ON POINT
CrashCourse Business 250: Personal Finance Instructor Bennie Waller, professor of finance and real estate What’s New Taught at Longwood for several years, this course was offered to high-school students for the first time as a dualenrollment course this past summer. It was adapted to satisfy a highschool SOL (Standards of Learning) requirement in finance and economics. Longwood is the only four-year college to offer a course that meets the requirement. Where Credit’s Due Students earned 3 Longwood credits and 1 high-school credit. Lear n and Live The Henrico County high-school students who took the hybrid course (online plus some face-to-face instruction) thought it would be “just about balancing a checkbook, but it was much more in-depth,” said Waller. “ I want students to start thinking about these concepts early and often, so they’ll learn them and live them.” Topics covered included the importance of saving, investing and having a will, as well as buying a home vs. renting an apartment and buying vs. leasing a car. Waller always adds current topics, which this summer included the recent NSA identify theft case and whether the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates. Waller expects a larger number of highschool students to take the course next summer. Suggested Reading Personal Finance by Art Keown
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I LONGWOOD MAGAZINE
Growth Spurt Longwood welcomes the largest freshman class ever At a time when some colleges and universities are struggling to meet their enrollment goals—and a few are even closing their doors—Longwood experienced a 3 percent increase in applications and welcomed its largest freshman class in history this fall. About 1,115 freshmen began their studies at Longwood on Aug. 26, said Dean of Admissions Sallie McMullin. (Enrollment figures were not final at press time.) That’s an 8 percent increase over last year’s freshman class of 1,036, and a 4 percent increase over the previous record-setting class of 1,074 freshmen who entered in fall 2011, she said. “Longwood’s goal was to increase enrollment by 100 students. The increase in freshmen coupled with the slight increase in transfer students certainly contributed to the overall goal. We are optimistic that when graduate student enrollment, as well as retention numbers, are finalized we will surpass our target,” McMullin said. Another successful year in transfer student recruitment helped in reaching that goal.
1,074 1,010
1,012
2009
2010
2011
About 220 transfer students enrolled this fall compared with 214 last year, McMullin said, adding that this is the first time transfer enrollment has exceeded 200 two years in a row. McMullin said the admissions staff turned up the volume this year in their recruitment efforts but also credited the entire Longwood community with working toward the 100student increase. “There’s not a person on this campus who doesn’t play some role in student recruitment,” she said. “The Longwood team consists of faculty, staff, alumni and current students, and they are some of our best recruiters.” In addition to increasing the number of students overall, recruitment efforts targeting particular majors were successful, as well, McMullin said. Incoming computer science majors are up 50 percent; biology majors, 17 percent; business majors, 12 percent; and liberal studies (the major for aspiring teachers), 12 percent. —Sabrina Brown
1,036 2012
1,115
2013
Longwood University freshman enrollment
Vikings may have gotten bad rap, says medieval scholar The Vikings were not just the wanton marauders of popular portrayal, says a Longwood medieval scholar who has conducted archaeological research on the Isle of Man. “The exclusive image of rape, pillage and burning by the Vikings is probably inaccurate,” said Larissa “Kat” Tracy, associate professor of English. Tracy spent a week photographing inscriptions on Viking-age stone monuments on the island between Great Britain and Ireland. “I saw Celtic grave markers and Viking-age burial sites, many located within church closures or near Christian church sites,” said Tracy. “I also saw the foundations or ruins of small chapels, which either predated or were concurrent with the Vikings.” Based on her observations, Tracy concluded that the Vikings, who raided and settled
throughout Europe from the late 8th century through the 11th century, were perhaps more interested in winning the hearts and minds of the people they encountered than is often thought. “There is evidence that the Vikings integrated into the community,” said Tracy, a medieval literature specialist. “There have been two assumptions about the Vikings—that they either took over Christian Celtic civilization or that they conquered it but co-existed and assimilated. While most likely there was some violent action, the crosses I saw—a majority of which have depictions of legendary pre-Christian heroes— indicate a shared tradition and assimilation.” Tracy’s research trip, which was funded by Longwood, was related to her current book project, England’s Medieval Literary Heroes: Literature, Law and National Identity. —Kent Booty