Leadership

At Longwood, we are dedicated to educating citizen leaders.

As one of the hundred oldest institutions of higher learning in America and the third oldest public university in Virginia, this is a purpose rooted in our founding ideals.  It has played a powerful role in the life of my own family through the generations, with so many ties to Longwood.  My forebears have been faculty members, board members, and alumni deeply devoted to the alma mater.

The connection of faculty members with students is distinctive here.  We have the highest percentage of courses taught by full-time faculty of any public institution in Virginia.  I am proud to count myself among the ranks of the faculty, and I myself teach each year as well.  Longwood’s faculty cherish that the classroom is the heart of the institution, and are dedicated to preparing our students for their careers and their lives.

Our residential campus itself is also so much of what bonds people to Longwood.  It is historic – scene of the close of the Civil War at one end, and the beginning of the Civil Rights movement at the other.  It is truly beautiful too, as you would expect a campus to be in America’s first two-college town.  Downtown Farmville and more broadly Prince Edward County and Hampden-Sydney College are great neighbors.

Most fundamentally, our students are the driving force of Longwood.  A walk through campus gives a powerful sense of their energy and enthusiasm, their care for one another, and their pride in the university.  The world and free society can seem fraught with challenges – Longwood students, in lives as citizen leaders, will rise to them as has been true from generation to generation.

Welcome to Longwood University,

President W. Taylor Reveley, IV