Student’s award-winning paper examines real estate issue

April 2012

If you’re looking for a real estate agent to sell your home, you might be better off choosing someone who doesn’t have any properties of his or her own on the market, the results of a Longwood research study indicate.

Conducted by Longwood business student Brandon Caracciolo, the study showed that properties owned by real estate agents sell for more and are on the market longer than properties owned by agents’ clients. This could mean that agents’ interest in making money for themselves trumps their obligations to their clients, said Caracciolo.

“The Performance of Owner-Agent Properties during Volatile Economic Conditions” won a best paper award in January at the annual Clute Institute conference, an international conference devoted to business research.

“Brandon’s paper was the only one by a student at his session; the other four papers were presented by college professors,” said Dr. Bennie Waller, who directed the research project. “The number of students who even present papers at this conference is incredibly small.”

Caracciolo looked at the situation in which an owner-agent is trying to sell property he owns—not his primary residence but usually a vacation home or second home—in addition to properties owned by clients. Caracciolo found that, although there were no significant differences in selling price before the economic crisis, in the period after the crisis (2007-09), agent-owned properties on average sold for $7,603 more than comparable client properties.

Funnel clouds, hail, swirling debris are focus of course

May 2012

A prerequisite for students taking one Longwood class is a willingness to move toward—not away from—funnel clouds, intense winds, hail and swirling debris.

“Exploring Severe Weather in the Great Plains,” a 4-credit geography and earth science course, was offered for the first time from May 14-28. The students flew to Kansas City, then searched for severe weather while traveling in a rented minivan through as many as 10 states from Texas to Montana.

A week before the students left, they started practicing for their trip during a “forecasting boot camp” where they were trained as storm spotters and learned about the geography of the Great Plains.

How close will they get to severe weather? “Close enough that we can see a possible tornado and have safe access in and out of a severe storm,” said Dr. Kelsey Scheitlin, assistant professor of geography, who led the course. “As the storm moves, we stay in front of it and watch it grow and intensify. You stay out of harm’s way but still have a good vantage point on the storm. At all costs, you avoid the hail core—it can really damage your rental car.”

Phase two of nursing program’s Clinical Simulation Learning Center opens

May 2012

With the completion of Longwood’s state-of-the-art simulation learning center, nursing students now can gain hands-on experience in a wide array of medical situations before they actually put their hands on human patients.

The 3,000-square-foot second phase of the Edward I Gordon, M.D. Clinical Simulation Learning Center (CSLC) expanded the facility to 10,000 square feet, making room for a mother-infant patient simulation lab, conference/debriefing rooms, a student resource center, patient examination room, home care learning center and faculty offices.

“With the addition of our new patient simulators, Longwood is now among the top nursing schools in the state to offer state-of-the-art simulation experiences for its students,” said Cindy Crews, clinical simulation director for Longwood’s Department of Nursing.

The high-fidelity patient simulators can duplicate a wide array of physiological functions, and a digital audiovisual system allows for live simulated experiences to be recorded and played back for faculty and student evaluation.

In the mother-infant patient simulation lab, nursing students are able to diagnose and treat a variety of situations that can occur during birth. The home care learning center is basically a mini-apartment equipped with a bed, reclining chair, dinette set and working bathroom and kitchen.

The CSLC is named for Dr. Edward Gordon, a longtime Farmville physician, who donated $1 million to establish the center in August 2009. Funding was also provided by the Commonwealth of Virginia and grants from Virginia Tobacco Commission and the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation. Completion of the center is just in time to benefit Longwood’s senior class of nursing students, who will graduate in May 2013.

1,027 degrees awarded at commencement May 12

May 2012

Former Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Charles Thomas urged graduates at Longwood’s May 12 commencement ceremony to “be fearless in fighting for the America we want to build.”

“Here in front of me are teachers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, nurses, soldiers, builders and innovators who have the collective strength to grab America by the scruff of the neck and set it on the right course. You have that power in you,” said Thomas, the first African American and the youngest person, at 32, to be appointed to Virginia’s highest court. Thomas served on the court from 1983-89 and is now a senior partner with the Richmond-based law firm of Hunton & Williams.

Longwood awarded 875 bachelor’s degrees and 152 master’s degrees during the ceremony. This includes students who finished degree requirements in the spring as well as in summer 2011 and fall 2011.

The Sally Barksdale Hargrett Prize for Academic Excellence, awarded to the graduating senior with the highest grade-point average, was shared by Jessica Renee Alley of New Castle, B.S. in kinesiology; Jillian Michelle Chesson of Virginia Beach, B.S. in liberal studies; Mary Catherine Hoyt of Newport News, B.S. in business administration (economics concentration); Stephanie Lauren Roddenberry of Carson, B.S. in business administration (finance concentration); Crystal Elaine Peoples of Chesapeake, B.S. in mathematics; and Megan Ashley Hendrick of Farmville, B.S. in liberal studies. Each had a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Financial services executive named interim president

May 2012

On May 24th, Financial services executive Marge Connelly, former rector of the Longwood Board of Visitors, was named by the board to serve as Longwood’s top leader following the resignation of President Patrick Finnegan for health reasons earlier in the month.

Connelly served as acting president through June 30, and transitioned to interim president on July 1. Finnegan’s resignation became effective June 30.

Connelly has had a successful career in the financial services industry, serving in top leadership positions for Barclaycard, Wachovia Securities and Capital One Financial Services. She is serving in Longwood’s top position during the search for the new president.

“We are fortunate to have someone with Ms. Connelly’s management experience, financial acumen and knowledge of Longwood to guide the university through this transition,” said Board of Visitors Rector Marianne Radcliff ’92. “We are confident that she will keep the university moving in the right direction.”

Radcliff also lauded Finnegan for his contributions to Longwood, saying he had accomplished much in a short time and that he would be greatly missed.

Among Finnegan’s accomplishments were the creation of an academic strategic plan through a campuswide collaborative process; securing membership in the Big South Conference for Longwood’s Division I athletics program; focusing attention on the need to make faculty and staff salaries more competitive and beginning the process of allocating additional resources to that need; gaining board approval for the location of an alumni center on campus; creating an Office of Sponsored Programs and Research to seek funding for the faculty’s scholarly activities; and increasing the number of international students on campus.