establishing the endowment, he says, “We saw a gap that needed to be filled, and it was an area where we thought we could actually make a difference in students’ life and educational experiences.”
The Wests have designated their fund for students who come from educational, cultural, or geographic backgrounds that are underrepresented or underserved, including first-generation college students, Pell Grant recipients, Posse Foundation scholars, and other students facing economic or social challenges. “I think one thing we’ve learned from the COVID pandemic is the importance of relationships, belonging, and community,” West shares. “I believe there’s a need to reestablish that connectedness. One way of doing that is supporting the education and life experiences of students from underrepresented groups.” As much as their endowment promotes academic enrichment, the Wests point out that it’s also a social justice fund. “We very much feel an obligation to give back by paying forward,” Holland says.
As they push to close the full gap for Sewanee students who want to study abroad, the Wests have now offered to match any gifts made to their endowment up to $50,000 through the end of Homecoming and Reunion Weekend 2023. Additionally, they have set up a matching challenge for their separate gift to the University’s William Ralston Listening Library, which the Wests made in honor of Dr. Carlson. Their Ralston giving challenge will run through the end of 2023.
Deborah S. Vaughn, P’20, Sewanee’s Vice President for University Relations, notes, “The Wests have generously provided a means for donors to effectively double the impact of their gifts to our study away program and Listening Library. This is an exciting opportunity to enrich the experiences of our underrepresented students through two powerful mechanisms—travel and music.”
Holland highlights another benefit of supporting students: “It gives you a way to live vicariously—to play a role in someone’s transformative experiences,” he says. Debbie adds, “If you’ve done well in part because you attended Sewanee and received a good and life-changing education, but maybe you didn’t get to have all the experiences you wanted while you were on campus, this is a way for you to help provide that to current and future students.”
