Randolph-Macon College President Robert R. Lindgren is pleased to announce a $500,000 gift from Maria Wornom Rippe and her husband Peter. The Wornom-Rippe Faculty Development Endowment will provide funds to help the college continue to attract and recruit outstanding new faculty. Funding will also supplement the purchase of research equipment, professors’ travel expenses and will be used to hire summer research support.

“This generous gift will enable us to continue pursuing one of our primary goals: to hire the brightest, most dynamic scholars, and to support their teaching and research,” said Lindgren. “The entire Randolph-Macon community is grateful to the Rippes for this magnificent gift, which will ultimately benefit countless students.”

Maria and Peter Rippe are longtime supporters of RMC, a tradition initiated by Maria’s parents, Maria and Marchant Wornom ’33 and continued by several of her family members who also attended RMC. Maria’s uncle, Dr. Paul H. Wornom ’37, established The Paul H. Wornom, M.D. Professorship in Biology, currently held by Professor Chas Gowan. Her cousin, Charles W. Wornom ’64, continues to serve as a committed member of the College’s Board of Trustees. The Rippes have also served the college in a variety of ways, most recently as members of the Presidents Society and the RMC Arts Council.

“We have always believed that education is a good investment,” says Maria Rippe. “When we look back on our own college days, we remember, first and foremost, the faculty. They broadened our horizons, furthered our independent thinking by sharing their research and knowledge, and gave us the support and confidence we needed to make our way in the world.”

Maria Rippe earned a B.A. from Agnes Scott College before earning her Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS) from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also holds a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary. She is the author of The Tinsley Family of Totomoi (The Dietz Press, 2009), which chronicles her family’s deep roots in Hanover County.

Peter Rippe earned a B.A. from University of Puget Sound and a Master in American Studies from University of Delaware where he was a Fellow of the Winterthur Museum. He has directed a number of museums, including the Museum of the Confederacy, Harris County Heritage Society (Houston), Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, and the P. Buckley Moss Museum in Waynesboro, Va. He is the author of P. Buckley Moss: Painting the Joy of the Soul (Landauer Corporation, 1997).