WHEREAS, the Commonwealth offers one of the most respected and acclaimed systems of higher education in the United States due to the quality of its public and private colleges and universities; and

WHEREAS, Virginia colleges and universities educate more than 550,000 students annually, representing all demographics, all regions of the Commonwealth, and all corners of the United States and the world; and

WHEREAS, Virginia higher education institutions advance learning, research, and public service to enhance the civic and financial health of the Commonwealth and the well-being of all its people, which transforms the lives of Virginians, their communities, and the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the success of Virginia's higher education institutions would not be possible without the dedicated, hardworking faculty at each of the Commonwealth's superb colleges and universities; and

WHEREAS, faculty at Virginia's colleges and universities make innumerable contributions to the intellectual and personal growth and development of their students, who in turn contribute greatly to the educational, economic, cultural, and civic vitality of the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards program—now in its 31st year—is presented by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and Dominion Resources and continues to recognize the finest among the Commonwealth's higher education faculty for their superior abilities and accomplishments in teaching, research, service, and knowledge integration; and

WHEREAS, the 2017 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award recipients—Kelly June Bremner, John Gregory Brown, Theresa B. Clarke, Stephen J. Farnsworth, Michael Kevin Hamed, Margaret Leary, Caroline Lubert, Daniel Menascé, Xiang-Jin Meng, Jennifer Grimsley Michaeli, Anatoly Radyushkin, and Walter Smith—are remarkable educators, productive scholars, and tremendous ambassadors for their academic disciplines, campuses, communities, and the entire Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend the recipients of the 2017 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards for their professorial excellence and unparalleled achievements; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare copies of this resolution for presentation to the recipients of the 2017 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards as an expression of the General Assembly's respect for the recipients' commitment to their profession and their outstanding contributions to the lives of Virginians and the Commonwealth as a whole.