A Legacy of Support

After 29 years of service to the University, Sylvia V. Terry, associate dean of the Office of African-American Affairs, has retired.

She began working in the Office of Admission in 1980 and became coordinator of minority recruitment. “She sought strong students, and she made them stronger,” says President Casteen. “She has given generation after generation of our students self-confidence, self-respect, the capacity to earn their degrees and the pride that comes of succeeding. She has given much the same to those of us who have been fortunate enough to work with her and to watch her work.”

Described by many students as a “mother away from home,” Terry spent the last 20 years at the OAAA, where she was the driving force behind a peer adviser program that matches incoming students with an upper-class “big brother” or “big sister” to support them throughout their academic careers. The program has made a major contribution to UVA’s 15-year record of having the highest black graduation rate for public universities in the nation.