College of William & Mary Appoints First Gay Rector

Jeffrey B. Trammell, a prominent figure in the Democratic Party, was recently elected as the first openly gay rector of the College of William & Mary. Trammell, who graduated in 1973 with a B.A. in history, will succeed Henry Wolf as a rector, the school's highest academic official, according to a statement from the college.

During his years at the college, Trammell served as president of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and was captain of the varsity basketball team. After graduating, he continued on to Florida State University for his law degree.

Trammell has worked in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, where he counseled a subcommittee chair on the Committee on Energy and Commerce. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he served as national chair of business outreach for the Gore campaign and as a liaison to Democratic Party constituent groups.

In 2003 he founded Almanac Publishing to produce annual references on government organizations, and he is also the founder and president of Trammell and Co., a communications and public affairs consulting firm in Washington, D.C.

Trammell has served on numerous boards, including those of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He currently serves on the board of advisers for the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland Medical System and the board of the Thomas Jefferson Public Policy program at William & Mary.

"William & Mary has been a part of my life for more than four decades and it is a great honor to take on this new assignment," Trammell said. "I have a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of this great university as well as President [Taylor] Reveley and my fellow board members. It is a high privilege to have the opportunity to serve as their rector."