When W. Taylor Reveley IV is officially installed as Longwood University’s 26th president on Friday, Nov. 15, he will be the third generation of his family to be inaugurated as the leader of an institution of higher education in Virginia. And his father, W. Taylor Reveley III, current president of the College of William and Mary, will not only be a proud father but also one of the speakers at the ceremony.
The ceremony will take place on Lancaster Mall at 3:30 p.m. and will include remarks from former Virginia Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, as well as both Presidents Reveley. Following the inauguration ceremony, Longwood’s new president will accompany students to a special dinner on campus before attending an evening reception.
The first Reveley to head a college or university was W. Taylor Reveley II, who was president of Hampden-Sydney College from 1963-77.
W. Taylor Reveley IV took office at Longwood on June 1, 2013. He previously served as the managing director of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, a nonpartisan institute focused on the U.S. presidency, policy and political history. He also served as the coordinating attorney for the center’s National War Powers Commission, co-chaired by U.S. Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christopher.
Extensive family connections to Longwood can be found in Reveley’s family history. His grandmother, Marie Eason Reveley ’40, her sisters, Caroline Eason Roberts ’42 and Julia Eason Mercer ’44, and her mother Carrie Christian Rennie Eason ’10, were graduates of Longwood. His great-grandfather Dr. Thomas D. Eason taught biology at the university.
Founded in 1839 and located in Farmville, Va., Longwood University is among the hundred oldest colleges and universities in America, and is Virginia’s third-oldest public university. It is a liberal arts university dedicated to the development of citizen leaders who are prepared to make positive contributions to the common good of society, and today has more than 4,800 undergraduate and graduate students.
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