Dear Faculty and Staff,
As we approach the final stretch of this unusual academic year, I wanted once again to express my thanks to you all for the hard work, creativity, sacrifice and commitment to our students you have shown. You have made a real difference for them, and for Longwood. I know you will continue to do so, during these crucial weeks and months ahead, when we must remain careful and cautious – but can look forward with real hope and optimism.
A few items of note for campus:
At its regular meeting last week, the Board of Visitors acted on several important items. As the Provost shared in her email to faculty, these included approving our recommendations regarding promotion, tenure and emeritus status. The faculty who build and sustain their careers here are truly Longwood’s backbone, and it is always a joyful occasion for the Board to hear about these outstanding individuals as they rise through the ranks.
The Board also approved Longwood’s first Title VI anti-discrimination policy – in fact, among the very first such policies in the nation. I announced in June Longwood’s commitment to developing a Title VI policy -- to help ensure a supportive and welcoming climate for students, and that any allegations of racial discrimination or harassment are addressed thoroughly and fairly. Since then Jonathan Page has worked tirelessly with others across the University to craft its language. What has emerged demonstrates our commitment to real action, not just words, in this area, and I believe will serve as a model for others.
Finally, the Board approved a resolution of appreciation for the faculty, staff and students of our nursing program, as well as many others in departments across the University, who made possible the vaccination clinics on campus, and who continue to contribute to vaccination efforts in our community. I will let the Board’s words speak for themselves in the text of the resolution, pasted in below, which they asked that I share.
In the weeks ahead, I look forward to seeing more and more of you around campus. Over the next few weeks, I will be making the rounds (generally still via Zoom, at least for a while longer) at a number of regular meetings to talk about the future – our opportunities and our challenges. Over the next month, we also will know more about enrollment and the final state budget. I will be discussing the financial picture for Longwood and higher ed more broadly, along with the evolving needs of our students, the continued progress of our Farmville community, and whatever else may be on your mind to ask.
What I can tell you now is this: At this moment when the human-scale education we provide has never mattered more for our students, we have been navigating this year remarkably well. We have been engaged in truly purposeful work, and we are positioned to face the future with strength and confidence.
Many thanks,
TR
LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY
RESOLUTION IN HONOR OF
LONGWOOD’S NURSING PROGRAM AND
OTHERS WHO SUPPORTED
COMMUNITY VACCINATION EFFORTS
WHEREAS, a defining trait of the Longwood spirit is determination in the face of a crisis and challenge to step forward selflessly and provide help for the greater good, with compassion, care and expertise, and
WHEREAS, building on an exceptionally strong partnership developed over the past year between the University and the Virginia Department of Health’s Piedmont Regional Office, Longwood stepped forward and volunteered, as Covid-19 vaccines first became available, to serve as a clinic site, and safely and efficiently administer vaccinations to essential personnel identified by VDH, and was enlisted by VDH to do so, and
WHEREAS, Longwood nursing faculty and students, under the leadership of Department Chair Dr. Kim Little, on top of their full existing academic and work commitments, administered over the course of 16 clinic days on campus more than 2,200 vaccine doses to more than 1,100 individual members of the Longwood and local communities, including K-12 teachers and staff from Prince Edward and Buckingham Counties, accounting for well over half of all doses administered in Prince Edward County during the initial phase of the rollout, and
WHEREAS, in addition to the role of Nursing faculty and staff, the clinic was made possible by essential organizational and event management support provided by departments whose quick-acting collaboration also embodied the Longwood spirit, in particular Human Resources, the Director of Local and Community Relations, Marketing and Communications, Facilities, Campus Police and the University Health Center,
BE IT RESOLVED The Longwood Board of Visitors and the entire University Community extend their appreciation and gratitude to our faculty and student nurses, and to all those across the University who worked tirelessly and to profoundly meaningful effect in this effort.
ERIC HANSEN
RECTOR
W. TAYLOR REVELEY IV
PRESIDENT