WCU's Annual Presidential Gala

A WCU education is transformative—if you weren’t able to attend the 2025 Gala, you can still help our students thrive by making a gift to support experiential learning. Interested in becoming a 2026 Gala sponsor? Reach out to Viviann Schorle, Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations.

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Sponsor

Showcase Your Partnership with WCU as a Sponsor

We invite members of the Greater West Chester community to be part of a bright future that will benefit our students and celebrate the work that we will do together to drive student success.

Do you remember how getting your first internship felt? Or how about the time you attended a conference as a student or visited a company on-site for the day? Your sponsorship dollars will directly impact our students through the Experiential Learning Fund, which gives our Golden Rams the resources and opportunities to participate in hands-on learning experiences.

Experiential learning (ExL) intentionally furthers access to knowledge and skills related to our students’ interests and careers while offering local organizations the opportunity to discover new talent through:

Internships
Site visits at facilities/corporations
Training Workshops
Research
Conferences

Showcase your partnership with WCU as a sponsor of the Gala. Contact Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations Viviann Schorle at vschorle@wcufoundation.org to discuss your commitment or review our sponsorship deck that includes levels that offer value for businesses of all size. Please respond by Tuesday, January 6, 2026 to have your name included on the printed invitation.

Join our team in making a difference for our Golden Rams!

Inauguration Celebration Culminates In 42nd Annual Presidential Gala

More than 450 alumni, donors, WCU faculty and staff, students, friends, and supporters gathered in the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens on March 28 in celebration of the inauguration of Dr. Laurie Bernotsky as the University’s 16th president.

Proceeds from this year’s Gala support experiential learning opportunities — unpaid internships, clinical rotations, student-teacher stipends, education abroad, the WCU Resource Pantry, and the Career Closet — that are vital to our students’ education. The Gala was co-chaired by Michael M’91 and Karen Gibson M’00 and made possible thanks to Presenting Sponsor Aramark and numerous corporate sponsors; the Gala is funded entirely by private donations and sponsorships.

More information about the Presidential Inauguration celebration can be found at www.wcupa.edu/inauguration.

Senior marketing major Lilyana Campbell was awarded a scholarship to study language in Sorrento, Italy.

She told the audience: “I can go on and on about the remarkable pizza and endless pasta, but this trip meant so much more to me. I discovered the beauty of connecting with people from diverse backgrounds and realized how important global perspectives are in today’s world…I truly understood the significance of international business and the impact it has on fostering cross-cultural relationships.”

Lilyana will be returning in the fall to earn her MBA.