LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY

'Longwood University' is a four-year public, liberal-arts university located in Farmville, Virginia. It was founded in 1839, and became a university on July 1, 2002. It currently has an undergraduate enrollment of about 3,700 students and a total enrollment of 4,400.

Contents

History

Academics

Athletics

Campus

New Construction

Student life

Ghost Stories

Joan of Arc

CHI

Sororities

The Dos Passos Prize

Notable Alumni

External links

References

History

Longwood University is one of the oldest universities in the United States and is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States. It was founded on March 5, 1839, as the Farmville Female Seminary Association. In the succeeding years, the increasing prosperity of the Seminary led the stockholders to expand the seminary into a college, and the Farmville Female College was incorporated in 1860.
On April 7, 1884, the state of Virginia acquired the property of the Farmville Female College, and in October of the same year the Normal School opened with 110 students enrolled. This was the first state institution of higher learning for women in Virginia.
With the passage of the years, the Normal School expanded its curriculum and progressed through a succession of names. It became the State Normal School for Women in 1914, the State Teachers College at Farmville in 1924, and Longwood College in 1949.
In 1954, graduate programs were authorized. Longwood became fully coeducational in June 1976. Governor Mark Warner officially signed legislation changing Longwood's designation to university on April 24, 2002, the one-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed Ruffner Hall (see below).
The main University building, Ruffner Hall was built in 1839 as the "College Building" and evolved through several stages of construction and expansion from 1839 to 1907. For decades the sprawling Ruffner, whose image appears on the university's logo and seal, was the main administration building, with administrative offices on the first floor and student housing on the upper two floors. After students vacated the building by the early 1970s, dorm rooms were converted to office and classroom space. The former library, Lancaster Hall, was renovated and reopened in 1996 as the main administration building. Ruffner was then used primarily for classrooms and faculty offices before being closed in 1999 for renovation.
Ruffner Hall burned down on April 24, 2001, in the middle of its renovation period and was subsequently rebuilt. A popular myth on the University campus holds that around the time the college changes its name, catastrophe occurs such as the Ruffner fire, deemed "The Great Fire of 2001." For example:

★ '1884:' The college changes its name to the State Female Normal School in Farmville. This was part of the agreement when the Commonwealth of Virginia bought the school from its original owners, because the owners were bankrupt following the Civil War.

★ '1923:' Right before the school changed its name to the State Teachers College the next year, a fire destroyed the dining hall, sitting behind Ruffner Hall.

★ '1949:' Just after the school changed its name to Longwood College, a fire destroyed White House Hall, a building next to East Ruffner (currently where part of Main Tabb is today), and a mirror image to Grainger Hall, which housed an auditorium. The decision was made by then-President Dabney Lancaster to wait for the new auditorium (now Jarman Hall) to open two years later, then expand Tabb to connect directly to Ruffner.

Academics

Longwood offers over 100 majors and minors, with business as the most popular, followed by education and psychology. The largest department on campus by faculty is English and Modern Languages, with 44.
The University is consistently ranked in the top ten public, masters-level universities in the South by ''U.S. News and World Report'',^[1] and was recently selected by ''USA Today'' as one of only 20 schools in the country that actively promote and foster student success.^[2]

Athletics

The Longwood University's athletics program competes in Division I as of July 17th, 2007. Longwood's athletic teams compete under the name, Lancers. The men's sports consist of baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer and tennis. Women's sports consist of basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball and tennis.

Campus

Longwood sits on 60-plus acres in the gently rolling Virginia piedmont. Although a single campus, architecturally speaking the grounds are separated into two distinct areas: the historic “north core” and the more modern south end.
The oldest part of campus stretches along High Street from French dormitory to Grainger Hall. These six red-brick Jeffersonian buildings (French, Tabb, South Ruffner dormitories, and Grainger, Ruffner, and Blackwell Halls) date from the 1830s to the 1920s and are joined by a covered colonnade and all bear the university’s signature red roofs. At the center of this complex is Longwood’s main building, Ruffner Hall.
The College of Arts and Sciences and recently the university’s athletic offices, are located in along this section of campus. To the western end of the north core is the administration building, Lancaster, as well as Jarman theatre and the recently completed New Science Center.
Surrounding the main campus walk, Brock Commons, are the College of Business and Economics in Hiner Building, as well as the Cunninghams dormitories, the dining hall and Lankford Building, the student union. At the south end of campus are the library, music and arts buildings, and the Hull Education Center. Several athletic complexes and dormitories surround the perimeter of the campus.

New Construction

Construction has also started on a new fitness and recreation center. The 80,000 square foot facility, scheduled to open in the spring of 2007, will feature a wide range of amenities including an indoor track, basketball and racquetball courts, a climbing wall, work-out rooms, juice bar, and the latest weight, exercise and training equipment.
Across Main Street, a new retail/student housing complex made of four four-story buildings arranged in an pedestrian mall-type setting, called "Longwood Landings," was recently completed as well.

Student life

Student life at Longwood revolves around many traditions, such as the annual Oktoberfest and Spring Weekend celebrations and Founders Day celebration. Oktoberfest is usually held on the first weekend in October, while Spring Weekend typically occurs on the third weekend in April. One part of Spring Weekend is called "Bandfest," a concert on the Friday of Spring Weekend, and is run by the student radio station WMLU. Such artists as Something Corporate, Yellowcard, Carbon Leaf, Cartel, Reel Big Fish, Bubba Sparxxx, and Andrew W.K. have performed in the past. Through out the rest of the year weekend events are sponsored by the student activities board, Lancer Productions. Past acts have included comedians Elvira Kurt, Stephen Lynch, and Jimmy Fallon.

Ghost Stories

Many myths also abound on Longwood’s campus, thanks in part to the annual Longwood Ghost Stories. Told at Halloween by legendary professor of anthropology, Dr. James Jordan, students are reminded every year of the cemetery that still remains beneath the North Cunninghams residence hall; the infamous University Bell, which now sits in the lobby of Greenwood Library and is rung only on highly special occasions, is said to be cursed, having caused the mysterious deaths of more than one student. One story entails a young man who was burned to death in Hiner. Also said to have caused the mysterious departing of students is the once massive network of underground tunnels. Although remaining portions of the tunnels are officially said to not exist, many students believe they do and are haunted by the ghosts of past students.

Joan of Arc

Unique among most American universities is Longwood’s adoption of a patron saint. Saint Joan of Arc is said to both protect and inspire Longwood students. The University’s two prized depictions of Joan are “Jeanne d’Arc,”—known affectionately as “Joanie on the Stony"—an 1870 plaster statue created by French sculptor Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu and Anna Hyatt Huntington's 1915 bronze ''Joan of Arc'' equestrian statue, nicknamed “Joanie on the Pony.”
Rituals and myths dealing with the two statues abound. Joanie on the Stony, for example, heralds the occasion of every CHI walk with a pair of mysteriously appearing blue and white carnations. Joanie on the Stony is also said to bring good luck for tests to students who touch her clasped hands on their way to class.
Joanie on the Pony, however, with her knights armor and sword, acts as Longwood’s protector. On the night of the Great Fire of 2001, Joanie turned bright red upon her horse from the intense heat of the flames. Although the fire spread west-ward, engulfing Grainger Hall along with Ruffner, the connected student dorms past Joanie to the east remained untouched—the fire stopped directly before her.[1]

CHI

Also popular at Longwood is the secret society, CHI, named after the Greek letter X.[2] Shrouded in mystery, CHI was founded on October 15, 1900, and promotes and maintains the spirit of Longwood. CHI seeks to promote selfless dedication and leadership. [3]Members are secretly "tapped" and are revealed only at the conclusion of their senior year during the annual CHI Burning, a large bonfire held on campus to commend members of the Longwood community for their selfless acts. [4]
CHI members hold one "CHI Walk" a month and students come to demonstrate their Longwood pride. [5] Members, completely covered in blue and white robes of their own making, follow one another from one area of campus to another at midnight. Walks are announced silently with the draping in white and blue rope of "Joanie on the Stoney" a plaster statue of the University’s patron saint, Joan of Arc, located in the lobby of Ruffner Hall. [6]During these walks, members drop small cloths (ornaments, wooden stars, plastic forks and knives) emblazoned with the year and either an "X," the word "CHI" or the seal of the University. These "pieces of CHI", also known as "CHI droppings" and "CHI-kerchiefs" are said to bring good luck as obtaining one is very rare. Longwood students cannot take these off campus when they graduate they must be passed down to someone staying on campus to keep the spirit of CHI alive. [7]

Sororities

Longwood is the founding home of four national sororities: Kappa Delta (1897), Zeta Tau Alpha(women's fraternity) (1898),Sigma Sigma Sigma (1898) and Alpha Sigma Alpha (1901). This is the most of any college or university in the country. Longwood is sometimes called the "Mother of Sororities."[8]

The Dos Passos Prize

The English department at Longwood University awards the annual John Dos Passos Prize For Literature, founded in 1980. Notable past recipients include Graham Greene, Tom Wolfe, Shelby Foote, Paule Marshall, Ernest J. Gaines, E. Annie Proulx, and Richard Powers.

Notable Alumni

★ Jerome Kersey '06, former basketball player (Drafted in the second round in 1984 by the Portland Trailblazers, but did not finish degree until 2006).

★ Michael Tucker '93, former baseball player

★ Ransford Doherty '97, actor

External links

★ Longwood University home page

★ Longwood Athletics website

★ The Dos Pasos Review

References

1. ''America's Best Colleges 2007. ''U.S. News & World Report.''
2. ''20 colleges that foster student success. ''USA Today.''