Thomas Jefferson Award

2026 - Randolph "Randy" Chambers, Professor of Biology

Professor Randolph M. Chambers, you have been the bedrock of environmental studies at William & Mary since 2000. You have advanced interdisciplinary learning across the university. Your leadership roles are numerous: director of the environmental science & policy program, associate chair of biology and director of the biology graduate program.

No role better signals your achievements than your work at the William & Mary Keck Environmental Field Laboratory. Under your direction, the Keck Lab has flourished as a university-wide resource. Graduate and undergraduate students engage in collaborative fieldwork in College Woods, on Lake Matoaka and throughout the surrounding watershed.

In the field and in the classroom, you have mentored the next generations of scientists and policymakers. You have taught more than two thousand students. The rigor, accessibility and enthusiasm you bring spark their curiosity for learning.

An exemplar of the teacher-scholar model, you have published more than 60 refereed articles and several book chapters. You have secured more than $1 million in funding from federal and state agencies. Your research has influenced aquatic restoration, climate-related environmental planning and more.

Your service has advanced sustainability initiatives. Through the Committee on Sustainability and stewardship of the Green Fee, you contribute to major energy, habitat and restoration efforts on campus. Your partnership with regional schools and organizations provides vital research in service to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Professor Randolph M. Chambers, you exemplify the finest qualities of a university citizen. For your work that enriches the academic lives of your students and colleagues, we are pleased to award you the 2026 Thomas Jefferson Award.

2025 - Bella Ginzbursky-Blum P '14, Teaching Professor of Russian Studies

The highest honor given by the university to a faculty member, the Thomas Jefferson Award recognizes significant service through personal activities, influence and leadership.

Bella Ginzbursky-Blum, you have an exemplary 33-year record of teaching and service at William & Mary. An award-winning teacher, a beloved mentor and a highly respected colleague, you have a reputation as a generous faculty member. You have built a stellar teaching record over the course of several decades and directed countless study abroad programs. You regularly explore new approaches to connect with learners, including your pioneering approach to implementing virtual reality tools in the classroom. Your devotion to your students as well as your profession resonates across campus and abroad.

Bella Ginzbursky-Blum, for your absolutely tireless devotion to William & Mary, we are pleased to honor you with the 2025 Thomas Jefferson Award.

2024 - Linda Schaffner, School of Marine Science

A member of the William & Mary community for 47 years, Dr. Linda Schaffner’s service embodies this award’s true essence. Arriving as a graduate student in 1976, Dr. Schaffner completed an M.A. and Ph.D. in Marine Science, has served as a member of the faculty in the School of Marine Science for 35 years (and counting) and led the academic program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science as Associate Dean of Academic Studies for 12 years. Linda’s dedication to William & Mary is unique and remarkable.

A widely-respected marine and estuarine ecologist, Dr. Schaffner’s interdisciplinary research helped build the foundation of the animal-sediment-flow relationship in marine benthic ecology. A role model to many, her eminence was recognized with the Dean’s Prize for Advancement of Women in Marine Science, an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia, and the Estuarine Research Federation’s Distinguished Service award, a global-scale award given only once every two years.

Dr. Schaffner champions students. She is deeply committed to the transformative power of education and mentorship. She encourages colleagues and students to grow and improve. As a faculty member, she established programs that expanded opportunities and access in coastal and marine science. Her leadership as Associate Dean resulted in a greater than 100% increase in central funding for graduate student support; increased graduate enrollment and student diversity; the launch of a successful professional (M.A.) degree; significant increases in professional development for students; a continuing shift towards truly holistic admissions review; a graduate program ombuds team; and support for an on-campus counseling program for VIMS graduate students. For her achievements, Dr. Schaffner has received VIMS’ Outstanding Teacher Award and William & Mary’s Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award.

Dr. Schaffner’s service to William & Mary has been multifaceted: producing impactful science; mentoring the next generation of leaders; building strong connections across the university; serving on strategic and administrative committees; and leading one of the country’s largest and most successful graduate programs in coastal and marine science.

For her tireless devotion to the betterment of William & Mary we honor Dr. Linda Schaffner with the 2024 Thomas Jefferson Award.

2023 - Ronald Sims, Raymond A. Mason School of Business

Ronald R. Sims, Floyd Dewey Gottwald Sr. Professor of Business Administration, your professional life is distinguished by an unwavering commitment to service. Your academic career at William & Mary spans nearly 37 years. For 25 years, you served our nation through military duty. Through your professional activities, influence and leadership, you have helped others develop and perform to reach their highest potential.

Colleagues at the business school and throughout the university recognize you as an active leader and change agent. Over the course of nearly four decades, you have led efforts to transform how the university and its individual units understand and recognize the values of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Long before these topics were widely discussed, you have spoken uncomfortable truths, knowing that plain speaking about difficult truths is necessary to advance equity. Arriving at the university in 1986, you helped found William & Mary’s Black Faculty and Staff Forum. You served as the Forum’s first president in 1987, and you continued as an executive board member through 1993.

Your service contributions at William & Mary are expansive. You have driven efforts to ensure equity in compensation practices and served on the Lead Design Team for the university’s compensation and classification system. A key collaborator for the W&M Leadership Institute and its Supervisors Institute, you helped design and deliver a program that maximizes learning for staff. You have taken on numerous committee leadership roles to ensure minority and women representation in hiring and recruitment. You brought these decades of experience to bear in your contributions to the business school’s current diversity task force and initiatives. Colleagues write poignantly and emphatically about your commitment to serving those around you. As one writes, “In the most persistent image I have of him, he is seated in his office lit by a single desk lamp speaking with a student, a faculty member, or a staff person about what they are doing and what they are trying to accomplish. This ‘invisible’ work has supported and shaped the development of countless members of the William & Mary community.” Another colleague puts its succinctly: “We have all profited from his dedication.”

Ronald R. Sims, you have made an indelible stamp on William & Mary’s faculty, students and staff and on the institution to which we all belong. We are pleased to honor you with the 2023 Thomas Jefferson Award.

2022 - Paul Marcus, William & Mary Law School

Paul Marcus, the R. Hugh and Nolie Haynes Professor of Law, has spent three decades at William & Mary and more than 45 years as a law professor and academic leader. He has been a law school dean and the president of the Association of American Law Schools. His scholarly excellence has led to his appointment to countless advisory roles in all branches of government. Long known as one of our best teachers, colleagues describe him as a maestro in the classroom and students call him the guiding force in their professional lives. He has made all of those around him better, from the dozens of faculty members across the country he has mentored to the inmates in the local jail who have benefited from the sessions on law and literature he has co-taught with our students. In 2010, the Commonwealth of Virginia recognized Marcus with the Outstanding Faculty Award.