Longwood Magazine | Spring 2020

A M A GA ZIN E FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY

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A LS O I N S I D E

A best-selling author and a professor fight the opioid epidemic 1886 alumna was a revolutionary force in education and equality Integrity, humility and hard work characterize Alumni Award winners

RADCLIFF HALL IS A HOME FOR ADMISSIONS, A VISITOR CENTER, A MINI MUSEUM AND MUCH MORE

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C OVER S T O R Y

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Talk of the Town

Radcliff Hall speaks volumes about Longwood without saying a word

FEA T UR E S

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Q&A: Top of Mind

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A Woman of Consequence

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On a Mission

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Just What They Deserve

The Longwood Foundation Board’s No. 1 priority is creating scholarships

Celeste Parrish, Class of 1886, was a revolutionary force in the fight for equality and education

A best-selling author and a Longwood professor fight the opioid epidemic on intersecting paths

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Integrity, humility and hard work characterize this year’s Alumni Award honorees

D EPA R TM E N T S

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OnPoint

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LongwoodCalendar

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LancerUpdate

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AlumniNews

Ted Hodges ’85

6 Calling all citizen scientists for

fifth annual BioBlitz

7 New York choreographer turns up

the razzle dazzle

8 Founding sorority’s documents

find a safe haven

34 100th anniversary draws athletes

home to campus

35 Another record-setting classroom performance

37 2 basketball stars join the

1,000-point club

38 Gearing up for Alumni Weekend

May 29-31

41 Kids Clubhouse is for littlest Lancers

43 Alumnus’s passion is getting

young people to vote

O N T H E C OVE R Radcliff Hall is a welcoming new “front door” to the Longwood campus. Photograph by Sam Chase ’21. Story on Page 12.

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EndPaper There’s no time like the present to preserve and honor the past

SPRING 2020

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longwood A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY

S PR IN G 2 02 0 Publisher Longwood University Foundation Inc. Michael Lewandowski, President Editor Sabrina Brown Creative Director JoDee Stringham Associate Editors

The Bicentennial Initiative leadership team (from left): Dr. John Miller, Cainan Townsend ’15, L. Francis “Skip” Griffin Jr., Dr. Theresa Clark and Dr. David Coles

Gina Caldwell, Matthew McWilliams, Lauren Whittington Sports Editor Chris Cook Class Notes Editor Kent Booty Photographer Courtney Vogel Contributors Mike Burns ’05, Sue Vilic Carter ’06, M.S. ’10, Sam Chase ’21, Patrick Folliard, Greenwood Library, Ted Hodges ’85, Mike Kropf ’14, Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Parker Michels-Boyce, Morgan Library and Museum, Justin Pope, Jason Snyder, Mike Theuer Advisory Board Ryan Catherwood, Wade Edwards, Larissa Smith, Courtney Hodges, Victoria Kindon, David Locascio, Justin Pope Board of Visitors Eric Hansen, Rector, Lynchburg Eileen Mathes Anderson ’83, Glen Allen Katharine McKeown Bond ’98, Mechanicsville Michael A. Evans, Mechanicsville Steven P. Gould, Danville David H. Hallock Jr., Richmond Colleen McCrink Margiloff ’97, Rye, N.Y. Nadine Marsh-Carter, Richmond Larry I. Palmer, Richmond Polly H. Raible ’91, Midlothian Ricshawn Adkins Roane, Great Falls N.H. “Cookie” Scott ’72, Chesterfield Lucia Anna “Pia” Trigiani, Alexandria

FRO M T HE PR E SID E N T In recent years, Longwood has reckoned honestly with the consequential history of our community, particularly during the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s.

Following an apology by our Board of Visitors in 2014 for institutional actions and inactions, we have continued the work of reconciliation and understanding.

We have also tried to include our students in that work, through teaching and research, with help from some of our outstanding faculty and a fruitful partnership with the R.R. Moton Museum. Every year, the number of visitors to Moton from around Virginia and beyond rises steadily.

It is particularly gratifying to see Longwood graduates who visited Moton as students, and now work in education, return to teach their students about this dramatic and consequential chapter in American history that took place in our community, and which is only recently receiving due recognition.

Earlier this year, I announced to the campus community a new project called the Bicentennial Initiative, to continue and strengthen this work, exploring and interpreting Longwood’s institutional history. A natural area of focus will be on better understanding the roles of African Americans here through time. The goal will be to conduct research, provide interpretation and context to campus physical spaces, disseminate findings and engage students through projects such as digital mapping, oral history and archival studies.

Dr. John Miller, associate professor of English, and Cainan Townsend ’15, director of education and public programs at the Moton Museum, will lead this work. They will also work with senior advisors including L. Francis “Skip” Griffin Jr., son of the late civil rights leader; Dr. Theresa Clark, associate professor emerita of social work; and Dr. David Coles, professor of history.

As I shared with campus, several universities have undertaken projects to study their own history. Not all do so productively. We at Longwood have an opportunity to do this the right way, and in a way that fits our community. We have experience working openly and honestly through difficult history. And we have learned a lot about how to undertake such work in a way that also benefits our students educationally. We can help them, and our home community, as well as set an example for others to follow.

Editorial offices for Longwood magazine are maintained at the Office of University Marketing and Communications, Longwood University, 201 High Street, Farmville, VA 23909.

Telephone: 434.395.2020; email: browncs2@longwood.edu.

My best wishes,

Comments, letters and contributions are encouraged.

Printed on recycled stocks containing 100% post-consumer waste.

No state funds were used to print this publication.

To request this magazine in alternate format (large print, braille, audio, etc.), please contact Longwood Disability Resources, 434.395.2391; TRS: 711.

Published March 2020

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LONGWOOD MAGAZINE

W. Taylor Reveley IV President

ON POINT Vote of Confidence Grant from prestigious foundation underscores distinctiveness of new core curriculum A prominent national foundation that supports innovative educational initiatives in civics and the liberal arts has announced a major grant to Longwood in support of the university’s distinctive new Civitae core curriculum.

The $100,000 grant from the New Yorkbased Teagle Foundation will fund a faculty development program in partnership with the nearby R.R. Moton Museum, a National Historic Landmark and Virginia’s only civil rights museum. The program will help prepare faculty developing Civitae courses to teach about the foundations and mechanics of American democracy.

“This is of course just one of a number of exciting grants for Longwood this year,” President W. Taylor Reveley IV said in a recent campus update that shared the news. “But I hope this announcement in particular—funding dedicated to Civitae from a prominent national source—will do more than create a noteworthy faculty program and strengthen our own teaching. It should also serve as a powerful reminder that what we’re doing here is truly distinctive, noble, important for the country and a model for others to follow.”

The weeklong program will bring in recognized scholars and make use of founding texts of American democracy to help Longwood faculty across a range of disciplines develop courses for the new curriculum’s capstone Symposium for the Common Good.

“We have an incredible resource for teaching civic engagement—indeed one that no other university can claim—in the Moton Museum. The history of civil rights in Prince Edward County is an important case study for exploring how ordinary citizens drew upon the founding principles and levers of our democracy to make extraordinary change,” said Dr. Larissa M. Smith, provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Longwood’s unique Civitae core curriculum debuted in the fall of 2018 as an innovative, mission-focused general education uniquely designed to prepare students for 21st century careers while developing citizen leaders

We have an incredible resource for teaching civic engagement—indeed one that no other university can claim—in the Moton Museum.’

a long track record of partnering with wellknown institutions.

Grantees awarded this year in addition to Longwood include —DR. LARISSA M. SMITH, PROVOST AND Yale, Brandeis, CoVICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS lumbia and NYU. The award to equipped to serve their own communities.

Longwood comes under Teagle’s “EducaCivitae’s hallmarks are small, communication for American Civic Life” program. The tion-intensive classes taught by some of the program will give first priority to Longwood university’s most innovative professors. faculty developing symposium courses that Founded in 1944, Teagle is prominent in engage students in the study of civics and philanthropic circles for its work to strengthen democratic engagement through the lens of the liberal arts education by supporting innovative history of the civil rights movement in Prince curricula, teaching and assessment, and it has Edward County.

SPRING 2020

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ON POINT

The Gold Standard Counselor education program earns accreditation through 2028

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ongwood’s counselor education graduate program—which includes tracks in clinical mental health counseling, college counseling and student affairs, and school counseling—has earned accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. The program, which awards the Master of Science degree, has been accredited through March 2028.

“This will help us attract top students and make our graduates even more competitive in the job market,” said Dr. Kevin Doyle, associate professor and chair of the Department of Education and Counseling. “We are thrilled to have received the maximum years of accreditation.”

The three-pronged program prepares students for a variety of careers. Clinical mental health counseling graduates work with clients facing challenges such as addiction and depression in settings ranging from private practice to community agencies. College counseling and student affairs graduates work in higher education

This will help us attract top students and make our graduates even more competitive in the job market.’

—DR. KEVIN DOYLE, CHAIR DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND COUNSELING

in areas such as residence life, admissions and career counseling. School counseling graduates work in elementary, middle and high schools.

Currently, 60 Longwood students are preparing to enter these fields.

Doyle said accreditation has become an increasingly important factor in student recruitment, which is one of the reasons Longwood decided to devote the resources necessary to undertake the rigorous accreditation process.

“Becoming accredited by CACREP is an enormous task,” said Dr. Kathleen McCleskey, assistant professor and program director of counselor education. “It is truly the gold standard in our field.”

Longwood’s first graduate degree, a Master of Science in Education, was approved in 1956, said Dr. Jennifer Apperson, professor of counselor education. That first degree had several tracks, one of which was guidance counseling, the forerunner of the current school counseling program. In 1986, Longwood introduced the forerunners of the mental health counseling and the college counseling and student affairs tracks.

“Hundreds of our graduates are employed across this community and across the commonwealth, making a difference in the lives of the people and the communities they serve,” said Apperson.—Sabrina Brown

GOING, GOING, GONE Competing to

Sam Chase ’21

put a ‘sold’ tag on a desired work of art is just one aspect of the biennial Longwood Center for Visual Arts Gala, which drew more than 500 partygoers this year. In all, 43 pieces of art were sold for a total of more than $25,000; tickets sales and sponsorships amounted to an additional $200,000. Net proceeds will support the LCVA’s exhibitions, community activities and PreK-12 outreach programs. ‘The sheer number of supporters gathered in one space around a common cause is humbling,’ said LCVA Executive Director Rachel Ivers.

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ON POINT

Run Aground Research aims to document, unlock the mystery of shipwrecked ‘Ghost Fleet’

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oking out of the water like giant skeletons, the slowly rotting remains of 13 shipwrecked 19th-century boats have intrigued archaeologists and history buffs since they were discovered in 2017.

Researchers, including two students, from Longwood’s Institute of Archaeology went to Suffolk in February to survey the boats, which are stuck in the mud in the Nansemond River and have been dubbed the “Nansemond Ghost Fleet.”

With funding through the Threatened Sites Program of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the institute is spearheading a project to record the shipwrecks before they disappear.

“This is a good way for Longwood to engage with the broader archaeology community in Virginia and to provide a valuable contribution to the state effort to record and preserve threatened sites,” said Dr. Brian Bates ’92, professor of anthropology and director of the institute, which has two partners in the project: the Lighthouse Archaeology Maritime Program (LAMP) of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum and the Maritime Heritage Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia.

“We need to document these wrecks before nature destroys them,” added Bates, who included Larson Rife ’20 and Nathan Sikora ’20, both anthropology/archaeology majors, in the work at the site.

Principal investigator for the project is Brendan Burke ’03, a research associate with the Longwood institute who specializes in maritime archaeology.

“We want to answer not only archaeological questions but also human questions—who built these boats, when did they build them, why did they build them?” said Burke, who was associate director of archaeology at LAMP until moving to Virginia in November 2019 and is now an independent researcher.

He and a LAMP team of maritime archaeologists spent 15 days on site last October examining and recording information about the wooden boats, which range in length from 15 to more than 100 feet and are at varying depths. Some of the boats are positioned side by side, while others are scattered over an area of about 1,000 yards.

A few are even completely hidden below tidal waters and were located with sidescan sonar.

(top) A Longwood Institute for Archaeology team of students, faculty and staff traveled to Suffolk to document the shipwreck site last month. (bottom) Brendan Burke ’03 (left), the project’s principal investigator, and Dr. Brian Bates ’92, institute director, used sophisticated equipment to record hyper-accurate 3D measurements of the boats.

Burke thinks the boats were part of a large oyster-packing house owned by oyster pioneer and kingpin William N. McAnge that was located on the site from the 1880s to the 1920s. The fact that some of the boats are almost completely covered in mud is lucky, he said, because organic materials like wood and leather remain preserved in heavy mud. The project does not involve any excavation; the wrecks will remain where they are.

In their February visit, Bates and Burke conducted what Bates called “high-definition surveying” using a laser scanner to record hyper-accurate 3D measurements of the wrecks.

“We’ll use the data to reproduce very accurate measured drawings,” Bates said. “The laser scanner gives us information much more quickly and more accurately than the traditional methods Brendan used in October.”—Kent Booty SPRING 2020

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ON POINT

Buzzing with Biodiversity Let your inner scientist loose at the 5th annual BioBlitz set for April 18

Dr. Amorette Barber’s contributions in the research lab and the classroom were honored with one of 12 statewide outstanding faculty awards.

Biology professor earns elite statewide award ONE OF LONGWOOD’S most impactful professors has been recognized by the commonwealth with its highest award for faculty work at its public and private colleges and universities.

Dr. Amorette Barber, associate professor of biology and director of the Office of Student Research, earned an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for her impact both in and out of the classroom. Only 12 awards are given each year from more than 100 nominations.

The awards recognize superior accomplishments in teaching, research and public service.

Barber joins previous SCHEV honorees from Longwood University: Dr. Melanie Marks (2006) and Dr. Jim Jordan (1992).

“That the award is for teaching in the classroom underscores one of the things I love most about Longwood—its emphasis on teaching faculty and the relationships we are able to forge with students,” said Barber.

Barber’s work in her research lab has broken new ground—in 2018, she earned a patent for developing an immunotherapy treatment for numerous cancer types. That came as she has mentored dozens of students who have gone on to medical school and some of the top graduate programs in the country.

“To incite enthusiasm in my students, my philosophy of education focuses on actively involving the students in their learning both in the classroom and in research,” Barber wrote in a statement that accompanied the nomination.

“I encourage the students to investigate new topics independently while also being available to guide them when needed. … I aim to provide transformative research opportunities to as many students as possible, and I hope to encourage the next generation by sharing the excitement of discovery with students.”

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f you’d like to see biodiversity in action— and make your own contribution to science at the same time—make plans to attend the fifth annual BioBlitz, set for Saturday, April 18, on the Longwood campus.

There’s no better place to observe and learn about the vast array of plants and animals that make their home in central Virginia than at this event, which is run by Longwood students with the help of faculty and staff. More than 600 species have been identified in the past four events.

BioBlitz gives kids and adults alike the opportunity to serve as citizen scientists by gathering useful field data. The event also recently received statewide recognition in the form of a Programs That Work award from the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition, said Dr. Sujan Henkanaththegedara, associate professor of biology and one of the driving forces behind BioBlitz.

Melodi Conner ’17 helped to organize the first BioBlitz when she was a junior—and it changed the path of her life.

“I started at Longwood as a music major, and I initially was involved with BioBlitz as a class requirement. But I realized that this was something I was passionate about,” said Conner, who ended up graduating with a degree in biology and now teaches in the Prince Edward

brings people together, but it helps us learn what we can do to take care of our environment and the creatures in it,” she said.

The Environmental Education Building in Longwood’s Lancer Park serves as the starting point for the morning’s activities, which begin at 9 a.m. and continue until noon. The exploration area includes woods, grassy meadows and several ponds, as well as access to Buffalo Creek and the Appomattox River. Activities will be plentiful: • Guided nature explorations with experts.

Join exploration groups led by local experts to find and identify birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, invertebrates and plants.

• Identification stations. Identify uncommon species at stations equipped with field guides, identification keys, stereo-microscopes and hand lenses.

• Touch tables. Get your hands on live and preserved specimens of local wildlife.

• Meet the experts. Talk to representatives from state conservation agencies, local citizen science groups and Longwood student organizations.

• Scavenger hunt. Comb the environment to locate designated items.

“I hope this event promotes a sense of wonder in participants to better understand the intricate and interconnected systems of the world around us,” said Dr. Ed Kinman, professor of geography, who also is a lead organizer of the event.

Participants are encouraged to download the iNaturalist app to their phones or tablets before arrival. The app will be used to record findings and to contribute to a global citizen science program.

In the past four years, BioBlitz citizen scientists have identified more than 600 To register or for species of plants and animals. more information, County schools. She participates in BioBlitz including a map to Lancer Park, visit the Longevery year. wood Bioblitz@Lancer Park website at: “Events and programs like these are extremeblogs.longwood.edu/longwoodbioblitz/. ly important for the community. It not only —Sabrina Brown

ON POINT

Razzle Dazzle New York choreographer helps students put some sizzle in their Chicago performance

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aculty are constantly looking for ways to enrich Longwood students’ education, and the weeklong workout a New York City choreographer gave the cast of Longwood’s production of Chicago is a perfect example.

Marisa Kirby, who also is a professional actor and director, spent an entire week working with the 15 students who sang, acted and danced their hearts out in Chicago in February.

Kirby has worked on many well-known shows, including Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street, Cabaret and—most importantly—Chicago, in which she played Velma.

What brought Kirby to Longwood? Her BFF, Longwood theatre faculty member Lacy Klinger.

“Marisa and I were dance teachers and choreographers during high school at the same dance studio in our hometown, and we’ve been best friends ever since,” said Klinger, an assistant professor of acting and voice, and movement.

“I reached out to Marisa when the theatre faculty decided to produce Chicago. She has experience creating movement inspired by Bob Fosse, the original choreographer of Chicago, so I knew her expertise would translate perfectly into the concept of our production.”

Kirby was on campus from Jan. 27-Feb. 4, preparing students for the Feb. 20-23 performances in Longwood’s Jarman Auditorium.

Among the 15 students in the cast were seven theatre majors, four music majors and one each

The 15 students in Longwood’s production of Chicago benefited from the expertise of Marisa Kirby (right), who came to Longwood at the request of her longtime friend, theatre professor Lacy Klinger.

in communication studies, history, biology and special education.

“Marisa is able to reach a multitude of students through humor and enthusiasm, and push them beyond what they believed was possible,” said Klinger. “She makes everyone she works with better.”

That was the case for Erica Johnson ’21, a theatre major who played Velma.

“Something interesting for me is I haven’t really had a heavy dance background, but I’m getting exposed to this heavy dance show by a professional,” said Johnson. “I’m kind of being thrown in, but at the same time, I’m learning so much.”

In addition to the actors in the show, students worked behind the scenes as assistant choreographer, hair and makeup designer, assistant lighting designer and sound designer.

Klinger said the students on the production side created a unique version of the musical for the Longwood run. “The concepts for the visual presentation of the cast were so daring,

Marisa is able to reach a multitude of students through humor and enthusiasm, and push them beyond what they believed was possible.’

—LACY KLINGER ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ACTING AND VOICE, AND MOVEMENT

so exciting and so unlike any other production of Chicago I’ve seen that I got chills,” she said.

All the more reason for students to follow Klinger’s advice.

“I always tell students, no matter what the production, ‘This is your show. This show will never exist again in the way it exists right now. Once it closes, that is the end of this specific, magical experience … so enjoy all of the people and things involved while you can.’”—Sabrina Brown SPRING 2020

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IT WAS A MOMENT during a study abroad program in Turks & Caicos that sealed Charlotte Pfamatter’s plans for the future.

“I was on a snorkeling expedition when a group of about 10 spotted eagle rays passed by,” she recalled. “I remember thinking that these are endangered, and seeing even one is a rare thing. Seeing 10 at once made me realize their fragile existence, which reinforced my desire to dedicate my career to science and research.”

That dedication led Pfamatter ’21 to become Longwood’s 2020 nominee for the Goldwater Scholarship, the nation’s preeminent undergraduate award for STEM majors who plan to pursue careers in research. Only about 400 students across the nation receive the prestigious award.

The integrated environmental sciences major has big plans for her future: “convincing the public to take action against climate change.”

That aspiration was built through research experiences at Longwood, including the exclusive PRISM program, which funded a summer of intense field research with Dr. Kathy Gee, associate professor of environmental science. Their work investigated methods of controlling harmful mosquito populations in rainwater harvesting systems and led to a series of conferences where

Pfamatter, a member of the Cormier Honors College for Citizen Scholars, presented her work to professors and scientists working in the field.

“Charlotte often pushes others—including myself—to think outside the box and develop creative solutions to difficult problems,” said Gee in a letter supporting Pfamatter’s nomination. …

Her commitment to scholarship, service and values leaves no doubt in my mind that Charlotte will be one of the next generation’s research leaders in environmental science.”

If selected, Pfamatter would become the second Goldwater Scholar in Longwood history.

Tom Pettus ’90, who received a scholarship in 1989, teaches chemistry at the University of California-Santa Barbara.—Matthew McWilliams

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A Past Worth Saving Documents that tell the story of founding sorority find a haven in Greenwood Library

Courtesy of Greenwood Library

National scholarship nominee sees a future fighting climate change

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he last straw was when Julie Wiley Ramsey ’93 received a photo that showed her daughter, a current Longwood sophomore, eating a bowl of cereal on top of a 1930s Alpha Sigma Alpha scrapbook.

“I thought, ‘Put that away! It’s not a TV tray!” said Ramsey, current advisor to the sorority, which was established in 1901 as the last of the four sororities founded at Longwood.

She had already become concerned about the preservation of the sorority’s historical documents.

The materials were haphazardly stored in a heavily used closet in the sorority’s Stubbs Hall chapter room, and taking care of them just wasn’t a priority for her daughter and other current members.

Now Ramsey felt the destruction of the materials was a real possibility, and she was spurred to action. With an inkling of hope that someone would be interested, she called Greenwood Library. On the other end of that call, Jamie Krogh was beyond interested. She was thrilled.

“This is the largest collection we have from a student organization, and for it to be from one of the four founding sororities is just thrilling,” said Krogh, a library specialist in archives and records. “We are also excited about the things we’ll learn as we go through the materials and the new stories we’ll get to tell.”

Once she got the green light from the library, Ramsey came to campus, recruited a handful of helpers and started walking the materials by the armload over to their new home.

Among the items in the collection are 54 composite photos, which were taken annually

The Alpha Sigma Alpha collection includes materials dating back to the early 1900s, including 54 composite photos and 40 scrapbooks.

and include an individual photo of each member, and 40 scrapbooks covering the years from the 1930s to 2010. One scrapbook treasure is a 1941 newspaper clipping announcing the upcoming wedding of Marie Gary Eason ’40, an Alpha Sigma Alpha member and the grandmother of current Longwood President W. Taylor Reveley IV. Krogh hopes to have everything cataloged and fully accessible by the end of 2020. She also hopes to provide special access during this year’s Alumni Weekend (see Page 38).

For Ramsey, it’s enough that the collection is in a safe place.

“I feel like the chapter has such a history, and I know the staff in the archives are going to take good care of it,” she said.

And no one will ever again eat their breakfast on a precious piece of Alpha Sigma Alpha history.—Sabrina Brown

Fired Up Class challenges students to take action on critical issues

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reshmen in college often have a number of “aha” moments, both in and out of the classroom. Sometimes, they come with a challenge.

“There are 5,000 children in foster care in Virginia,” Lucy McLaughlin ’23 told her Citizen 110 classmates during her final presentation.

“That’s one for every Longwood student. When I walk around campus and think that this is how many foster children there are, it makes it real.”

Dr. Lee Bidwell’s Citizen 110 (Inquiry into Citizenship) seminar, titled Be A ChangeMaker, challenged students to learn about big societal problems and then think about ways to address them. McLaughlin, a liberal studies major, said she, her roommate and suitemates were all in different sections of Citizen 110 last semester, but they often talked about the topics they were discussing outside class. Those conversations often got heated.

“In high school we would talk about issues, but we never got fired up about them,” she said.

“But now that we are in these classes … we get really fired up about them. I feel like that’s what’s going to push us to make a change—because we have that passion behind it.”

For their final presentations, each student had to give a talk detailing what “change maker” activities they did and what they learned.

McLaughlin, for example, made birthday cards

Citizen 110, a requirement of Longwood’s innovative new core curriculum, Civitae, takes many forms. In English professor Dr. Chene Heady’s course, My Hometown (above and below), students used research skills to analyze, understand and address problems in their home communities. In Be a Change-Maker, sociology professor Dr. Lee Bidwell challenged students to learn about big societal problems and think about ways to impact them.

and cookies for local children in foster care.

Other topics included income inequality, food insecurity, deforestation, school-lunch debt, dementia and air pollution.

In her presentation, Samantha Gagliardi ’23, a communication sciences and disorders major, talked about her experience meeting a local food pantry founder who is passionate about the cause of ending hunger in “food deserts,” where access to healthy food options is limited.

Gagliardi, McLaughlin and their classmates are in the first two classes of students who will matriculate through Longwood’s unique Civitae core curriculum—which was implemented in

fall 2018 and has a distinctive focus on democratic citizenship.

Civitae puts a strong emphasis on building communication and critical-thinking skills.

Most distinctively, it puts Longwood’s citizenleadership mission at the heart of its classroom experience.

Among the hallmarks of Civitae are small classes taught by engaged, knowledgeable faculty members like Bidwell, a sociology professor who is in her 29th year teaching at Longwood.

Civitae classes are capped at about 18-20 students, ensuring that everyone gets one-on-one interaction with a faculty member.

Each student had to complete two “change maker” activities during the semester.

• Caroline Hampton ’23, a communication studies major, went to a program focused on the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans brought to America, specifically the shores of Virginia, in 1619. She said it helped her realize the need to better understand our history.

• Heather Forsht ’23, a social work major, volunteered at a therapeutic horseback riding center, where she helped spruce up the facility and then worked at an event for special-needs students.

• Donovan Burns ’23, a music major, volunteered at his old high school, working with special education students on nonverbal and music skills. He wants to be a music teacher, and, after his Citizen 110 experience, he said he’d like to minor in sociology.

SPRING 2020

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QUESTIONS

Q&A ANSWERS

BY MATTHEW MCWILLIAMS ACROSS THE LONGWOOD COMMUNITY,

there is a spirited and tireless group of people who work as volunteer leaders to do all they can to advance the university’s mission.

Among that group is the president of the Longwood Foundation Board of Directors, Michael Lewandowski. An alumnus of the University of Richmond and James Madison University, he first got to know Longwood through his daughter Anne Kendall Giles ’11.

Watching her transformation into a leader, he became involved on campus and a vocal proponent of Longwood’s emphasis on liberal arts education.

Now in his eighth year on the Foundation Board, he has been a leader in an intensified focus on deploying scholarships as the higher education landscape undergoes significant changes, from fewer college-ready seniors to increasing concern about affordability.

We sat down to talk with Lewandowski about stewardship of Longwood’s endowment, the impact of scholarships, and giving his time and energy to a place that has such special meaning.

Longwood Foundation Board President Michael Lewandowski became a fervent supporter of Longwood when he saw the university’s impact on his daughter, Anne Kendall Giles ’11.

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Parker Michels-Boyce

Let’s start with the basics. What does the Longwood Foundation do?

We are 22 Longwood zealots—a committed group that supports the university’s strategic goals by deploying resources from the endowment and by touching students’ lives in meaningful ways. First and foremost, we are constantly thinking about how we can increase the number of scholarships we can award stu-

Creating more scholarships is ‘first and foremost’ for Longwood Foundation Board

The success of the Student Investment Fund is one of the really great things about Longwood. The opportunity that business students have had to steward a significant amount of money and the responsibility they feel toward it is wonderful to be a part of. They started with $250,000 in 2002 and have grown that to nearly $1 million. They decided to become a major donor to the family campaign for the College of Business and Economics—really paying it forward. When combined with the generosity of individual board members, the Foundation and the students have in a short period of time committed approximately $1.3 million to the Family Scholarship program.

You aren’t an alumnus, but you’ve heavily invested your time and energy in this university.

What connects you to this campus?

dents. That means implementing new initiatives to deploy existing resources and supporting philanthropic efforts. In light of steadily declining state operational dollars nationally and locally, the need for scholarship funding is critical.

arships is close to 90 percent, so it’s important that we support as many students as possible.

How far have we come since you started?

I’ve spent eight years on the Foundation Board, and we’ve increased scholarship dollars by close The Foundation recently passed a major mileto 70 percent during that time. The board is a stone—more than $2 million is given annually really talented group, all of whom have ties to the to support scholarships and programs. Why is university and have achieved a measure of success it important to keep that number rising? in their fields. There are attorneys, a judge, CPAs, faculty members, educators and a variety I WATCHED MY DAUGHTER BLOSSOM AT of other people who LONGWOOD. SHE BECAME A PEER MENTOR bring a diversity of experience that we all AND REALLY GREW INTO HERSELF, AND WE draw on as stewards of SAW THAT AND WANTED TO GET INVOLVED. the endowment.

—MICHAEL LEWANDOWSKI The board is all-in PRESIDENT, LONGWOOD FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS on this role, and we’ve set up our own scholWe are fully focused on prudently giving out arship endowment with a balance that’s now all we can while complying with the terms of over $100,000. We’ve put money and time into the donor agreements, and on that we are full this mission, and we are focused on doing all we speed ahead. A lot of universities are vying for can to keep the momentum high. the same students—and that trend is only going The board is also well-represented in the to continue. The cost of higher education is current Family Scholarship program. Two of our certainly at the forefront of a lot of family conmembers are key donors, and eight more have versations, and people are comparison shopping set up endowments through the initiative. We now more than ever. Longwood has done a great also are helping to recruit other donors. job of keeping down costs, but the more money we can award in scholarships, the more we rise One of the major donors to the Family Scholto the top as students and families make that arship program is the Longwood Student important choice of university. We know that Investment Fund, which is part of the Foundathe retention rate of students who receive scholtion Board.

I watched my daughter blossom at Longwood. She became a Peer Mentor and really grew into herself, and we saw that and wanted to get involved. We became one of the founding families of the Parents Council, and I came to love being around the energy and enthusiasm of a college campus. The Longwood students we have met over the years have been very impressive and just a joy to be around.

What about Longwood’s mission to prepare citizen leaders resonates with you?

Through my career I’ve seen the benefits of a liberal arts education. Those communications and critical-thinking skills are so valuable.

When you look at the challenges ahead, we need well-rounded and well-educated leaders, and I take that very seriously. It’s beyond the books— it’s knowing how to interact in the world and understand things from different perspectives.

Without a diversity of life experiences to learn from, we’d be missing something. Longwood prepares students for that future.

Scholarship donors and recipients talk about the annual Scholarship Dinner as being particularly meaningful.

It’s a moment our board looks forward to every year. It’s one of those rare times you can give a gift and look across the table and see that gift working in real time. We had two daughters in college at the same time—the older at Longwood—and both received scholarships, so I know how meaningful it is, as a donor and as a parent.

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New ‘front door’ to campus speaks volumes about Longwood without saying a word

BY LAUREN WHITTINGTON

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A

FRONT DOOR can be very revealing. It’s a first impression and architects gave great attention to detail in balancing old with new, that tells visitors what they’ll find inside and how they’ll be from the warm wood flooring to the carpet choices to the linen window treated. treatments.

Radcliff Hall is Longwood’s new front door, and what it The new building also addresses contemporary needs such as ample says, loud and clear, is “Welcome.” parking and storage space, along with providing the versatility to accommoIt’s the new home of the Admissions office—but it’s so much more than date the wide range of Admissions programs, from small tour groups to large that. It’s a visitor center, a gathering place, a mini museum, a catch-yourgatherings like an event for admitted students on April 4 that is expected to breath-and-relax area. It’s warm and friendly, even homey, and, at the same draw 2,000 visitors. time, it’s a showcase for the university’s longtime commitment to honoring “First impressions really matter, and Radcliff Hall gives our prospective our history while embracing our future. students and visitors a high-quality initial experience and amazing welcome Truly a marriage of old and new, Radcliff Hall is quintessentially Longto campus,” said Jason McNair-Faulk, dean of admissions. “This modern, wood. The classic architecture of the red brick comfortable space is not only conducive to buildbuilding, including the columns surrounding ing personal connections but its versatility allows Marianne has been a the entrance and the two chimneys, is in keepus to accommodate presentations for large and ing with the historic character of High Street. small groups in a way that we haven’t been able to galvanizing force Inside, there’s a feeling of stepping into a living before and really makes our guests feel at home.” room—with comfortable sofas, twin fireplaces, a driving Longwood’s In addition to the large lobby downstairs and coffee nook and large windows that offer plenty staff offices upstairs, the facility includes two progress and of natural light and a stunning view of Longpresentation rooms—a large hall that can seat up wood’s famed Rotunda across High Street. The to 300 and a smaller room that can hold 50— development over the historical exhibits that line the walls of the first that are perfectly suited for social gatherings such last eight years.’ floor reinforce that the history of the campus as wedding receptions, especially given Radcliff and the surrounding Farmville community go Hall’s location just steps from the renovated —PRESIDENT W. TAYLOR REVELEY IV hand in hand.

Hotel Weyanoke on High Street.

“We wanted this building to be aspirational and represent the heart of Radcliff Hall is named in honor of Marianne Radcliff ’92, a visionary Longwood. When you look out the windows and see Ruffner across the former rector whose tireless work and advocacy led to critical investments in street, it gives visitors the feeling that they are in a college town and that Longwood’s physical campus. there’s a vibrant campus energy,” said Victoria Kindon, vice president for “Marianne has been a galvanizing force driving Longwood’s progress and strategic operations and chief information officer. “At the same time, we development over the last eight years,” said Longwood President W. Taylor really embraced the theme of history, and we wanted to showcase the impact Reveley IV. “It is with the help of her tremendous efforts, working with that young people and figures like Dr. Gordon Moss had on driving change policymakers in Richmond, that we were able to secure state funding for this in this community.” building in 2016. She saw clearly the need for a welcoming building that The 18,466-square-foot building fills a distinct need on campus—a true imparts a sense of place to prospective students and worked to prioritize its home for the Admissions staff and Longwood Ambassadors, and an inviting construction amid so many competing pressures. She manifests the spirit of place for campus visitors, alumni and community members. The planners Longwood, and we are so proud the admissions building bears her name.”

The photos, stories and exhibits on Radcliff Hall’s first floor tell the story of Longwood and the surrounding community—giving visitors a sense that this is a unique place in American history.

Included are photos of students stretching back to the school’s earliest days as well as images that show how the campus has evolved over the years. Through the doorway seen here is the building’s large presentation room, which can seat 300 visitors.

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Sam Chase ’21

(top) Admissions’ more than 5,000 annual visitors, primarily prospective students and their families, are now welcomed to campus by Radcliff Hall. Longwood provides plenty of reasons for college-bound high-school students to visit—a critical part of their decision-making process—including special events for admitted students, open houses for specific academic programs and a regular schedule of tours and presentations. (bottom) A display of Longwood scarves imbues the grand staircase with Lancer spirit. A new scarf design is unveiled at the beginning of each academic year, when the cherished keepsakes are given out to students.

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Rooms flooded with natural light, comfortable furnishings and fireplaces at each end of the expansive lobby are just a few of the details that create a welcoming space for visitors. The portrait between the windows is of Dr. Gordon Moss, who served as dean of Longwood College during Massive Resistance and whose home once stood on the site where Radcliff Hall is located. Moss was ostracized and faced demands that he be fired because he was an outspoken proponent of integration. But he stood strong in his convictions and helped usher in lasting change in Prince Edward County.

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Sam Chase ’21

COM E V IS I T Planning a visit to campus? Let us know! We’d love to show you our new space. Please call the Admissions office at 434-496-4840 or email aaron@ longwood.edu prior to your visit if you’d like to schedule a tour. Or just stop by. The building is usually open seven days a week: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays.

Interested in booking an event in Radcliff Hall? Call 434-395-2005 or email conferences@longwood.edu for more information and to check availability.

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(top) Radcliff Hall is the new home for Longwood Ambassadors, the volunteer studentservice organization whose members assist in admissions, public relations and alumni activities, including conducting campus tours. ‘Our Ambassadors … are the lifeblood of our campus community, and they deserve this dedicated space,’ Dean of Admissions Jason McNair-Faulk said. (bottom) The Farmville Freedom Monument, dedicated in 2018, stands outside Radcliff Hall. The monument celebrates the consequential history of Farmville and its surrounding communities, as well as the citizens who fought to expand American liberty.

(top) Dean of Admissions Jason McNairFaulk is excited about what the new home of Admissions says about Longwood. (inset) Radcliff Hall is named for Marianne Radcliff ’92, pictured here with President W. Taylor Reveley IV. Radcliff served for eight years as a member of the Board of Visitors, including two separate two-year terms as rector. Her tireless work and advocacy led to critical investments in Longwood’s physical campus and in other aspects central to Longwood’s mission of shaping citizen leaders. (bottom) Designed by Glavé & Holmes Architecture of Richmond, Radcliff Hall is certified LEED Silver, employing recycled materials in construction and reducing energy and water usage within the building.

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A WO M A N of

CO NS E Q U E NC E CELESTE PARRISH, CLASS OF 1886, CHALLENGED AUTHORITY AND SWEPT ASIDE CONVENTION IN HER REVOLUTIONARY FIGHT FOR EQUALITY AND EDUCATION

BY MATTHEW McWILLIAMS

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hat she even survived was a testament to her grit and determination.

Born in 1852 to southern Virginia tobacco farmers, she was orphaned at age 11 as the country was torn apart by war. She helped care and provide for herself and her siblings by taking one of the only jobs available to women at the time—teaching.

But Celeste Parrish did more than survive: She changed the world.

At age 32, she made her way to college in Farmville, where she found her voice as one of the most progressive, innovative and groundbreaking educators of her time. Dr. John A. Cunningham, president of the State Female Normal School, as Longwood was then known, credited her with having the clearest-thinking mind he had ever encountered.

Undaunted by the prevailing attitudes of her time and daring to espouse an ideology that recast the role of women in society, Parrish ruffled the feathers of traditionalists, a practice that more than once cost her a job. Above all, she was an inspiration throughout her remarkable career to generations of women pursuing an education and fair treatment.

She died in 1918, her headstone proclaiming her to be “Georgia’s Greatest Woman,” and one of the first editions of The Rotunda, in 1920, giving her this posthumous accolade: Our most important alumnae was Miss Celestia Parrish…

Celestia Susannah Parrish, 1941, oil on canvas. Collection of the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Longwood University History Collection. Gift of the Longwood Alumnae Association in 1942. Photo

by Mackenzie Lenhart

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FERTILE GROUND FOR AN ACTIVIST Where did her passion, her voice, her fight come from? We’ll never know for sure, but one thing is certain. Longwood is where they came to life.

Founded in 1839, Longwood first operated as a private women’s college.

Many similar colleges were shuttered after the Civil War, but in 1884 Longwood was reinvented by Dr. William Henry Ruffner as a public normal school dedicated to training the commonwealth’s teachers in the latest innovative methods.

In the re-envisioned school’s first class was Celestia Susannah Parrish, a working teacher whose meager salary had, for 10 years, gone to help support numerous brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews who lived with her.

Relieved of that pressure as younger family members grew older, she came to Longwood as a tough, hard-scrabble woman accustomed to forging her own path.

It was here that she fought the first of many battles for equality, won her first professional victory and found the ambition that set her on a life of consequence.

Ruffner saw something in Parrish that compelled him to give her increasing responsibilities: She had a talent for mathematics, a mastery of teaching and ambition that would take her far beyond the walls of the State Female Normal School.

So how is it that Celeste (her preferred name) Parrish isn’t better-known on campus?

Her story had faded from memory until it was recently unearthed by Longwood archivists combing through yellowed ledgers recounting longago Board of Trustees meetings.

Longwood’s early years as a normal school—and the role of “C.S. Parrish” in those times—play out in the carefully preserved accounting books and elegantly penned meeting minutes found in the Greenwood Library archives. The documents paint a picture of a woman who blossomed quickly upon her arrival in Farmville and showed promise of becoming a college professor. Ruffner saw something in Parrish that compelled him to give her increasing responsibilities: She had a talent for mathematics, a mastery of teaching and ambition that would take her far beyond the walls of the State Female Normal School.

In just her second semester, Parrish taught math classes to her fellow classmates. By the time she was in her final semester, she had a full slate of classes—and a salary 25 percent lower than what veteran teachers were earning. Irked by that injustice, Parrish undertook her first campaign, lobbying for equal pay. Ruffner persuaded the board to raise her salary from $600 to $800, matching the other full-time instructors.

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Having proven herself to Ruffner, Parrish was named head of the mathematics department as soon as she earned her diploma in 1886. The next year, as Ruffner was about to take a leave of absence from the school he had created, he turned over all of his teaching responsibilities to Parrish.

His report to the board showed just how much esteem he had for the teacher from Pittsylvania County: I then turned the Methods class to Miss Parrish, whose abilities I had tested while teaching schools in town & country & was exceedingly thorough & progressive in all she undertook. This class she has kept from that time to this & has conducted it with signal success in addition to her duties as Math teacher.

Anticipating my own absence, I also turned over to this lady my Psychology Class in April last … . She has been as successful in giving instruction in Psychology, Ethics & School Management as in other things.

This leads me to say that if in the arrangement for another session a teacher should be wanted for the branches referred to it would scarcely be possible to find an abler one than Miss Parrish.

A TURNING POINT Adding to these details from Longwood’s archives is a new book by Texas historian Rebecca Montgomery that examines Parrish’s legacy.

Parrish’s ascent on campus was a source of controversy among the faculty, Montgomery recounts in Celeste Parrish and Educational Reform in the Progressive-Era South. This was especially true of the vice-principal at the time, Celeste Bush, who had been brought to Farmville in 1884 from the Connecticut Normal School to run day-to-day operations.

The exact nature of the dispute eludes us. But it took place against the backdrop of Reconstruction, when wider tensions in the country played out on campus between native Southerners and faculty from the North, Montgomery writes. Whatever the exact cause, Bush likely resented Parrish’s quick rise to the head of the math department over more veteran teachers.

The tension reached a head in 1887, when Bush and three faculty members gave the Board of Trustees an ultimatum: It’s us or Celeste Parrish.

The board chose Parrish—an action that led to three key developments in her career, as Montgomery details in her book.

First, she began teaching arithmetic and psychology at summer institutes for educators around the state, including sessions for AfricanAmerican educators, where her desire to professionalize the teaching profession and carve out a place for women in higher education developed.

Second, she helped lead the reformation of the Educational Association of Virginia, hoping to win several important concessions for women. She lost more fights than she won against the entrenched male fraternity in the EAV, but started an offshoot of the group called the Society for the Advancement of the Higher Education of Women and served as its first president. Hundreds of women teachers led by Parrish pushed for coeducation at the University of Virginia. She had found her voice.

Courtesy of Greenwood Library

Third, in the summer of 1892, she attended the University of Michigan, one of the first coeducational institutions in the country, and returned home with renewed vigor to secure the rightful place of women in higher education. She had found her passion.

“Parrish’s years at Farmville were a critical time in her professional development, because that is where she developed a specialization in teacher training and first began to participate as an instructor in teachers’ institutes,” Montgomery said in an interview. “This represented the beginnings of her lifelong dedication to improving the standard of teaching in Southern public schools.”

Meanwhile, Parrish remained a steadfast faculty member at Longwood, training and observing teachers in a model classroom. A Farmville Herald columnist known winkingly as “The Old Timer” wrote in 1940 of his experience watching Parrish work: [She had] the face of a very thoughtful person, one who had no time for the trivial, and no patience for carelessness. It was also a look that missed nothing that went on around her. The teacher she was observing seemed to be mighty careful, but not afraid, as I found later that though all of her students stood a little in awe of her, and did everything they could not to displease her, professionally, they all considered her fair; impatient only of slovenliness and laziness.

LIFE AFTER LONGWOOD In the spring of 1893, Parrish moved on from Farmville. A different woman from the poor, country-school teacher who had arrived nine years earlier, she accepted a position as the head of the mathematics and psychology departments at newly created Randolph-Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg.

She took a break from teaching there to enroll at Cornell University, where she studied experimental psychology under Edward Titchener, a noted British scientist. On her return to R-MWC, Parrish established Virginia’s first experimental psychology lab and lobbied the president, William Waugh Smith, to equalize pay between male ($1,500/year) and female ($1,150/year) faculty salaries. She also published numerous scholarly articles, most on training new teachers in psychology to improve their effectiveness in the classroom.

Next was a post at the Georgia State Normal School in Athens, where she stood toe-to-toe with President Eugene Branson, who was angered by her advocacy for the equal treatment of women. Her success in normal schools, however, caught the attention of statewide politicians, who named her state superintendent of rural schools in Georgia in 1911. She died six years later, in the middle of yet another struggle to professionalize rural education in Georgia.

Parrish was ahead of her time in fighting for equal pay for equal work and other women’s rights issues. Ahead of her time in race relations, including pushing to raise literacy rates among African Americans in Georgia so they could pass restrictive voting tests. Ahead of her time in educational reform. Ahead of her time as a scholar in the field of psychology, when most women were barely allowed to take classes.

“She was a fighter. There’s no doubt about that,” Montgomery said. “Her contributions to Southern education and Southern women are numerous, and she deserves much more recognition than she has received thus far.”

Except at Longwood, where she will be remembered as one of the university’s greatest daughters.

Celeste Parrish (far left, back row) was a teacher at the time this photo was taken sometime in the 1890s. It may have been taken at an alumni event or, based on the prevalence of dark clothing, at the funeral of John A. Cunningham, who was president of the State Female Normal School, as Longwood was then known, at the time of his death in October 1897.

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Words are the common weapon as a best-selling author and a Longwood professor fight the opioid epidemic on intersecting paths BY SABRINA BROWN

Beth Macy, author of Dopesick, and Dr. Kevin Doyle, chair of the education and counseling department, see education and understanding as a way out of the opioid crisis.

HEY ARE FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES—fellow warriors in a battle against an opioid epidemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans from every walk of life, from street people to stay-at-home moms to doctors and lawyers.

Beth Macy and Longwood Professor Kevin Doyle also share a weapon of choice in that battle: words. They believe storytelling and education can illuminate a way forward through a devastating national challenge.

Macy is the author whose 2018 New York Times best-selling book Dopesick, set largely in Virginia, brought the epidemic vividly to life and SPRING 2020 25

played a key role in elevating its place in the national consciousness. In 2012, she was one of the first to sound the alarm about the crisis in a series of stories for The Roanoke Times.

Doyle is a licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner and chair of Longwood’s Department of Education and Counseling. He, too, has been embroiled in the battle for years, as an increasingly prominent advocate in the public realm, including serving on Gov. Ralph Northam’s Board of Health Professions.

If you have a genetic predisposition for addiction and then you’re overprescribed, good luck not getting addicted.

—DR. KEVIN DOYLE CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND COUNSELING

Doyle’s words help educate congressional panels and health-care providers about the nature of the epidemic and how it can be stemmed. And while continuing to work directly with clients, he also is shaping a new generation of Longwood counselors and other graduates to help fight the battle.

Macy came to Longwood in January as part of the President’s Lecture Series, speaking to an overflow crowd of about 300 about the impact of the crisis. Prior to her talk, she and Doyle recalled that they first met in spring 2018 at Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Festival, described as a “celebration of innovators, visionaries and artists who are shaping small cities.” Macy was on the program, and Doyle came up to introduce himself after her talk.

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but it hadn’t come out yet, and I was in that super anxious state of, ‘Did I get it right?’” Macy said of her state of mind prior to the book’s publication that summer. Doyle, on the other hand, was thrilled to hear about the work she’d done and about Dopesick’s focus on Virginia. They connected on Twitter and then spoke at the same conference for counselors and community service workers in Lexington.

Although they come at the opioid crisis from different directions, Macy and Doyle share a commitment to overcoming, through education, the pervasive lack of understanding and empathy for people with substance-use disorder.

That means educating doctors, nurses and other health-care practitioners; law enforcement officers; government officials; curriculum developers for medical and nursing schools; the recovery community itself. And it means the public at large. Anyone who thinks they’re immune should consider the numbers Macy shared in her talk.

In the last 15 years, she said, there have been 300,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. and another 300,000 deaths are expected in the next five years. Last year alone, 68,000 Americans died from overdose, with three-quarters of those opioid-related. And the monetary cost is equally astounding: an estimated $1 trillion in lost productivity and criminal justice and health-care costs.

Here are some of the facts that Doyle and Macy think can lead to understanding, empathy and, ultimately, to getting a grip on the crisis: • Certain people have a genetic predisposition to addiction, and substance-use disorder is a chronic medical condition, just like diabetes and heart disease.

“We all say it’s a disease but we don’t act like it is,” Macy said.

• As with any chronic disease, relapse and retreatment are expected and are a part of recovery.

“For some reason with this particular disease or disorder, people want to give up after one treatment episode,” said Doyle. “You don’t give

up after one round of chemotherapy. If the cancer returns, you continue to treat it—rather than saying you’ve failed; you’re a bad person.”

• Opioid addiction cuts across every social strata, from education and income level to gender and ethnicity.

“Stigma often is removed when someone you know is affected. Your husband, your sister, your cousin,” said Doyle. “People don’t realize how many folks they know are in recovery from this.”

• Most people become addicted when they are prescribed opioid medication that they don’t need by a doctor or another healthcare provider.

“If you have a genetic predisposition for addiction and then you’re overprescribed, good luck not getting addicted,” said Doyle.

Sam Chase ’21

• The availability of treatment programs and the number of health-care professionals adequately trained to provide treatment fall shockingly short of the need.

“Whether it shows itself through waiting lists for treatment programs, too far of a drive to the nearest program or lack of insurance to cover the costs, access to treatment is just not where it needs to be,” said Doyle.

• Just locking people up does nothing to deal with the crisis.

“The opioid epidemic is festering and growing.

It’s taking advantage of longstanding fissures in society, and mainly I’m talking about the fundamental difference between treating people with opioid-use disorder as patients worthy of medical care and treating them as criminals,” Macy said.

Doyle believes that bringing Macy to Longwood is one way the university is fulfilling its responsibility to educate people about the crisis.

A large number of students from Longwood’s graduate program in counselor education attended the lecture, and he is hopeful that Macy’s powerful words—both in her talk and in her book—will have an impact on them.

“Reading her book and listening to her talk puts a face on this for our students,” said Doyle. “It helped them to see even more that this crisis is something that affects our neighbors and our loved ones, and that it’s not just numbers issued by a government agency. As a result, I think some of our students may now be thinking about their career paths a little differently.”

An estimated 300 students, faculty, staff and community members filled Soza Ballroom in the Upchurch University Center for Beth Macy’s talk, where she described how her experiences have transformed her into an activist fighting the opioid epidemic.

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JUST WHAT THEY DESERVE

Integrity, humility and hard work characterize this year’s Alumni Award honorees

BY PATRICK FOLLIARD ILLUSTRATIONS BY MIKE THEUER

T

MARY KAY McDANIEL HUSS ’79

hough from vastly different backgrounds and professions, the seven alumni being recognized with this year’s Alumni Awards are in many ways cut

from the same cloth.

JABEZ LAMAR MONROE CURRY HUMANITARIAN ALUMNI AWARD

To a person, they are known for their integrity, their unwavering commitment to their communities and for their inability to work any way other than really hard. And— while they’ll deny it—there’s a certain brilliance in what they do, whether that’s blazing a trail as the Virginia National Guard’s first female brigadier general or making sure the world knows the story of some courageous high-school students’ role in the civil rights movement.

In short, they are the stuff award winners are made of, and the world is a better place because they’re in it.

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A PASSION FOR PUTTING AN AFFORDABLE ROOF OVER OTHERS’ HEADS

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he may be new at Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity— where she’s been CEO less than a year—but Mary Kay McDaniel Huss ’79 is a seasoned veteran in the cause of affordable housing.

She took up the banner 30 years ago, when her church asked her to head an interdenominational effort among the faith community to increase affordable housing.

“I was a young stay-at-home mother, and they figured I wasn’t doing anything,” she said, displaying her trademark dry wit.

Huss learned about the housing crisis through her church, St. Paul’s Episcopal in Richmond. “I got involved with our homeless ministries. I soon learned that housing is a fundamental problem and is the foundation

DR. EDNA ALLEN DEAN HORACE MANN HONORARY ALUMNI AWARD

A CHAMPION FOR ACCESS AND DIVERSITY AT LONGWOOD

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djectives like “remarkable” and “outstanding” don’t do justice to Dr. Edna Allen Dean’s impact on Longwood during her more than 30 years as a member of the social work faculty. So maybe it’s best to leave the task of describing her to some of the people who knew her best.

For example, Troy Littles ’84, one of the hundreds of students Dean mentored at Longwood: “Of all the faculty members here, Dr. Allen is the one who has given the most to African-American students. … Those were turbulent times, and she was one constant.”

And Melanie Littlejohn-Lee ’87, another of Dean’s students: “She was progressive, she was an advocate, a clinician, a problem solver and a lobbyist. She did not just touch our lives—she defined our lives.”

Littles and Littlejohn-Lee, along with Charlease McCauley Hatchett ’87, were the driving force behind the creation of an endowed scholarship named in Dean’s honor in 2001. One of the major gifts came from NBA star Jerome Kersey ’84/’06.

Dean first taught at Longwood as an adjunct professor and then joined the faculty full time in 1980. By the time she retired in 2004, receiving emerita status in recognition of her contributions, she had become part of the fabric of the institution. She was director of field services for the social work program for nearly the entire length of her Longwood career and

took on many other responsibilities, including serving as director of the Evolving Scholars Program; as a member of numerous committees, including the steering committee for a re-accreditation effort; and as coordinator for minority affairs and minority recruitment.

A licensed clinical social worker, she received a master’s degree from Columbia University and her Ph.D. from Union Graduate School.

She once wrote in a letter to The Rotunda that she came from “a long line of survivors, a blessed and capable people with the will and destiny to overcome.” Her former students would say she passed some of that determination along to them.

“She would hold your hand, tell you not to quit, not to go home,” said Littles.

to every success in life, intersecting with health, education and family stability,” she said.

Next came eight years at Richmond’s Better Housing Coalition, a regional leader in affordable housing development and management, and then five years at Rebuilding Together Richmond, a nonprofit organization whose goal is preserving affordable home ownership and revitalizing neighborhoods.

The CEO position at Habitat was a logical next step.

She’s been there since May 2019, leading a staff of 48 who, together with volunteers, develop 15 homes a year. They also operate a critical home-repair program and two ReStores, retail operations that sell donated building supplies and furniture.

“I’m reminded at each home dedication how important and transforming our work is to the families we partner with,” she said. “When we gather with the family, sponsors and volunteers to dedicate the home, that dream of home ownership becomes a reality. To be able to share that moment with our families is the best part of my job.”

While Huss loved her sorority experience at Longwood, she concedes she was never what you’d call a gung-ho alumna, so naturally she was puzzled when she was asked to join Longwood’s Alumni Board.

“I was candid about it, but they said they wanted people like me,” she said. “The experience changed my mind. Longwood is a different place, energized and diverse. It’s a place I feel good about.”

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HELPING GUIDE LONGWOOD’S FUTURE WAS WEL L WORTH THE TRIPS

‘I

was dumbfounded when I learned the news. I really didn’t expect to be honored in this way,” said Mary Ellen Moore Beale ’59, a retired educator who lives in Williamsburg.

After graduating from Longwood, Beale taught school in Richmond and remained an active alumna, increasingly so when Dr. Henry Willett, her friend and president of Longwood at the time, invited her to serve on Longwood’s Board of Visitors.

Beale served on the board from 1972-78. During those years, she held various positions including secretary, vice rector and finally rector for two years.

“You name it, the Board of Visitors did it,” she recalled. “Everything from awarding student scholarships to the things professors were anxious to get done but hadn’t gotten around to.”

During her time on the board, Beale left Away from Longwood, Beale enjoyed a Richmond and returned to her native Newport successful career in education in Newport News, PAGE COOK AXSON MCGAUGHY News. “It was a long drive back and forth to where she taught first grade and high-school LIFETIME LOYALTY AWARD Farmville, especially in those days. Another English before being named as the first principal board member and I would drive together to of a new high school. Later she was promoted to Farmville, and we’d stay with Dr. Willett and the central office, where she helmed personnel, his family at the Longwood estate when we were there for meetings.” mostly the hiring of new teachers. She ended her career as the assistant to Beale attributed her willingness to serve on the board to her undergradthe superintendent. uate years at Longwood. “I loved every minute of it. I developed good, Beale remains in touch with friends she made at Longwood and recently lasting relationships with students and professors. It was maybe the most attended her 60-year reunion. Carrying on the family tradition, her grandinspiring time of my life.” son, Thomas Beale, is currently a Longwood freshman.

MARY ELLEN MOORE BEALE ’59

SHINING A LIGHT ON AN IMPORTANT CHAPTER OF VIRGINIA AND U.S. HISTORY ameron Patterson ’10 is managing director of the Robert Russa Moton Museum, the National Historic Landmark where a 1951 student strike helped launch the modern American civil rights movement.

Located on the edge of the Longwood campus, the former Robert Russa Moton High School, where the strike took place, opened to the public as the Robert Russa Moton Museum in 2001. The museum’s mission is to interpret the history of civil rights in education specifically as it relates to Prince Edward County and the leading role its citizens played in helping the country to advance from segregation toward integration.

“From the start, I’ve felt connected to Moton’s story and significance,” said Patterson, ROTUNDA OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD who previously worked in Student Affairs at Longwood. “Living in this community and interacting with those who were impacted by

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CAMERON PATTERSON ’10

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JULIE DAYTON ’81 WILLIAM HENRY RUFFNER ALUMNI AWARD

COACHING COACHES—90 OF THEM—KEEPS HER BUSY AND HAPPY

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ulie Dayton ’81 is reluctant to sing her own praises, but, when pressed, she credits her success to hard work and serendipity.

As director of athletics at St. Catherine’s School in Richmond, Dayton manages 90 coaches who coach 45 teams. “I coach the coaches,” she said. “It keeps me busy in the best possible way. And I like keeping busy.”

What’s kept her moving for much of her life is athletics.

“Athletics has always been a driving force for me. Not many people from my high school in Laurel, Delaware—a small town with a Tastee Freez and a couple of stoplights—went on to college. But there were some great coaches who encouraged me to continue my education.”

And just when Dayton began college athletics, Longwood reinstated the women’s lacrosse program. “At 18, I wasn’t thinking about picking up a new sport, but that twist of fate changed my life forever. The doors that lacrosse opened made my career.”

After four years as a star lacrosse player at Longwood, Dayton was a 10-year member of the United States Women’s Lacrosse National Team, playing in the 1986 World Cup and selected to the 1984 Olympics exhibition team.

“A lot of it was part-time and self-funded,” said Dayton. “I was coaching full time simultaneously, so it required a lot of juggling. But I loved it.”

I feel like the caretaker of an important story, and I hope to continue in that role.

—CAMERON PATTERSON ’10

what happened here makes it that much more meaningful.”

Since taking the helm at Moton three years ago, Patterson has raised the museum’s profile, helping to increase its annual traffic to more than 12,000 visitors who engage in on-site and off-site programming.

“My colleagues and those before me have worked to build something

Dayton coached field hockey and lacrosse at UVA for nine years from 1985-92, and was head field hockey coach at Dartmouth from 1993-99. At those schools, she worked with smaller groups of elite athletes. Today at St. Catherine’s, Dayton interacts with a broader swathe of younger athletes.

Was she born a gifted athlete destined to do great things?

“I was quick and fast,” she said. “If there’s a ground ball, or a chance to go to goal or to stop an opponent from going to goal, I’m all in for that.”

remarkable, and I think it’s a gem that folks should know about,” he said.

One initiative that’s helping to raise the museum’s profile is the Young Visitors Project, which was created to ensure that the museum’s current exhibit serves learners of all ages and meets the educational needs of both teachers and schoolchildren. That’s particularly important because the Moton story is part of the history and social sciences standard of learning for Virginia Studies and U.S. History.

Patterson also helped put the museum in the spotlight on the first Barbara Johns Day, held in April 2018 to honor the student who led the strike at Moton High School. Patterson was widely quoted in the media about the significance of Johns’ contributions to the civil rights movement and wrote an op-ed piece that appeared in The VirginianPilot and other publications.

Looking forward, Patterson sees the Moton Museum as an anchor for Farmville as well as for the region and the country. “I feel like the caretaker of an important story,” he said, “and I hope to continue in that role.”

SPRING 2020

31

LONGWOOD AT THE CENTER OF A RICH AND REWARDING LIFE

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r. Nancy Andrews ’59 joined the Longwood faculty in 1966 and has remained not much more than a stone’s throw away from the Rotunda ever since.

Retired several years from her position as a professor of health sciences, she lives just five blocks from campus and remains involved with the university. She attends music recitals and special offerings, class reunions (not just her own but many in order to see former students), sorority reunions and functions, special events and speakers, scholarship dinners and other university events.

Five years ago, she created a scholarship in memory of her late parents, who were devoted environmentalists. The scholarship is designated for students majoring in science. “My mission is to save the planet.

I just hope it’s not too little too late,” she said.

She is also a veteran member of a local NANCY B. SHELTON choral group and an SPIRITED CONTRIBUTOR AWARD avid golfer.

When Andrews finished high school, the career paths for women were mostly nursing and education. “I’d been impressed with some of my teachers, so it wasn’t a difficult decision to choose teaching,” she said.

Her preparation for the classroom began with her Longwood bachelor’s degree and continued with a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Tennessee and a doctorate in supervision in education from Virginia Tech.

She was ahead of her time in recognizing the importance of managing stress through various forms of exercise including yoga, Pilates, tai chi and water aerobics. She shared that awareness with her students, one of whom was Nancy Britton Shelton ’68, the namesake of the Spirited Contributor Award.

“Because I taught her, it makes this totally unexpected honor even more special,” said Andrews.

DR. NANCY ANDREWS ’59

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THE RESPONSIBILITIES AND REWARDS OF BEING FIRST

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railblazer” is an overused description but, in Brig. Gen. Janice Gathright Igou’s case, it fits.

Now retired, Igou was the first female brigadier general in the Virginia Army National Guard, promoted to that rank in 2010. As the director of interagency operations, she provided oversight for all programs, policies and procedures regarding Defense Support to Civil Authority. She THOMAS JEFFERSON served as the lead PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT general officer for ALUMNI AWARD outreach to state and local leaders, organizations and communities, as well as to officials at the National Guard Bureau and several state agencies.

All of which is a bit of a surprise, even to Igou.

There was nothing in the Henrico native’s formative years that would have indicated her career path. She isn’t from a military family, and she never dreamed of commanding troops.

It was at Longwood that she first came into contact with the military.

Every day while en route to classes in Tabb, Igou had to pass through the ROTC department. Speaking with the recruiters piqued her interest, and eventually she was convinced that a military career was for her.

Igou received an ROTC scholarship, and, after graduating with a business degree from Longwood, she joined the U.S. Army and served seven years. She left active duty in 1991, returning home to the Richmond area, where she joined the Virginia National Guard. She served four years as a brigadier general before retiring in 2014.

Looking back over her career, Igou said, “Wearing the uniform, you never regret it, and it’s been a real honor to do so.”

Now, no longer in uniform, Igou resides in Montpelier, where she spends her time volunteering, gardening and teaching Sunday school.

JANICE GATHRIGHT IGOU ’84

LONGWOOD CALENDAR POWERLIFTING COMPETITION APRIL 11

MARCH through March 31

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Opening reception: 5:30-8 p.m. March 27. Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. Information: 434-395-2662.

12:30 p.m.; program, 1 p.m. Speech, Hearing and Learning Services. Information: 434-395-2972.

Auditorium. Information: 434-395-2504.

Love Your Longwood Day. Make a gift at

Spring Weekend. noon-11 p.m., Stubbs Lawn.

Exhibition: Handful of Earth: Contemporary Ceramics.

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love.longwood.edu.

Hearing Aid Support Group: Hearing aid checks,

18

MAY

Information: 434-395-2106.

Agee Lecture Series: “Decision Making: What

14

Science Tells Us About Approaching Ethical Dilemmas.”

4 p.m., Radcliff Hall Room 105. $20 to receive 2 ASHA CEUs; otherwise free. Information: 434-395-2996.

APRIL Courtesy of The Morgan Library and Museum

1

Faculty Recital: “The Fools of April.” 7:30 p.m.,

Wygal Hall Auditorium. Information: 434-395-2504.

2

Dos Passos Prize Ceremony and Reading:

Featuring Rabih Alameddine, author of An Unnecessary Woman. 7 p.m., Maugans Alumni Center Blackwell Ballroom. Information: haffnerbs@longwood.edu.

5 – May 3

Start with Art—Learn for Life: Youth Art Month exhibition. Opening reception: 2-4 p.m. April 5.

Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. Information: 434-395-2662.

10

Cabin Film Series: The Lost Boys. 7 p.m., Longwood

Cabin. Information: 434-395-2662.

10

Paradise Lost Marathon Reading.

8 a.m.-6 p.m., Ruffner Room 107A. Information: smithsb@longwood.edu.

11

Powerlifting Competition. 1 p.m., Health and

Fitness Center. Costs, information and registration: ciolettiac@longwood.edu.

15-19

Theatre: Baskerville. 7 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday,

2 p.m. Sunday; Communication Studies and Theatre Arts Center Mainstage. Tickets: longwoodtickets.com.

Information: 434-395-2474.

16

Concert: Wind Symphony and Jazz Ensemble. 7:30

p.m., Jarman Auditorium. Information: 434-395-2504.

Concert: Longwood Choirs. 7:30 p.m., Jarman

PARADISE LOST MARATHON READING APRIL 10

19 – May 13

Exhibition: Point of Departure, featuring works by

Longwood art students. Opening reception: 5:30-8 p.m.

April 18. Information: 434-395-2662.

22

Art After Dark: “Women in Botanical and Scientific

15

Nursing Pinning Ceremony. 2:30 p.m., Jarman

Auditorium. Information: 434-395-2001.

15

Graduate Commencement. 5:30 p.m., Jarman

Auditorium. Information: 434-395-2001.

16

Undergraduate Commencement. 9:30 a.m.,

Wheeler Lawn. Information: 434-395-2001.

29-31

Alumni Weekend: Registration, costs and

information: go.longwood.edu/alumniweekend.

JUNE

26

Summer Wine & Brew. 5-7 p.m., Longwood

Center for the Visual Arts. Information: 434-395-2662.

For Longwood athletics game schedules, go to longwoodlancers.com.

Art” with Emma Steinkraus. 6 p.m., Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. Information: 434-395-2662.

24

Community Achievement in the Arts Awards Ceremony. 5 p.m., Longwood Center for the Visual

Arts. Information: 434-395-2662.

26

Concert: Percussion Ensemble. 3 p.m., Wygal

Auditorium. Information: 434-395-2504.

All events are free and open to the public unless costs, tickets, etc., are noted. All events are subject to cancellation and change. Please visit longwood.edu for updated information. Persons with disabilities who wish to arrange accommodations or material in an alternative format may call 434-395-2391 (voice) or 711 (TT).

SPRING 2020 33

LANCER UPDATE 100 Reasons to Celebrate Athletes past and present come together to mark a century of intercollegiate competition BY CHRIS COOK

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(from top) Former lacrosse head coach Janet Grubbs Green (left) reminisces with former player and Longwood Hall-of-Famer Julie Dayton ’81. l Dr. Carolyn Hodges Crosby, former field hockey coach, was Longwood’s first director of athletics. l Two-time Big South Women’s Soccer Player of the Year Sydney Wallace ’19 (left) and men’s soccer player Willy Miezan ’19 were among the former Lancer athletes who attended. l As far as they’re concerned, he’s still ‘coach.’ Former soccer players Kelsey Pardue ’13 (left) and Lindsey Ottavio ’12 share a moment with women’s soccer head coach Todd Dyer ’93. l President W. Taylor Reveley IV (left) and Marlo Reveley greet former athletics director Troy Austin, who traveled from North Carolina for the event.

The evening was emceed by Voice of the Lancers Sam Hovan, and Longwood President W. Taylor Reveley IV and Meadows both delivered remarks. Smith addressed the crowd before Longwood alum and 26th-year women’s soccer head coach Todd Dyer ’93 delivered a toast.

With the on-campus reception now in the books, Longwood will continue the seasonlong celebration with its “100 Lancers in 100 Days” social media campaign, which can be found at LongwoodLancers.com/100Lancers and the Longwood athletics Twitter account.

Ted Hodges ’85

It was a homecoming that brought some of the most prominent Lancer athletes and coaches in school history together under one roof.

Hall-of-Famers, All-Americans and legendary Longwood head coaches were among the more than 150 Lancers who returned to campus in February to attend the celebration of Longwood’s 100th season of varsity athletics.

“What a remarkable night,” Longwood Athletics Director Michelle Meadows said after the event. “To see so many friends, former athletes and coaches come back to celebrate our athletics history really puts into perspective how unifying and impactful sports are for all of us.

“There were so many teams and eras of Longwood represented at the reception, but they all came to celebrate the common thread of athletics, the impact it had on their experience at Longwood and the legacy that’s been created here. To see and hear from such trailblazing coaches as Dr. Barbara Smith and coach Janet Grubbs Green, former athletics directors like Dr. Carolyn Hodges and Troy Austin, and too many former student-athletes to name, made for a really special reunion.”

The Friday night reception took over Radcliff Hall—the new home of Longwood’s admissions team and campus welcome center (see Page 12)—and turned it into an athletics homecoming hub decorated with championship trophies and memorabilia from Longwood’s long history of success.

Among those in attendance were former national champion women’s golf coach Dr. Barbara Smith, former women’s lacrosse coach and two-time NCAA semifinal participant Janet Grubbs Green, former athletics directors Troy Austin and Dr. Carolyn Hodges Crosby, and a plethora of former athletes and Hall-ofFame Lancers, including women’s basketball All-American Carmille Barnette ’91 and men’s basketball’s No. 2 all-time scorer Kevin Jefferson ’90.

LANCER UPDATE

Winning Streak Another semester, another record-setting performance in the classroom

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olstered by 13 students who made the President’s List, three teams that achieved their highest GPAs in more than a decade and 12 teams that surpassed the 3.0 mark, Longwood student-athletes combined to match the department’s Division I record with a 3.14 grade-point average during the fall 2019 semester.

Of Longwood’s 14 teams, 12 finished with at least a 3.1 GPA for the first time since the university began compiling that data in spring 2006. Leading that group was the women’s cross country team with a department-high 3.44 GPA and men’s golf with a 3.37, marking the second straight semester those two teams led the men’s and women’s programs.

What our studentathletes have achieved over the past decade … is no accident.’

—DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS MICHELLE MEADOWS

“It’s truly inspiring that performances such as these have become the standard of our sports programs and athletics department,” said Longwood Athletics Director Michelle Meadows, now in her 14th year at Longwood and her second as athletics director. “What our student-athletes have achieved over the past decade—competing at the highest level of college athletics while maintaining the highest standards in the classroom—is no accident.

It’s the result of incredible effort and dedication from the student-athletes we recruit, the coaches who lead our programs, the administrative staff members who provide direction and support throughout our department, and Longwood University for devoting itself to the holistic development of every member of its student body.”

The results of this dedication can be seen on an individual level, as well: 58 Lancer student-athletes earned Dean’s List honors for achieving GPAs of at least 3.5 for the semester,

Corri Calandra ’20, a chemistry major and All-Big South lacrosse player, is just one example of a Longwood student-athlete who excels in the classroom.

and 13 others, representing seven teams, were named to the President’s List for achieving perfect marks of 4.0 while taking a full-time class load.

The fall 2019 performance continues a years-long trend of continuous academic improvement among Longwood student-athletes.

The 3.14 GPA marks the fourth consecutive semester the group has surpassed the 3.1 GPA threshold and the sixth straight semester the group achieved at least 3.0. The Lancer women’s cross country program’s 3.44 was the group’s third straight semester with at least a 3.4, while men’s golf surpassed the 3.0 mark for the 22nd

consecutive semester under head coach Kevin Fillman.

More evidence of Longwood’s studentathletes’ academic prowess comes in the form of two university valedictorians in the last five years: Kelsey McDonald ’15, women’s soccer, and Kate Spradlin ’19, women’s basketball.

Also since 2015, three students—McDonald, women’s lacrosse star Dana Joss ’20, a history major, and reigning Big South Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year Carrie Reaver ’21, a biology major—received recognition on the prestigious CoSIDA Academic All-America or All-District III teams.—Chris Cook SPRING 2020 35

L AN CER U PD A T E

History Lesson Opponent’s connection to Moton Museum spurs basketball team to visit, reflect

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s Longwood and Big South rival Hampton University convened on the basketball court Feb. 15—each team ready to set the other firmly in the loss column—the players and coaches experienced a moment of unity around a shared historical connection.

That evening, in partnership with Hampton, Longwood honored the story of Moton High School, which is named for Hampton graduate and former Dean of Men Robert Russa Moton.

Now a museum affiliated with Longwood and a National Historic Landmark, the segregated, African-American Moton High School was the site of a 1951 student strike protesting poor conditions, a spark that ignited the national student civil rights movement.

The story of the walkout and the aftershocks it generated are now preserved in the museum and its permanent exhibition, titled “The Moton School Story: Children of Courage.”

Longwood players and coaches recently got a firsthand look at that inspiring story.

“I feel like as a staple in the Farmville community, not only representing Longwood athletics but the university itself, it was important we came [to the museum] and learned Members of the Longwood men’s basketball team learned about Prince Edward County’s civil rights history during a recent tour of the Moton Museum.

about the history,” said sophomore Christian Wilson ’22, a native of New York and a communication studies major who transferred to Longwood from junior college basketball powerhouse South Plains Community College.

“Certain things wouldn’t be able to happen today if not for major steps that were taken in this very building. I’ll probably never be able to meet some of the people that took these 36 I

LONGWOOD MAGAZINE

courageous steps, Certain things wouldn’t be able to but they definitely happen today if not for major steps have an impact on all of us no matter what that were taken in this very building.’ race or background —CHRISTIAN WILSON ’22 we come from.”

At the museum, the Lancers retraced school, from the Moton students’ joining in the path of the Moton walkout, beginning the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education with an immersive video that re-created the lawsuit, to Virginia’s adoption of Massive Resisinitial assembly where Moton student Barbara tance, to eventual triumph and desegregation.

Johns organized the protest. The team saw the “This was very impactful for all of us,” said resistance the students faced from the school’s senior JaShaun Smith ’20, a sociology major faculty and administration, who feared for from North Carolina. “As a team, some people their students’ safety, and the collective voice probably didn’t know the history of the museum the students found as they pushed back against or the history of Farmville. … If not for what the injustices that robbed them of an education happened here, I might not have had the chance equal to that of white students in the area. to play basketball at this level, or even to attend Moton Museum Assistant Director of college. I wouldn’t have gotten to know my Education Leah Brown then took the team teammates, and my life would have turned out on a guided tour that detailed the story of the very differently.”—Chris Cook

LANCER UPDATE

Renaissance on the Hardwood Regular season includes fourth-place ranking for men, double-digit wins for women coach Rebecca Tillett, reaching double-digit wins by the first week in February. The team is rife with some of the Big South’s top talent, from Big South Player of the Year candidate and freshman Kyla McMakin ’23, a computer science major, to All-Big South forward Dayna Rouse ’20, a psychology major. Also making key contributions

this season are Big South blocks leader Akila Smith ’22 and Big South assists leader Tra’Dayja Smith ’21, a biology major. The team ranked among the Big South’s leaders in scoring and among the NCAA’s top 10 in blocks per game while pushing the Lancers to their second-most Big South wins in program history.

Mike Kropf ’14

I

t’s been a season of milestones on the hardwood at Longwood, with both the Lancer men’s and women’s basketball programs experiencing resurgences under their respective second-year head coaches.

At press time, both the Lancer men and women were making preparations for their Big South Championship tournaments, the women having posted double-digit wins in the regular season and the men relishing a record fourth-place conference finish that earned them a bye into the tournament quarterfinals.

Men’s head coach Griff Aldrich has engineered an impressive follow-up to his inaugural season in 2018-19, which took the Lancers to the College Basketball Invitational and their first-ever Division I postseason win.

In Aldrich’s second year at the helm, the Lancers set new program standards with the record finish in the Big South’s No. 4 spot and nine Big South wins. Longwood’s path toward those milestones was hard-fought but triumphant, as the Lancers ended the regular season with wins in eight of their final 11 games, taking down some of the Big South’s top teams in the process, including Gardner-Webb and Hampton.

Meanwhile, the Lancer women have enjoyed a breakout of their own under second-year head

With a fourth-place finish in the Big South, the men’s basketball team has reason to celebrate.

Nothing But Net Women’s, men’s basketball stars join elite club with 1,000 points each

Mike Kropf ’14

T

hey wear the same number on their jerseys, 21, and now they share another number: 1,000.

Dayna Rouse ’20, the do-it-all women’s basketball star, and JaShaun Smith ’20, her high-flying counterpart on the men’s team, joined the 1,000-point club within two days of each other. Rouse, a psychology major, first reached that benchmark on Feb. 4 against UNC Asheville.

Smith, a sociology major, followed two days later with his milestone field goal against Charleston Southern.

Rouse’s history-making field goal came on a trademark pull-up jumper in the third quarter against the Bulldogs, while Smith wasted no time in getting his with a game-opening layup just seconds after the opening tipoff against the Buccaneers.

Tying a ribbon on both of those milestone performances were wins, as Rouse rallied the women to a 54-51 comeback victory over UNC Asheville and Smith helped power the men to a 71-63 triumph over Charleston Southern. But scoring is not all Rouse and Smith have done at Longwood, and the records book shows it. Both rank in Longwood’s top 10 in blocks in addition to their outstanding scoring stats.

Dayna Rouse ’20 (left) and JaShaun Smith ’20

SPRING 2020 37

ALUMNI NEWS A Weekend With Your ‘Peeps’ Affinity group reunions for Ambassadors and Greek organizations are one highlight of this year’s Alumni Weekend May 29–31 A gathering of four decades of Longwood Ambassadors is just one of the affinity group reunions that will take place at this year’s Alumni Weekend, along with all the other activities you’ve grown to love.

With just two months left in the countdown to the event—which begins Friday, May 29, and continues through Sunday, May 31—final details are falling into place.

On Friday evening, the current Longwood Ambassadors are hosting a reunion for all former Ambassadors at the newly opened Radcliff Hall, home to the Ambassadors and the Admissions office. Anyone who served as an Ambassador since the program began in 1983 is invited to attend.

“This will be an informal get-together to reconnect with old friends and to make connections and network with new acquaintances,” said Dr. Jake Milne ’99, who is the advisor for the Ambassadors and also an Ambassador alum.

“The Ambassadors have been an integral part of the Longwood community for four decades, and we are really excited about this gathering of past and present Ambassadors.”

Current Ambassadors will be working during the weekend and will have the opportunity to “sit the pit,” as well as to play and judge Oozeball with alumni and guests.

The list of affinity group reunions is still being finalized, but some of the other groups that are hosting events during the weekend include fraternities, sororities and The Rotunda student newspaper, which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding this year.

Other highlights of the weekend include live entertainment, all-you-can-eat meals, open bar (beer and wine), faculty talks, Alumni Color Wars, Oozeball, the class parade, and late-night breakfast and casino. There will also be campus tours and opportunities to explore downtown Farmville.

“Each year it’s rewarding to see alumni of all ages come together for this unique and meaningful experience,” said Nicole Perkins ’05, director of alumni engagement. “It’s a celebration unlike any other we host, with hundreds of alumni returning to campus and immediately feeling like they are home.”

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The class parade brings together alumni of all ages who then process from Stubbs Lawn to Lancaster Lawn, where an alumni version of Color Wars (formerly known as Paint Battle) takes place and a food truck is waiting to serve up baked Alaska.

One of the classes in the spotlight this year will be the Class of 1970, which is celebrating its 50th reunion.

As in previous years, alumni are encouraged to stay in on-campus residence halls—including the newly renovated Frazer Hall—further recreating the college feel that brings memories flooding back. New this year, alumni are able to reserve individual beds or the standard suite.

Registration fees cover all programming, entertainment and unlimited food and drink all weekend. Not able to make it for the entire weekend? Day passes and a la carte pricing are available.

If you would like to help organize an affinity reunion for your favorite organization, email reunion@longwood.edu.

Register today at go.longwood.edu/ alumniweekend.—Lauren Whittington

ClassNotes

A chemistry major at Longwood, Austin earned a master’s degree at the University of Virginia and completed all the course work for a doctorate there as well. Even though Longwood was not yet coeducational for residential students at the time he attended, Austin enrolled as what was known then as a “day student” and was one of two men in his graduating class.

1960s

Glenda Booth ’66, was reappointed

Dot Hubbard

1940s

Dorothy “Dot” Hubbard ’47,

founder of Hubbard Peanut Company, was posthumously awarded the American Peanut Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2019, recognizing her trailblazing role in helping the development of the peanut industry in Virginia and the Carolinas. Hubbard “perfected her unique family recipe and pioneered a technique for cooking Virginia peanuts that has become the industry standard for the gourmet Virginia-type peanut we know today,” APC chairman Sid Levy said in presenting the award to Hubbard’s daughter, Lynne Hubbard Rabil ’75, current president of the company, at the 2019 USA Peanut Congress. Hubbard, who founded the family-owned business in 1954, retired in 1979 and died in 2002.

Rabil in November 2019 announced a major expansion of the Sedley-based business. The company plans to invest $1.6 million to turn the former Farm Fresh store in nearby Franklin into a production and retail facility in addition to enhancing the Sedley site.

1950 s

John M. “Jack” Austin ’57, a

fourth-generation Longwood graduate and longtime Longwood professor, died Dec. 13, 2019. Austin was literally a “Jack-of-all-trades” when it came to teaching science. From 1963-99, he helped Longwood students make sense of subjects including oceanography, earth science, physics and astronomy. Austin’s Longwood roots go deep and spread wide. His mother, Katie Kidd Austin earned a diploma in 1933, then a B.S. in ’53 and an M.S. in ’58, and his grandmother and great-grandmother were alumnae as well. He is survived by his wife, Edith Ann Carter Austin ’67; his two daughters, Katherine Austin ’92 and Ann Austin Swanberg ’94, M.S. ’96; and his son-in-law, Bobby Swanberg ’95; along with numerous other family members who hold Longwood degrees.

by Gov. Ralph Northam to her second four-year term on the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation in October 2019. Booth, a freelance writer and editor who lives in Alexandria, is active in conservation activities in Northern Virginia; she is president of Friends of Dyke Marsh. She did legislative work in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for 27 years before retiring in 2002. Her older son, Scott Surovell, is serving his second term in the Virginia Senate, representing the 36th District (he previously served three terms in the Virginia House of Delegates), and her younger son, Dr. Todd Surovell, heads the archaeology department at the University of Wyoming.

1970s

Marcia Tench Kirtley ’70, M.S. ’73, won the North Carolina State Soft-

ball Throw for her age category (70-74) in 2019. She plays softball and pickleball competitively at the state level.

Kay Ellen Jones Woolridge ’77

received an Albert Nelson Marquis

Long-lost poem morphs into successful play Andrew Wheeler ’92 began writing a poem about “lost love and the struggle of the human condition” in 1991.

In October 2019, he gathered together 60 fellow thespians—many of them professional dancers—rented a theatre and staged two performances of The Tragedy of Lucender and Venetia, a play he wrote based on that poem.

So what happened in the intervening 28 years?

After struggling to finish the poem, Wheeler set it aside and then misplaced it. His wife, Shelly, found it around Thanksgiving 2018 and encouraged him to complete it. He penned the last words in February 2019 and then set about producing the play, which takes place in Victorian England.

Wheeler paid $10,000 to rent the 434-seat Booth Playhouse at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he lives. Taking on the lead role himself, he arranged for costumes and held rehearsals. Particular attention was paid to choreography, seeing as how everyone dances in the show, which Wheeler describes as “essentially a theatrical dance production.”

“They danced the emotions of the play, which takes place inside Lucender’s head,” said Wheeler, an accomplished dancer who himself performed a Viennese waltz on stage.

The run of the show, and Wheeler’s investment, both ended happily: He sold more than enough tickets to cover the theater’s rental fee.

A Longwood theatre major, Wheeler’s day job is as a golf course superintendent at a country club. He has written poetry his whole life and is currently writing another play, a comedy titled A Soggy Bottom Love Story, which will be performed at the same playhouse in November 2020. This time he hopes to round up some sponsors in addition to a talented cast.

Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who, the world’s premier publisher of biographical profiles, in December 2019. This honor is “reserved for biographees who have demonstrated

Alum connects at-risk youth with job resources Reneé Chalmers ’05 can relate to the disadvantaged young people she helps with career development and career exploration. She was once in their shoes.

Chalmers, youth futures coordinator for the city of Lynchburg, grew up in poverty in a single-parent home in Charlotte County. She is herself a single parent whose daughter was born while she attended Longwood—which she entered after working in a yarn factory.

“I grew up in poverty; I know how hard it is,” she said. “I want to connect people with the community resources that took me longer to find, to help them overcome barriers. This is a great opportunity to give back.”

She described her job, which she began in June 2019, as “helping youth [ages 14-24] and their families succeed beyond their circumstances.” Her duties include career-development workshops, soft-skills training and job fairs.

In her role overseeing the Youth & Prevention Services Citizens Advisory Board, she is helping to develop a “youth drop-in to create a safe space for youth affected by homelessness.” The one-afternoon-a-week program is expected to begin in April.

Chalmers previously was a FastForward career coach at Central Virginia Community College, during which she received the Rising Star Chancellor’s Award. In addition to her Longwood degree, she has an MBA and an M.A. from Liberty University.

leadership, excellence and longevity” in their profession. In addition, Woolridge will be included in the Marquis Who’s Who Top Professionals Series and also in an upcoming edition of the Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achievers book.

Woolridge, who retired in 2007 after teaching music in the Colonial Heights schools for 30 years, previously has been included in the 26th and 27th editions of the Marquis Who’s Who of American Women. She also was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa International Honorary for Women Educators, of which she was a charter member and past president of the Gamma Eta chapter (Chester), state music chairman, district president and coauthor of the Virginia Alpha Delta Kappa Resource Manual for Establishing New Chapters. Woolridge established two Virginia chapters: Gamma Xi (Dinwiddie County) and Gamma Pi (Prince George County).

1980s

Mickey Roberts ’83 retired in Au-

gust 2019 after a 36-year affiliation with the baseball team at Prince George High School, the last 23 years as head coach.

He won a Class 5 VHSL state championship in 2018 and numerous accolades, including Group 5A State Coach of Continued on Page 40

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AL UMN I NE W S

ClassNotes Continued from Page 39

the Year that year, and was a six-time Central District Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the USSSA Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Longwood Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. A four-year member of Longwood’s baseball team as a pitcher, he played in the Division II College World Series in 1982. and sculptor, had an exhibition at the Craven Arts Council & Gallery in New Bern, North Carolina, in November 2019. Work by Thornton, who lives in Cary, North Carolina, has been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications across the United States.

Sam Chase ’21

Catherine Thornton ’84, a painter

FOCUS ON TEACHING More than 70 Longwood alumni in the field of education returned to campus in November for We Teach to Enlighten, a day of professional development with faculty from the College of Education and Human Services. Alumni teachers from around the state earned recertification points for attending the event. The keynote speaker was Paul Nichols ’85, superintendent for Mecklenburg County Public Schools, who addressed the struggles teachers face in the classroom, challenges with SOLs and the importance of the “Five C’s of Education.”

Lisa Lindsay-Mondoro ’89, CEO

Lisa Lindsay-Mondoro

of the Boys & Girls Club of Annapolis & Anne Arundel County (BGCAA) in Maryland, received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We Share the Dream Award in January. The award, one of 10 presented annually by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee of Maryland, recognizes work to “advance

Alum is one of 76 teachers traveling to Thailand for Fulbright Global Classrooms program Ericka Godwin ’13, M.S. ’16, will spend three weeks in Thailand this summer as part of the yearlong Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms program.

She is one of 76 teachers from around the country selected from among more than 430 applicants to serve in the 2019-20 cohort of the program, which is coordinated by the U.S. State Department. While in Thailand from July 18Aug. 4, she will meet with educational leaders, co-teach in three independent schools at the elementary and middle-grades levels, and work on a capstone project.

In her capstone project, Godwin will develop an “online global education guide to serve as a resource for my school community to build global awareness and mutual understanding.” The guide, accessible to anyone and due to be up and running in August, will document all of her experiences in the program.

“I applied for the program because it will allow me to connect my two areas of passion—education and traveling—and to gain professional development in global education,” said Godwin, a middle-school literature teacher at Atlanta Academy, a private school in Roswell, Georgia. “I’ve always loved learning about the world.”

Godwin has traveled to Europe, Africa, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. This is her first trip to Asia.

A Smithfield native, Godwin will launch a global leadership program for grades 6-8 at her school starting this August. The program, she said, will focus on “service learning and global immersion.”

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the legacy” of the slain civil rights leader.

Lindsay-Mondoro started working for the BGCAA in 2011 as a part-time contract specialist, later served as director of education, director of programs and senior director of operations, and has been CEO since 2015. She previously taught in alternative education and the home and hospital program in the Anne Arundel County schools. She also has taught emotionally disturbed students in the Fairfax County schools and earlier was a counselor at a juvenile detention center in that county. She lives in Edgewater, Maryland.

1990s

Dr. William Dunn ’91 received a

doctorate in education from Capella University in December 2019. Dunn is the founding president of the Dunn Foundation, a nonprofit that works with community partners to provide free programs and services to families and communities in need. He is principal owner of lamdunn Cleaning Solutions LLC, a commercial cleaning business in the Washington, D.C., area.

Dunn, an Iraq War veteran who lives in Burtonsville, Maryland, has a master’s from University of Maryland University College.

Dr. James Trent ’91 received a doc-

torate in business administration from California Intercontinental University with Highest Distinction (3.97 gradepoint average) in July 2019.

John Rafferty ’93, an Army officer,

was promoted to brigadier general in October 2019. Of the 3,577 lieutenants commissioned by the Army in 1993, the

year he was commissioned as an artillery officer, only 46 have been selected for promotion to brigadier general. He is commander of the Long Range Precision Fires cross functional team, based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Rafferty, who entered Longwood after enlisting in the Army in 1987, has served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ann Crawley Coker ’97 was elected

to the Chesterfield County School Board in November 2019. Coker, who represents the Bermuda District, is a former president of the Parent-Teacher Organization at Enon Elementary School. She has worked since 2000 for Chester-based construction company Industrial TurnAround Corp. and was promoted in October 2019 to director of the firm’s project accounting and processes area, overseeing the budgeting and invoicing for all of its projects.

Shari Fox ’98 was named assistant

principal of A.G. Wright Middle School in Stafford County in September 2019.

She had been coordinator of the Stafford Day School. A special education teacher and special education diagnostician, she began her career with the Westmoreland County schools and switched to Stafford in 2003. She has held numerous positions, including department chair. She has a master’s from the University of Virginia.

Tracey Blaine Phillips ’98 became

the principal of James W. Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax County in July 2019. An alumna of the school, Continued on Page 45

ALUMNI NEWS

Join the Club!

New program spreads the Longwood spirit to the littlest Lancers

W

hen it comes to catching the Longwood spirit, there’s no minimum age requirement.

That’s why Alumni and Career Services created Kids Clubhouse, a program that gives alumni the opportunity to engage in fun activities—both on campus and at home—with their children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, all while keeping the spirit of Longwood alive.

The mascot for the program is a 7-year-old version of Joanie (aka Joan of Arc, Longwood’s patron hero). Little Lancers can get to know her through a series of coloring books focused on her adventures with her pony. For example, searching for a professor’s missing ring takes the pair on a quest around campus, from the bell tower to an Oozeball pit.

“We thought this would be a fun way to introduce children to Longwood’s history and traditions,” said Ryan Catherwood, assistant vice president for Alumni and Career Services.

“The three coloring books that have been created so far make a great gift or an engaging activity for a rainy afternoon. Alums can also share their own Longwood stories while the kids color in the pictures.”

The books can be purchased online at longwood.edu/alumni/kids-clubhouse/. A full set is $25; individual books are $10. Alumni and Career Services also sold boxes of kids’ Valentines featuring little Joanie for Valentine’s Day. Catherwood said alumni have responded well to the coloring books, and new ideas are in the works.

“Kids Clubhouse is a natural outgrowth of our popular Alumni Family Game Day,” said Catherwood. “We’re glad to be able to offer a way for alumni to help the children in their lives connect with Longwood. And years from now, when those children are looking for a college, we hope some them will decide that Longwood is exactly the right fit for them.”—Heather Waldo

TOGETHER AGAIN Longwood’s Black Alumni Reunion drew a substantial crowd again in 2019 with more than 100 current students and alumni gathering on campus to network during the first weekend in November. Partic-

ipants toured campus, including the newly renovated Frazer Hall; visited the Moton Museum; and heard from representatives from Admissions, Alumni and Career Services, and Multicultural Affairs about how they can support Longwood.

SPRING 2020

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LANCERS WHO LUNCH What’s better than a free lunch? A free lunch with your fellow Longwood alums. The Lancer Lunch program reaches out to companies with at least four Longwood alumni employees, encouraging them to host students for the Work Shadow Program and to attend Longwood’s job fairs.

So far, Lancer Lunches have been held at McKesson (left), Capital One, CarMax, Dominion Energy, Federal Reserve of Richmond and Wells Coleman. To request a lunch at your company, contact Teresa Dodson at dodsonts@ longwood.edu.

More compelling stories in store for third season of popular podcast is the third season of the Day After Graduation podcast, in which Longwood alumni and friends tell their stories of pivotal moments and unique experiences that shaped their lives—both personally and professionally.

The new season launched this month, and new episodes will continue to drop weekly through mid-May. Compelling stories across a broad range of careers and experiences—like the challenges of making it as a professional musician or working in a U.S. embassy deep in the heart of Russia—have made the podcast popular.

How do we know? The 20 episodes from the first two seasons, plus five pilot episodes, have been played more than 8,700 times by listeners in more than 50 countries.

If you’d like to tune in, you can visit the show page: longwood.edu/alumni/ day-after-graduation-podcast/ and/or subscribe using your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Soundcloud and Stitcher.

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Sam Chase ’21

NOW AVAILABLE for your listening pleasure

Playtime Alumni Family Game Day offers fun for the whole family

A

lmost 400 alumni and family members were on campus Jan. 4 for the fourth Alumni Family Game Day, held in conjunction with the men’s basketball home game against the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Longwood men’s basketball coach Griff Aldrich and some of his players attended this year’s event, shooting hoops and playing games, including chess, with some of the children and

grandchildren of alumni in attendance.

Children and grownups enjoyed an indoor tailgate, games, giveaways, an inflatable bounce house, an obstacle course, the rock climbing wall and more. A local gymnastics company set up a romp and roll for the smallest Lancers.

Be on the lookout for more family-friendly programming coming from the alumni office through the Kids Clubhouse program.

ALUMNI NEWS

Voting 101 Alum’s passion for getting college students to the polls finds the perfect outlet

M

ike Burns ’05 wants college students

to vote early—in life—and often.

As national director of the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project (CVP), Burns and his staff work with universities, community colleges, faculty, students and election officials to reduce barriers to student voting, with a focus on state and local elections.

They attack the challenge from three directions: voter registration, voter education and voter turnout.

I am an unabashed voting rights activist who constantly works to convince young people and students that their votes matter.’

—MIKE BURNS ’05

“What I do is a mix of education and advocacy,” said Burns, who lives and works in Washington, D.C. “Our goal is to help campuses institutionalize reforms that empower students with the information they need to register and vote. Democracy works best when everyone has a voice and everyone votes.”

A 2013 graduate of Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, Burns began working for CVP part time during his last semester of law school and then signed on full time in 2014. He is one of 10 staffers: Three (including Burns) work in the national office, and the others are in-state coordinators up and down the East Coast and as far west as Texas.

CVP, which is a nonpartisan organization, works with 124 colleges and universities. The goal is to have 225 signed up by the end of this year.

“I think we could see a historic youth turnout in the 2020 elections,” Burns said. “Unfortunately, many elected officials and candidates think that young people don’t vote, so they don’t visit campuses. As a result, young voters become less engaged in the process, and candidates are less engaged with young people.”

That’s a situation that Burns is unwilling to let stand.

“I am an unabashed voting rights activist who constantly works to convince young

people and students that their votes matter,” he said. “I’ve seen more responsiveness among students now than when I started, which I think is due to the political climate. Students want to be more engaged.”

After graduating with political science major at Longwood, Burns worked for more than five years on several campaigns in his native Northern Virginia, as well as going on the road for six primaries and caucuses with Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. He was executive director of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee from 2008-10.

The first campaign Burns worked on was in high school, when he “dropped literature door to door” for a House of Delegates candidate to fulfill a requirement for his AP history-government class.

He couldn’t be happier with where his subsequent career has taken him.

“This is a great job because, unlike my previous jobs on campaigns where people could

Mike Burns is the national director of the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project.

become cynical, I’m working with voters who are new to the political process. Plus, putting young people on a trajectory where, hopefully, they’ll participate in elections for the rest of their lives is a positive thing.”—Kent Booty LEARNING THE ROPES Ryan Young ’00 (left), an attorney in private practice in Glen Allen, Virginia, hosted two students for Longwood’s Work Shadow Program in December. Kristen Disbrow ’20 (center), a criminal justice major, and Jordan Pearce ’20, a psychology major, were among 28 students who signed up for the program held in December and January. Their experience included a trip to the Henrico County Courthouse, where they toured the facility and sat in on hearings. Among the 20 other placements were Dominion Energy, the UVA Health System, U.S. Futaba, Inc., the Virginia Department of Military Affairs and the Franklin County Public Schools.

SPRING 2020 43

Sue Vilic Carter with some of her new friends in Ghana.

Out of Africa Rotary trip to Ghana inspires in the service of others’

S

ue Vilic Carter ’06, M.S. ’10, has not

led a sheltered life.

A native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, she and her family immigrated to the U.S. as war refugees in 2002 when she was just 17 years old. And yet she says a recent visit to the West African country of Ghana is what has really changed her.

Carter, a past president of the Farmville Rotary Club, was part of a delegation of 12 U.S. Rotarians who visited Ghana this past fall.

While there, they broke ground on a junior high school, dedicated and opened two elementary schools, visited and assessed dozens of the Rotary Club’s water and sanitation projects, and toured a hospital.

“The things I saw in Ghana changed my life,” said Carter, director of human resources at Hampden-Sydney College and a member of the Farmville Rotary since 2013. “I saw how just a little effort and assistance can make a huge difference in providing education, and water

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over the place. Sanitation is very poor, and they just don’t have much equipment.”

Knowing the hospital’s newborn incubator was out of commission, the Rotary group brought with them a newborn warming blanket called a Warmilu, which doesn’t require electricity. “The doctors, nurses and administrators were so happy they cried when we presented it to them. They immediately put a baby in it, and since then it has warmed dozens of babies,” Carter said.

Inspired by what she saw on the trip, Carter launched two additional aid initiatives on her return to Virginia. One is a partnership between the Farmville Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Sunyani Central to provide alumna to ‘lose herself additional Warmilus and other equipment to the Sunyani Municipal Hospital. The Farmville Rotarians also are working with Rotary Clubs all and sanitation—all of which change not only over the world to raise money to provide addipeople’s lives but also the historical trends of tional medical equipment to Ghana; these funds their communities.” would be matched by Rotary International.

Carter was moved most of all by her visit to Carter and the Farmville Rotary Club conSunyani Municipal Hospital, where a hospital tinue their local fundraising activities, which employee and fellow Rotarian, Grace Aloko, led exclusively benefit the Farmville community. a tour.

But she can’t wait to return to Ghana in fall 2020, when the medical supplies for the The things in Ghana changed my Sunyani Municipal life. I saw how just a little effort and Hospital are expected assistance can make a huge difference.’ to be officially delivered by a delegation —SUE VILIC CARTER ’06, M.S. ’10 of Rotarians.

“A few days after “We toured the entire hospital, but we were I returned from Ghana last fall was Mahatma most inspired to provide assistance to the Gandhi’s 150th birthday,” she said. “I was mindmaternity ward,” she said. “It’s about the size of lessly scrolling on Facebook when I saw this an average Longwood classroom, and there is no quote from him: ‘The best way to find yourself privacy. There are about eight beds in the room, is to lose yourself in service of others.’ This each one right next to another, with mothers, is now my creed. Because of Ghana, I found children, fathers, visitors, doctors and nurses all myself.”—Kent Booty

ALUMNI NEWS

ClassNotes Continued from Page 40

she oversees 3,800 students and a staff of 300. She previously taught at Bonnie Brae Elementary School and Robinson (special education), was assistant and then associate principal of Hayfield Secondary School and returned to Robinson as associate principal in 2014. She has a master’s from George Mason University.

2000s

Laura Robb ’06 published her first

book, Beyond: limits. longing. love. loss, in December 2019. The collection of poems “tells my life story; it’s like a memoir but in poetry form,” said Robb, a writer and speaker who lives in Suffolk. That story includes her lifelong struggle with Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, a physical disability. Robb, who writes a monthly blog (lauracrobb.com), began an online graduate program through Western Theological Seminary in Michigan in January, and she plans to eventually pursue a master’s in counseling and life coaching.

Kelly Guerin McDougald ’09, a

kindergarten teacher at Bensley Elementary School in Chesterfield County, was named her school’s 2019-20 Teacher of

the Year in May 2019. This is her eighth year as a kindergarten teacher at Bensley.

She started her career as a special education kindergarten and first-grade teacher.

2010s

Ashley Jarrett Crute ’10 and Patrick Crute ’10 welcomed their second

child, Eason David, on June 23. He is the ninth great-grandchild of Jane Danby Crute ’46 and the second grandchild of J. David Crute ’81 and Patricia Whitehurst Crute ’80.

Ashley works at Longwood as director of scholarships, and Patrick is executive director of the Virginia Alliance of YMCAs and an infantryman in the Virginia National Guard.

Judy Deichman, M.S. ’10, is profes-

sional development co-chair of the Virginia Association of School Librarians (VAASL), which last year was awarded the 2019 AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Past-Presidents Planning Grant for National School Library Grants. In 2019, she was named the VAASL James Regional Librarian of the Year, and she received the AASL Innovative Reading Grant in 2018. She is AASL treasurer. A Midlothian resident, Deichman has been instructional specialist for library media for Richmond Public Schools, overseeing 41 school

libraries, since September 2019. She was the school librarian at Nottoway Middle School in Crewe from 2010-19.

T. Jordan Miles III ’10 was elected

to the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors in November 2019. Miles, who began his four-year term as the District 4 (Maysville) supervisor in January, is the youngest person ever elected to the board. He is director of nutrition and transportation for the Piedmont Senior Resources Area Agency on Aging and vice president of the Buckingham Chamber of Commerce.

Deanna Gravely, M.S. ’11, has been

a librarian at Carver College and Career Academy in Chester for more than four years. She was previously a middle-school and high-school English teacher.

Dylan Forshay ’12, a former Long-

wood soccer player, has been an assistant men’s soccer coach at Shepherd University in West Virginia since 2017. He has a master’s from Shenandoah University.

Jamie Yurasits ’13 and Michael Howie ’14 were married June 29, 2019,

in Orange at the Pavilion on Lakeland Farm. Members of the wedding party Continued on Page 46

PUTTING ON THEIR GAME FACES Longwood alumni gathered on Jan. 11 at Phoebus Dive Bar in Hampton prior to the tipoff of the Longwood vs. Hampton University men’s basketball game. More than 50 Lancer fans representing the 757 area code came out to get ready for the big game before heading over to cheer the team on from the Longwood alumni section at Hampton’s convention center.

Alum elected to Accomack County School Board Gary Reese ’81 came out a winner in the first-ever Accomack County School Board elections in November 2019.

Until voters approved the switch from an appointed board in a 2017 referendum, Accomack, on the Eastern Shore, was one of only a handful of localities in Virginia where the school board was not elected. Reese, who represents District 4, first joined the board in July 2018 after being appointed to fill the unexpired term of a member who had resigned.

He was elected to a full four-year term in November.

Reese, who lives in Parksley, retired in 2017 after teaching in the Accomack schools for 36 years, including 32 years at Nandua High School, where he taught driver’s education, health and physical education. He also coached baseball and varsity football and served as athletics director for his last several years. He was elected to the Nandua Hall of Fame in May 2019.

Reese was encouraged to run six months after retiring, when a longtime school board member stepped down. “I figured maybe this could be a chance to still help children and others in the school system,” he said. “Also, I thought I could give back to Accomack County for giving a young kid a chance to teach 36 years ago—which was a great decision I made.”

The Chase City native—the first member of his family to attend college—was “talked into teaching” by his advisor, the late Dr. Eleanor Weddle Bobbitt ’52, a beloved professor who taught at Longwood for 38 years.

SPRING 2020 45

AL UMN I NE W S

ClassNotes Continued from Page 45

included Julia Yurasits ’16, Nicole Hancock ’13, Kaitlynn Holland ’13, Ricky Barden ’12 and Forrest Williams ’12. Although Jamie and Michael attended Longwood at the same time, they didn’t become friends until they were hired to teach at Orange County High School, where both still teach: She teaches art; he, AP world history and criminology. He also is head coach of the varsity swim team.

Kim Boon-He Scala ’14 and Aaron Caplan ’14 were married April 6, 2019,

at Northwest River Park in Chesapeake.

She is a pediatric emergency room nurse at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, and he is a sales manager for Firestone. They live in Chesapeake.

Walter Culbertson ’14 and Matthew Agnor ’15, who met at

Longwood, play together in the Walt and Agnor Band, which has been described as a “polyethnic slamgrass” band.

Margaret “Maggie” Roberts ’14, M.S. ’15, is pursuing a doctorate in

education at West Virginia University and is a graduate teaching assistant in WVU’s College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences. She previously taught driver’s education, health and physical education for three years at Prince George High School, from which she graduated.

She also coached the field hockey team, which advanced to the state tournament in 2016—for the first time—and 2017.

A course she piloted there, Champions Together, which combined adaptive P.E. and advanced P.E., “jump-started” her decision to pursue a doctorate, which she hopes to complete in spring 2021. She plans to be a professor in a teacher preparation program. Her father is Mickey Roberts ’83 (see Page 39).

uates—or even saw each other. Katie is in her first year teaching general education math at Liberty Middle School; previously she taught at Linkhorne Middle School for three years. Aaron has been a history and special education teacher at Liberty High School for four years.

Katie Bower and Aaron Turner

novels: Dragoon, in 2018, and Chloe, in 2019.

Eboni Gilliam ’17, a former Longwood

basketball player, was hired as an assistant coach for the Union College women’s basketball team in September 2019. She played professionally with Club Natacio Terressa in Barcelona, Spain, during the 2017-18 season, was a graduate assistant on the staff at Hampton University in 2018 and was community relations and player relations intern with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever during the 2019 season.

Kelly Frostick ’18 is a kindergarten

teacher at Munger Mountain Elementary School in Jackson, Wyoming. She was a preschool teacher for two years in Jackson and a paraprofessional at her current school last year.

Katharine “Katie” Bower ’15, M.S. ’16, and Aaron Turner ’15, M.S. ’16,

were married Oct. 19, 2019. At their wedding, Ellis Turner ’15 was best man, and one of the bridesmaids was Morgan Warren ’17, Katie’s Alpha Delta Pi “Little Sister.” Katie and Aaron met and dated throughout their time in the graduate special education program, which continued as they began teaching in Lynchburg. Despite having several mutual friends, they never met as undergrad-

Evan Ratke ’16 is the author of two

Dylan Van Balen ’18 is the park natTyler Harper ’15 joined Kinsale

Insurance Co. last year as an associate underwriter in the construction division. He had been a claims examiner with James River Insurance Company since 2016.

uralist at Lake Accotink Park in Fairfax County.

Josh Hanratty ’19, a former Long-

wood soccer player, was hired as an assistant men’s soccer coach at Longwood in September 2019.

The suitemates then and now: Jody Custer Ransom (left), Mary Meade Saunders, Ginger House Hemrick and Debbie Potter Walwer.

Time has stood still in 40-year friendship of 4 suitemates from Class of 1978 “When we get together every summer, it’s like we’ve never been apart. We just pick up where we left off. People have told us this friendship is special, and I agree.”

That’s how Jody Custer Ransom describes the friendship she shares with her former suitemates, Ginger House Hemrick, Mary Meade Saunders and Debbie Potter Walwer, all of whom are members of the Class of 1978.

The four women have vacationed together for a week every summer since 2011 (“no husbands or children; just us girls,” said Saunders), either at the beach or in the mountains. And they’ve been getting together for visits since long before husbands and children came on the scene. When Hemrick, Ransom and Walwer got married, they were in each other’s weddings.

A series of fortunate events brought them together. Ransom and Saunders roomed together all four years, and Hemrick, who’s known Saunders

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since they were 5 years old, lived across the hall from them in French their freshman year. After the three of them moved into the same suite in Wheeler during the first semester of their sophomore year, they became friends with Walwer, who moved in with Hemrick that spring semester.

The four remained suitemates from then until they graduated. After graduation, Saunders and Hemrick, both Emporia natives, lived in the same apartment complex when both taught in the Fredericksburg area.

They’re a bit more spread out now, but remain close. Saunders moved back to Emporia after retiring in 2015 as Longwood’s director of academic and career advising. Hemrick, a retired elementary teacher, lives in Jackson, Tennessee. Ransom lives in McLean. Walwer is in Colonial Heights, where she is the educational technology coach for the elementary schools.

ALUMNI NEWS

OUT IN THE COLD Longwood on Ice was held in December at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk. Alumni, prospective students and their families joined in the fun of ice skating with Santa and characters from Disney’s Frozen. Onsite admission decisions were delivered to prospective students during this joint event sponsored by the offices of Alumni and Career Services and Admissions.

Send us your class notes If you have any news from your professional or personal life, we’d love to hear about it. Please email the details to us at alumni@ longwood.edu. Remember to give us your full name, the year you graduated and the degree you received.

InMemoriam

LISTED IN ORDER OF CLASS YEAR

David Terry Cave ’39

Ruth Ellen Mears Taylor ’49

Gloria Jean Underwood Mounce ’62

Oct. 19, 2019

Dec. 1, 2019

Nov. 29, 2019

Norma Pamplin Taylor ’39

Sarah Land Anderson ’50

Margaret Lee McMullen ’63

Jan. 2, 2020

Jan. 12, 2020

Nov. 18, 2019

Mary Williams Comstock ’40

Ann Younger Correll ’50

Mary Chappell Wallace ’63

Dec. 27, 2019

Nov. 4, 2019

Nov. 9, 2019

Sue Howell Fox ’40

Nov. 2, 2019 Louise Applewhite England ’41

Nancy McAden Bracey ’51

Peggy Waldo Fera ’64

Dorothy Brisentine Campbell ’51

Will Ennis Wade ’64

Dec. 26, 2019

Oct. 11, 2019 March 9, 2019

Feb. 1, 2020 Dec. 8, 2019

Mary Prosise Vaughan ’41

Martha Kitchen Brown ’51

Carol Doak Barnes ’65

Oct. 18, 2019

Dec. 23, 2019

Oct. 5, 2019

Margaret Hughes Fisher ’42

Rita Nora Pollard Burgess ’52

Patricia Lee Hand ’65

Oct. 9, 2019

Dec. 31, 2019

Oct. 4, 2019

May Bartlett Straughan ’43

Shirley Livesay Armstrong ’52

Goldie Arnn Keesee ’65

Dec. 6, 2019

Jan. 12, 2020

Dec. 13, 2019

Mary Campbell Everett ’43

Ilia Des Portes Brown ’54

Karen Diederich Witthoefft ’66

Jan. 2, 2020

Dec. 6, 2019

Jan. 13, 2020

Lolita Robert O’Connor ’43

Mary Alice Ellington Thomas ’55

Francine Garber Cleary ’70

Oct. 10, 2019

Jan. 5, 2020

Oct. 18, 2019

Anne Garnett Shealy ’43

Jean Moseley James ’56

Nancy Elaine Newman ’71

Oct. 13, 2019

Jan. 24, 2020

Nov. 8, 2019

Mary Jarratt Kellogg ’45

Camille Ann Atwood ’57

Margaret Davis Bailey ’72

Nov. 13, 2019

Jan. 11, 2020

Oct. 10, 2019

Nancye Bruce Noel ’45

John “Jack” Marvin Austin ’57

Susan Mary Bayless ’72

Oct. 20, 2019

Dec. 13, 2019

Nov. 1, 2019

Alice Davis Turner ’45

Sarah Jester Ford ’58

Janet Green Birckhead ’73

Nov. 7, 2019

Nov. 20, 2019

Dec. 31, 2019

Jane Philhower Young ’46

Elaine Handy Parker ’58

Linda Lou Barber ’74

Oct. 18, 2019

Jan. 24, 2020

Oct. 6, 2019

Margaret Thompson Lewis ’48

Judith Eckstrom Blackshire ’59

Gustavo Adolfo Leal Zapata ’83

Oct. 27, 2019

Oct. 31, 2019

Nov. 24, 2019

Jean Turner Patterson ’48

Mary West Carr ’59

Reginald Jarvis Dunnavant ’83

Nov. 4, 2019

Oct. 26, 2019

Dec. 14, 2019

Martha Stringfield Newman ’48

Betty Barbee McKinley ’59

Cheryl Wimbish Crowther ’84

Oct. 2, 2019

Nov. 10, 2019

Oct. 21, 2019

Jean Dailey Guthrow Chandler ’49

Sylvia Cogville Chambers ’60

Kenneth Wayne Edmondson ’87

Dec. 6, 2019

Dec. 9, 2019

Jan. 30, 2020

Mary Miles Evans Draper ’49

Sarah Lavinia Hayes ’61

Thomas Hanmer Ramsey ’87

Nov. 15, 2019

Dec. 22, 2019

Gayle Jones Fears ’62

Nancy Chambers Andrews ’90

Oct. 9, 2019

Dec. 30, 2019

Catherine Stillman Wingfield ’97

Oct. 27, 2019

Steven Craig McChristian ’06

Dec. 1, 2019

Nicholas Blake Conner ’18

Dec. 18, 2019

FACULTY, STAFF and FRIENDS David M. Bentz

Dec. 16, 2019

Leon Charles Bogart

Oct. 6, 2019

Laverne Evelyn Chandler

Oct. 31, 2019

Jerry Wayne Clabo

Oct. 29, 2019

Virginia Dowler Dickhoff

Jan. 15, 2020 David Serrano Dionisio

Dec. 20, 2019

William T. Harding

Jan. 3, 2020

Lynda Cleere Kyle

Nov. 3, 2019

Ernest J. Phillips

Dec. 21, 2019

Jessica Ann Reveley

Nov. 25, 2019

Ted Turford

Jan. 21, 2020

Joe Steve Webb

Nov. 10, 2019

Phillip Lee White

Jan. 1, 2020

Catherine Arthur Wingfield

Oct. 27, 2019

Oct. 29, 2019

Betty Brockway Low ’49

Oct. 31, 2019

Gail Umphlett White ’95

Nov. 1, 2019

SPRING 2020 47

EndPaper

The Past Is Never Dead Materials in the Greenwood Library bring Longwood’s history to life—and light the way to the future

BY JAMIE KROGH AND BENEDICT CHATELAIN

T

Photos courtesy of Greenwood Library

here is interesting history at almost any university, but Longwood—now approaching its third century—offers more than its share. Much of that history resides inside Greenwood Library, where we and our colleagues are working hard to collect, preserve and make it accessible to others.

Our goal is to shed light on the people and events that have shaped this campus, as well as the important events in American history that have taken place around Farmville. This collaborative work with others around the university both serves an educational purpose for Longwood students and illuminates long-forgotten stories that shaped this place, for example, the remarkable story of alumna Celeste Parrish, Class of 1886, who is featured on Page 20 of this issue.

Sometimes these efforts lead to students discovering records, photographs and ephemera that become part of class projects. In fall 2019, students in the History of Photography class spent the semester selecting photographs and

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researching the people and places in their images.

One showed a smiling man, wearing a bowler hat and three-piece suit, moving a large steamer trunk. This man, Robert Branch, who was born in slavery, worked at the State Female Normal School from 1889-1929. Known as the “Guardian of the Bell,” Mr. Branch not only served as the custodian but was also responsible for ringing the bell that governed the daily lives of the students, faculty and staff.

The library recently received a collection from Alpha Sigma Alpha representing nearly 80 years of sorority history, particularly significant because it is one of the four national sororities founded at Longwood (see Page 8). The Department of Anthropology provided a fireplace insert and decorative plasterwork that once adorned the Rotunda.

These items were salvaged from the Ruffner Hall fire of 2001 and excavated by students studying archaeology with Dr. Brian Bates ’92.

Community collaboration is important to our work. We house and provide access to the records of the Farmville-Prince Edward County Historical Society. Through observation of artifacts, photographs and other records on exhibit at Greenwood Library, library patrons can pass through a portal to the past. To that end, we have partnered with the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts to exhibit historic Longwood portraits each month.

Accompanied by an exhibit of artifacts from the archives, these portraits represent essential members of the Longwood community.

More than boxes on shelves, the archives at Greenwood Library are expanding digitally. A recent agreement among the Greenwood Library, the Farmville Herald and the Library of Virginia will allow for digitization and online access of the newspaper from its earliest issues through 2017.

This year we have added thousands of photographs, commencement programs and other historical records to the Longwood University Digital Commons, available publicly at digitalcommons.longwood.edu. Also available in the Digital Commons are oral history videos of alumni and past faculty collected as part of our ongoing Lancer Voices oral history program.

These and other resources will play a key role in an important project called the Bicentennial Initiative, recently announced by President W. Taylor

(above) An original piece of plasterwork (top) that had been salvaged from Ruffner Hall was used as a model when rebuilding Ruffner (bottom) after it was destroyed by fire in 2001. (below, left) Robert Branch, an early employee of the school that became Longwood, not only served as custodian but also was responsible for ringing the bell that governed daily campus life. Two of Branch’s descendants graduated from Longwood.

Reveley IV. Longwood’s history is long and complex, with, as President Reveley stated, “aspects both extraordinarily noble and deeply shameful.”

It is also closely intertwined with important events in American history, including the Civil War and the civil rights movement. In recent years, thanks to the work of some of our faculty and the fruitful partnership with the Moton Museum, Longwood has been engaging honestly and openly to better understand and appreciate that history, along the way involving our students through teaching and research. The new initiative will strengthen and extend that work, looking ahead to Longwood’s 200th anniversary in 2039.

We at Greenwood Library look forward to playing a vital role in this project. We hope it will fill in context and details around the well-known stories of Longwood’s history. And, perhaps more importantly, we hope it will bring to light less well-known stories of people like Robert Branch who also were instrumental in making Longwood what it is today.

Benedict Chatelain and Jamie Krogh both work in Greenwood Library, Chatelain as a library information and archives associate, and Krogh as an archives and records specialist.

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Remains of the Day Students, faculty and staff from Longwood’s Institute of Archaeology are documenting a group of shipwrecked 19th-century boats in a race against the elements. Story on Page 5.

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