By: Heather Waldo
Have you seen Longwood University’s newest academic building? Located near the northeast side of campus, the new Dr. Edna Allen Bledsoe Dean Hall, called Allen Hall, is already making an impact on students, faculty and professors as the new home of Communication Studies alongside the new QR Center, HARK, and other academic disciplines.
Allen Hall is named after Dr. Edna Allen Dean who contributed more than 30 years to the Social Work department. She was also Longwood’s first African American tenured professor. During Dr. Dean’s tenure at Longwood she made quite the impression on everyone she met. During her time, she was the director of the Evolving Scholars Program, a coordinator for minority affairs, and the director of field services for the social work department.
Students and professors alike are enjoying the new building in many ways. Some even resonate with the name honoring Dr. Dean. Janae Ross (’22), a Communication Studies major, remarked, “As a young black woman, walking into a building named after Dr. Edna Allen Bledsoe Dean gives me hope. As a Communication Studies major, our coursework revolves around having difficult conversations surrounding race, class, gender, sexuality. Now, our department is located in a building named after a black woman who had an impact on the Longwood and Farmville community. A true reflection of what our department encourages its students to do.”
Allen Hall has unified the Communication Studies department being near the studio in French Hall. Students and professors in Communication are ecstatic with the new offices and classrooms. For the first time ever, the Communication Studies department will be unified on the same side of campus. For many years, the department was split on opposite sides of campus: CSTAC and French Hall. When talking to Dr. Naomi Johnson, a Communication Studies professor and former department chair, she said she’s excited about how all of the Communication Studies faculty will be together and how professors will be able to use the new classrooms. “There’s two things I’m most excited about. First that all of the Communication Studies faculty can be in the same area of campus. Because when we were split between CSTAC and French, we had at least two faculty members across campus and for a faculty like ours we work so collaboratively together that was really hard…The second thing that made me really excited was the classrooms here. There’s so many different ways we can take advantage of these classrooms.” She also mentioned how having all Communication Studies professors and students together will bring about more conversations and spontaneous opportunities that might not have happened beforehand. Dr. Johnson also has a unique experience with the new building because she saw CSTAC being built: “What I noticed was there was a sense of pride and a sense of belonging and I really felt like it was sort of the birth place of the COMMunity… and then when French was built it was harder to maintain it because we were apart so I think this [Allen Hall] will really help strengthen that even further.”
“I definitely think it [Allen Hall] gives us an advantage because one of our main values is embracing technology. French and Allen hall have so many updated features with technology that we really have the ability to live out that value.”
It is quite evident the addition of Allen Hall to Longwood’s campus will bring about many new opportunities for all students. Professor Jeff Halliday, chair of the department, played a pivotal role in moving Communication Studies to Allen Hall and has a great vision for the future of the department: “It was a combination between location, people and facilities…For location we had an opportunity to be closer to our colleagues and our students who are working prominently out of French Hall. And for our students that’s a great advantage as well knowing that there’s hopefully more of an opportunity for students to work together and collaborate when they’re closer to each other…It’s [Allen Hall] going to have the best new cleanest classrooms, in class technology, classroom and office furniture, it was going to have a lot of advantages.”
As Chair, Professor Halliday thinks the new building will advance the department but also recognizes the importance of having students of different majors there as well. “We have an increasing role in instructing Civitae whether it’s Public Speaking or Citizen 410…I think that that demonstrates that we are as a department joining our other colleagues on campus and trying to find ways to give to students beyond Communication Studies and collaborate with other departments.” Professor Halliday also said he feels honored to work in a building named after Dr. Edna Allen Dean. He said he hopes Communication Studies can share their pride and respect for Dr. Edna Allen Dean in the years to come.
Allen Hall certainly holds many opportunities for every kind of Lancer, regardless of major. No matter a student’s major they will feel the welcoming energy Allen Hall provides. Not only will the Communications Studies department strengthen over time, but more collaborations will form across all disciplines. The determination and hard work of Dr. Edna Allen Dean will be felt across the building and in turn all Lancers will become more equipped to becoming citizen leaders.