.svg)
For 187 years, Longwood University has stood as a beacon of higher education in Virginia. Through its connection-based approach to educating and inspiring future citizen leaders, engagement with the Farmville community, and commitment to affordability and accessibility, the institution remains an exemplar of the traditional, in-person higher education experience.
This fall, Longwood is carrying that mission into a new era, embarking on a forward-looking endeavor that will steward the institution’s longstanding pillars into the next century and beyond.
Through a newly launched, comprehensive campaign—titled “Docere: A Campaign for Longwood”—Longwood and its widespread community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, friends and family will band together through philanthropy, engagement and the enduring spirit of Longwood in support of that longstanding mission.
Friday night during Longwood’s annual Homecoming & Alumni Weekend, the Docere campaign officially kicked off, as President W. Taylor Reveley IV introduced attendees at a special launch event to the campaign’s ambitious goals: to raise $100 million for the decade by 2030 and to inspire engagement and reconnection within Longwood’s deep and widespread alumni network.
The campaign’s multifaceted structure allows alumni to take part in a number of ways, from donating to a relevant Longwood fund, program or scholarship to lending time or expertise through engagement opportunities such as attending Longwood events on and off campus, professional networking, student mentorship and more.
Both in its scope and goals, the Docere campaign is undoubtedly ambitious. But, as outlined in President Reveley’s message to campus below, the push comes at an important time in the university’s history and is grounded in the pillars that have long guided the storied institution. For more information on Docere’s goals, ways to get involved, and the long-term vision for the campaign’s impact, visit docere.longwood.edu.
Dear Lancers,
On this great Homecoming Saturday, I am also excited to share an important announcement in the long story of our great university.
Today Longwood launches Docere—a $100 million fundraising campaign to secure and strengthen, for perpetuity, our endowment and the traits that set Longwood apart and that we all most cherish about this place, with our mission of citizen leadership.
I shared this news last night at a campus event and am pleased to share it today with the full Longwood community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. You may already have noticed new “Docere” banners along Brock Commons. The name “Docere” comes from our motto—“Docemus Docere,” translated as “we teach to enlighten.” We have chosen the name because it is unique to Longwood, and because it underscores the human-scale teaching and learning experience and relationships that have always been our heart and soul, and which this campaign will help ensure remain so.
I invite you to visit the campaign website (docere.longwood.edu) to learn more about its goals and priorities and watch this video that captures what makes Longwood, to my mind, already the best college experience in Virginia—a spirit that animates our proud graduate programs, too.
In the meantime, there are three things I want every Lancer to know about this campaign:
We are not changing who we are. We are affirming it, and building an even better version of ourselves. The campaign’s focus is the distinctive Longwood experience of human-scale, in-person teaching, learning and mentoring in an inspiring campus setting—and supporting the faculty, staff and students who provide the essential ingredients.
Why now, in this unpredictable and fast-changing moment for the world and higher education? Because for us, this is also a moment of momentum and opportunity. We’re already on track for this decade of the 2020s to significantly surpass previous fundraising records. Docere’s goal will be to accelerate even faster through these next four years to raise $100 million over the decade, growing our endowment to $200 million. That will translate into meaningful resources for academic excellence, student financial aid and other worthy causes.
Finally, there will be a place in “Docere” for everyone—not just current donors, but the next generation. Over the next four years, we’re aiming to engage at least 25,000 members of the Lancer community through Docere-related events on campus and across Virginia and beyond, as well as many other opportunities to get involved. The campaign will be a chance for our alumni and other friends to reconnect with one another and with the Alma Mater—our mission, our vision and our campus.
Docere reaffirms who we are and what sets Longwood apart as Virginia’s best college experience. It will help ensure all that makes Longwood “Longwood” remains strong and secure not just at our 200th anniversary in 2039, but at our 300th and beyond.
All my best, and onward ever Longwood,
TR
W. Taylor Reveley IV
President
Longwood University