New facilities at Baliles Center will expand student learning opportunities

“The hope for this place is that it inspires generation after generation, both with regards to fields like environmental science and biology and that it really provides inspiration for the soul across all disciplines, as a place to gather and reflect on the future,” said President W. Taylor Reveley IV, speaking inside the new Policy Pavilion.

The 662-acre historic property is the home for ongoing research and education projects for Longwood students, more than a dozen of whom were on hand for the dedication and got to tour the new facilities. The pavilion is designed to serve as an outdoor space for teaching, meetings and events. The new student cabins can accommodate up to 12 students each. One new faculty cottage—dedicated as the Cabinet Cabin—was built and two others were renovated, for a total of three faculty residences.

Reveley described the Gerald L. Baliles Center for Environmental Education at Hull Springs project as a beautiful collaboration between the Longwood University Real Estate Foundation and the Longwood University Foundation. A $1.2 million research lab, completed and dedicated in 2021, is the centerpiece of the environmental education center. The property was renamed to honor the late Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, who served as Virginia’s chief executive from 1986 to 1990 and was a champion of environmental issues and improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Real Estate Foundation President John W. Daniel II, who served as Virginia’s first secretary of natural resources under Baliles, noted that the Longwood students in attendance were born well after the late governor’s term in office, and he mused that they probably had not even heard of him before.

“It is impossible for me, or any of us on this porch, to convey to you his many accomplishments and, importantly, the manner in which he approached governing,” Daniel said. “He was cerebral, creative, strategic, passionate and caring. What I want you to appreciate were his leadership qualities. To appreciate the fact that his legacy and this Baliles Center create for you opportunities to be pioneers.”

Other speakers at the dedication included Christine Ober Bridge and Ric Arenstein, both of whom worked for the late governor.

Arenstein, a senior policy advisor in the Baliles administration, spoke of the importance of public service and how his choice to join the Baliles team 40 years ago impacted the trajectory of his career. He encouraged the students there to embrace careers as public servants.

“The opportunity to enrich your lives and improve the world in which we live begins when you leave here,” he said. “I hope you will seek out and find an opportunity to serve others—a path that can be fulfilling and ever so meaningful, a path that includes public service. It is a noble calling. It’s personally enriching. It’s a pathway for lifetime learning and impact upon others.”

Bridge, who served as Baliles’ executive assistant and director of communications, told attendees that her daughter is a middle school teacher in Gloucester, Virginia, and last year she brought a group of her students to the Baliles Center as part of their science class studying wetlands, oysters and fisheries.

“A dozen or more boys and girls waded in the creeks and the marshes and did water-quality tests and learned how oysters filter the Bay,” she said. “When it was time to leave, one little girl had to be dragged away from exploring the marsh. She did not want to go, and she told her teacher with a wonderous smile on her face, ‘This is what I want to do when I grow up!’”

The Baliles Center is the perfect setting for studying the environment and critical sustainability issues. The property features hundreds of acres of pine and hardwoods, natural and constructed wetlands, major tributaries feeding the Chesapeake Bay, an abundance of wildlife and the advanced research facility. The property in Westmoreland County was bequeathed to Longwood in 1999 by Mary Farley Ames Lee ’38.

The two renovated faculty cabins—the Barbara Cottage and the Smith Cottage—were named in recognition of Rita Smith, who served on the Longwood Foundation Board from 1999-2008, when the property became part of the university, and on the original Hull Springs Farm Foundation Board. The Barbara Cottage is named for Smith’s sister, Barbara Moyer Willis ’63, and her dear friend, Bobbie Allen Garrett.

Abigail Sommer ’25, a senior biology major who has conducted research at the Baliles Center with Dr. Dina Leech, professor of biology, described the center as a special place where she has gotten hands-on experience learning about water quality and monitoring.

“Longwood and the Baliles Center have been places to push my boundaries and grow as a scientist and as a person,” the Richmond native said in her remarks. “Longwood faculty care for their students and provide them with meaningful experiences that jump-start their careers. My meaningful experience has been working here with Dr. Leech. These are experiences that have helped me find my passion for environmental research and will make me a more marketable job candidate.”