When Dr. Frank Whitehouse Jr. came to Lynchburg College in 1980, there was no email or Wi-Fi, just chalkboards, overhead projectors and rotary phones.
“I wanted to teach at a liberal arts college,” Whitehouse said. “That was, and still is, very important. I wanted to teach marketing and management in a place where people really valued education as a part of something larger.”
Forty-five years later, the campus looks and communicates very differently. Crumbling asphalt walkways are now concrete, dorms have solar panels and everything is online.
Whitehouse remembers having to buy his own desktop computer, complete with two floppy disks and a printer, because the college did not provide them yet.
“The campus looked quite different then,” he said. “But a lot of the changes over the years have been small ones, little ones that add up.”
Despite all the changes, Whitehouse said the liberal arts foundation has always remained at the heart of the university.
“If I had to pick two words that define the University of Lynchburg, they’d be liberal arts,” he said. “What we teach, how we teach, even how we think, it all starts there.”
As campus celebrates this year’s Homecoming, stories like Whitehouse’s anchor the campus to its 122 years of history. But across campus, new faculty members are now writing the next chapter in the story of Lynchburg.
For Dr. Sarah Dixon, assistant professor of counselor education, the story begins in a different generation, but with the same kind of connection.
Before becoming a professor, Dixon was a graduate student, earning her master’s degree from the University of Lynchburg in 2021.
“My journey from student to professor has truly felt full circle,” Dixon said. “Coming back to Lynchburg now feels like a natural continuation of that journey…a chance to give back to the community that helped me.”
Dixon first came to Lynchburg after getting her undergraduate degree from James Madison University, looking for something smaller and more personal. She found that in the counselor education program.
“My first impression was how genuinely welcoming and connected the community felt,” she said. “It quickly became clear that this was a place where people truly know and care about one another.”
After earning her doctorate from James Madison University, Dixon returned to Lynchburg in 2024 as a professor, working to recreate that sense of belonging in her own classroom.
“It’s important to me that every student feels seen, supported and empowered to bring their full identity into their learning,” she said. “I view the classroom as a space for mutual learning, where curiosity, reflection and authenticity guide the process.”
While Dixon brings a new energy to her department and classroom, Whitehouse represents the importance of institutional stability.
In his more than four decades of teaching at the University of Lynchburg, he’s taught nearly every business course and generations of students have passed through his classrooms; many now returning to campus as alumni, parents and professionals.
Despite ever-evolving technology, Whitehouse says that students’ motivations have stayed the same.
“Fundamentally, they’re still asking the same questions: ‘Where am I going, and what do I need to do to get there?’” he said.
What has changed, however, is how learning happens. From chalkboards to AI, from hand-graded essays to Google Docs, Whitehouse has adapted at every new stage.
“I was kind of dragged kicking and screaming into the Google Workspace,” he joked. “But it’s changed the way we communicate. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything on paper anymore.”
Yet amid these shifts, Whitehouse has found that the heart of the institution–teaching students to think broadly, write clearly and understand connections between disciplines–still shapes what it means to be a Hornet.
“The fundamental core, which is the liberal arts tradition, is still there,” he said. “It’s just taken on a different form.”
If there is one word that both professors reach for to describe Lynchburg, it’s community.
When Whitehouse talks about Lynchburg, his memories are less about buildings and more about the people.
He recalls his early years, having his office in Carnegie Hall, alongside his colleagues from various different disciplines.
“It was a really nice collegial experience,” he said. “We’d spend time talking about what was going on, sharing ideas. That’s what made it special.”
For Dixon, community is all about cultivating an atmosphere of openness and empathy.
“Lynchburg has taught me that leadership doesn’t have to be loud to be impactful,” Dixon said. “Compassion and humility can be just as powerful as expertise.”
As a new generation of faculty steps into their roles, Dixon sees her work as both a continuation and a renewal.
“I see myself fitting into the university’s legacy not by replicating what’s been done, but by building on it,” she said. “Lynchburg gives me space to leave my own mark while helping students grow.”
Reflecting on his own legacy, Whitehouse describes his time at Lynchburg as “a series of connected moments.”
After decades of teaching, mentoring and seeing students come and go, his voice carries both gratitude and pride.
“It’s nice when you hear from alumni,” he said. “They’ll email and say, ‘I remember when we talked about this in your class, and I never thought I’d be doing it, but now I am.’ That’s what makes it worth it.”
As campus fills with alumni, students and faculty celebrating Homecoming, both professors reflect on what it means to belong to a place that’s always changing but never losing its identity.
For Whitehouse, Homecoming is a reunion of memories and faces.
“It’s a chance to see my former students,” he said. “To hear where they are, how they’ve changed. It’s marvelous.”
For Dixon, it is a reminder of how far she has come and how her story is still being written.
“Homecoming,” Dixon said, “is all about connection and belonging. It’s a chance to celebrate the community that shapes this university and reminds us why it feels like home.”
Though their experiences span decades, both professors agree that the bonds that are formed here, between faculty, students and alumni are what keeps people coming back long after graduation.
“It’s relationships,” Whitehouse said. “The relationships students develop with each other and with faculty. Those shared experiences are what connect them to this place decades later.”
