During a 2008 Homecoming weekend ceremony on Sept. 27, Sweet Briar’s government and international affairs department dedicated a “Hall of Fame” to honor longtime former faculty members who helped shape the program over a combined 108 years of service.

Faculty, alumnae and family members packed into the second-floor corridor in Gray Hall, where department chair and master of ceremonies Steve Bragaw led the unveiling of photos of Kenneth D. Grimm and the late Thomas Gilpatrick and Milan E. Hapala.

Grimm, professor emeritus of government and a specialist in international relations from 1968 to 2003, was there with his wife, Anne. Hapala’s wife, Adelaide, who remains active in the Sweet Briar community through a scholarship established in her husband’s name, also was there.

Hapala, an expert in comparative politics, was the Carter Glass Professor of Government, teaching from 1947 to 1990. His family created and supports the Hapala scholarship, which funds a student studying in his native Czech Republic. Victoria Placona ’10 is this year’s scholar.

Professor Gilpatrick’s area of specialty was American politics. He taught at Sweet Briar from 1958 to 1988.

In an interview before the dedication, Bragaw said he conceived the Hall of Fame while traveling across the country speaking to alumnae groups. “I was always struck by the depth of fervor, the way in which alums would talk about these three men and the effect that they had on them.”

As he called the gathering’s attention, there were indeed alumnae representing a span of five decades swapping stories about their professors. Bragaw told them the Hall of Fame is meant to preserve and honor those memories.

Grimm acknowledged the recognition on behalf of his colleagues. “It’s nice, as you will soon see, to know that I am going to continue my association with the two great men that I worked so many years with, if only in graphical form,” he said. “But we’re still together.”

They worked so well together, he joked, because they conducted departmental meetings in the hallway as they were arriving or leaving for the day, and they lasted no more than three minutes.