Karen Mitchell Schinabeck, Hon. '25

From roller-skating on the Colonnades to a 42-year career, her connection with Longwood spans a lifetime 

Karen Mitchell Schinabeck may not have graduated from Longwood but she’s had a longer relationship with the university than many people who did. 

With her childhood home on Buffalo Street just a stone’s throw from campus, she remembers summers spent with friends roller-skating up and down the Colonnades, sneaking through the tunnels trying to scare each other and riding their bikes around campus. “I pretty much grew up at Longwood,” she said. 

After graduating from high school and then business college, she came back to Longwood for a 42-year career, with 38 of those years in the financial aid office. Advancing from financial aid counselor up to director, she connected with generations of students—many of whom stay in touch with her to this day. 

So it seems entirely fitting that Longwood chose to honor Schinabeck with its 2025 Honorary Alumni Award. 

During her years as assistant, associate and finally director of financial aid, she says, “Hands down my favorite part of the job was counseling families. I loved talking to students and parents—getting to know their situations and helping them make a plan for how they would finance their education. 

“I have so many special relationships with former students. One group who were at Longwood in the 1990s stands out,” she said, adding that most of them relied heavily on financial aid as students and that they all have stayed in touch with each other and with her. “Now all of those students are so successful. They’ve stayed friends, and they have an appreciation for their Longwood education.” 

All that said, she is proud of her contributions as a leader of the financial aid office—including five stints as acting director—most notably steering the office through the roiling and rocky waters of implementing the financial aid module of the university’s new (at that time), computer-based student information system known simply as Banner. 

“It was my greatest accomplishment as well as my greatest challenge,” she said. “One reason was that I was the acting director then because the director was on medical leave. The Banner implementation dropped right into my lap.” 

It was not a task for the faint of heart. In fact, Longwood’s registrar at the time quit her job rather than deal with the transition, Schinabeck recalled. But Schinabeck herself was not the kind of leader who gave up easily—or at all. 

“Many times the financial aid staff—including me—became really frustrated. I reminded them that since we had to do this, let’s just do it, and be proud of it. They hung in there. I had a staff and a half. I was proud that financial aid succeeded with implementing their Banner module—and no one quit!” 

These days Schinabeck keeps her Longwood connection vibrant by helping out on campus from time to time on a temporary basis and cheering on Longwood’s basketball teams from Seat 8, Row C, Section 111 in the Joan Perry Brock Center. 

About her Alumni Award, she says, “Simply put, I am proud and honored to be an honorary alum at the university I love and that has played such a pivotal role in my life.” 

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