Webber International University Mourns Death of Namesake, Alumnus, Former Chairperson of the Board, Trustee Emeritus, and Friend Camilla Grace Webber McConnell
Babson Park, FL (01/08/2021) — The Babson Park campus of Webber International University houses a Camilla Residence Hall, a Grace Residence Hall, and a McConnell Classroom Building. Major donors are honored with membership in the Camilla Society. Famed economist, presidential candidate, entrepreneur and founder of Babson College, Roger Babson, founded Webber College (now Webber International University) - the second college of business for women in the United States - in 1927 to honor his granddaughter, Camilla Grace Webber (later McConnell).
Camilla would go on to graduate from the college which bore her name and eventually go to work there, progressing from Secretary through Registrar to Chairperson of the Board. While McConnell retired from the university in the 1970's and from its board in 2010, she enjoyed hearing about the happenings around campus and kept in touch with a few employees, including its President & CEO.
Said Dr. H. Keith Wade, the University's President & CEO, "I was honored to know Camilla. She served on our board until about ten years ago. Her passion for education was evident in everything she did, and she definitely inherited her grandfather Roger's business skills. I had no idea there was so much to know about Christmas trees until I asked her about her farm! I can honestly say that most of the time I spent with her I spent laughing… she was a delightful lady who had done so much and saw the world through eyes uniquely her own. Anyone who thinks economists aren't funny has never heard Camilla's tales of her grandfather."
McConnell passed away on December 23rd, 2020 in Waynesville, North Carolina at the age of 93.
Established in 1927 by Roger Babson as the first college chartered under Florida's then new charitable and educational laws, and America's second school of business for women, our campuses in Babson Park, FL (residential); Charleston, SC (anticipated opening February 2021); Charlotte, NC; Columbia, SC (anticipated opening February 2021); Laurinburg, NC (residential); and Southern Pines, NC now educate men and women from over 50 different nations. Degrees are offered at the associates, bachelors, and masters level through traditional day, accelerated night and weekend, and entirely on-line formats. Joining Webber as a branch campus in 2011, St. Andrews University is an historically Presbyterian, comprehensive liberal arts school tracing its roots back to 1896. The University features highly qualified faculty, highly engaged staff, small class size, and a wide array of intercollegiate sports and other extracurricular activities. The University has been recognized as a US News and World Reports Best Regional Colleges: South, a Princeton Review Best Southeastern College, and has earned Petersons' top marks for academics, value and community. The University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and numerous programs have earned additional programmatic accreditations.
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Photo: Lakeland Ledger