Radio station competes with the pros, brings back first-place honors

WMLU student staffers (from left) Ashley Bowles, Brigid Hokana, Keenan Crump, Ben Maitland and Nathan Epstein accepted two awards the station received from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters.

Longwood campus radio station WMLU received two first-place awards from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters (VAB) in June 2011. The station captured top honors for Outstanding Sports Coverage and for Best Station Promotion/Contest for a non-commercial/public radio station.

This was the third consecutive year that WMLU received the first-place award for sports coverage. In 2010, WMLU received the second-place award for the best station promotion.

“Longwood is the only college or university to receive an award from the VAB for three consecutive years,” said Jeff Halliday, assistant professor of communication studies, who is co-adviser to the station. The sports award was for overall coverage, and the other award was for a 60-second promotion for Bandfest, sponsored by WMLU and held the Friday of Spring Weekend.

WMLU (www.wmlu.org), a 250-watt station that started in 1981, does live streaming of music and student programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

New vice president for advancement brings wide range of experience

Dr. Bryan Rowland

Dr. Bryan Rowland, former vice president for advancement at Wright State University and the University of Arizona, was appointed Longwood’s vice president for university advancement in May 2011.

Rowland’s fundraising experience in higher education also includes serving as director of development of two colleges at Virginia Tech, where he worked for nine years and earned his doctorate.

He worked at Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, from 2008-10, serving as president of the WSU Foundation in addition to his duties as vice president for advancement.

At the University of Arizona, Rowland held several development positions from 2002-08, including vice president for development for Arizona Health Sciences with the University of Arizona Foundation. In that position, he managed a development program that raised more than $35 million annually for four colleges and five medical research centers. He also served as senior director of development and alumni relations for that university’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Baseball coach sets record for most career victories

Longwood baseball coach Buddy Bolding recorded his 900th career win on May 10, 2011, giving him the most victories of any active college baseball coach in Virginia.

The 6-4 road win over James Madison University brought Bolding’s career record to 900-492-4. The 2011 season represented Bolding’s 30th 20-win season, including 24 straight 20-win seasons from 1981 to 2004, and his 23rd season with at least 25 wins.

Bolding has coached Longwood’s baseball team since 1978, leading the Lancers to six appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament and two trips, in 1982 and 1991, to the Division II College World Series. The 1991 squad completed a school-record 41-8 campaign while advancing to the final four of the Division II national championship. Longwood’s baseball facility is named for Bolding.

Men’s rugby team wins national championship

The Longwood men’s rugby team won the national championship for its division on May 1, 2011. The squad captured the national title in Men’s College Division III of USA Rugby by defeating Occidental College of California, 36-27, in Virginia Beach.

Longwood men’s rugby team and fans after the national championship

Rugby is a club sport at Longwood. The 2010-11 team was one of 138 from across the country competing at this level, which has no connection with Division III in NCAA-sanctioned intercollegiate athletics. Longwood defeated Salve Regina University, which was ranked No. 1, to get to the championship game.

Undefeated during the regular fall season, Longwood first won the state championship in November 2010, then won the regional championship in March 2011, which led to a berth in the national championship tournament.

The most valuable player of the national tournament was Longwood freshman Ben Smith. Longwood professor Dr. John Graham coached the team.

Three Longwood students among 23 selected for leadership program

Longwood students (from left) Kaylin Minton, Benjamin Clark and Meghan Czaikoski were selected for a program of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership

Three Longwood students were selected in April 2011 for the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership’s College Leaders Program.

Senior Meghan Czaikoski and juniors Benjamin Clark and Kaylin Minton were among 23 college and university students from across Virginia to be chosen for the prestigious program at the University of Virginia, which was held May 28-June 25. More than 100 students applied for the College Leaders Program, one of four programs sponsored by the Sorensen Institute, an intensive, multidisciplinary Virginia-focused program on public service and leadership.

The three Longwood students represented the most chosen from any school in 2011.

Student-organized Relay for Life raises $68,445 for cancer research

Relay for Life is an annual campus event for Longwood students, faculty and staff.

Longwood’s 2011 Relay for Life raised $68,445 in donations for the American Cancer Society, exceeding the 2010 total by more than $18,000.

Fifty-four teams involving 948 participants took part in the April 15 event, which lasted 12 hours and included a Survivors’ Reception, Survivors’ Lap, Care Givers’ Lap and the lighting of luminaria in honor or memory of loved ones. Dr. Jim Jordan, professor of anthropology and a cancer survivor, presented the keynote address, which was themed “Re-Lei for Life: Say Aloha to a Cure.”

Dr. Maureen Walls-McKay, interim director of Longwood’s Counseling Center, advises the student committee that organizes the annual event.

Alumni Awards go to citizen leaders

Alumni award recipients (2nd from left, from left to right) Brig. Gen. Joe Bass ’83, Ann McCants Carter ’62, Dr. Jim Thornton ’85 and Lisa Brodie Williams ’91 were congratulated by President Patrick Finnegan (far left) and Steve Meyers ’83 (far right), president of the Longwood Alumni Board.

Four Longwood alumni were honored in March 2011 with Alumni Association awards that recognize citizen leadership. Brig. Gen. Joe Bass ’83 received the Ruffner Alumni Award; Dr. Jim Thornton ’85 and Lisa Brodie Williams ’91 received the Jefferson Professional Achievement Alumni Award; and Ann McCants Carter ’62 received the Curry Humanitarian Alumni Award.

Bass is commanding general of the U.S. Army’s Expeditionary Contracting Command; Thornton is superintendent of the Mecklenburg County public schools; Williams is an English teacher at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond and the author of two novels; and Carter is an active community leader in the Petersburg and Richmond areas.

Web communications staff win 3 national awards

Longwood’s web communications staff received three national awards in January 2011.

In the eighth annual Service Industry Advertising Awards (SIAA) national competition, the web staff received a Bronze Award for Student Blogs in the New Media category, a Merit Award for Trend Line in the New Media category and a Merit Award for WhyLongwood.com in the website category.

The student blogs (studentblogs.longwood.edu) site—featured on Why.Longwood.com, the admissions website—follow the lives of six students through blogs integrated with Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. The site was designed by CRT/tanaka, a Richmond-based marketing firm, in coordination with the web communications team.

Trend Line (www.longwood.edu/trendline) is a series of online videos that contributes Longwood voices to the online conversation, sharing expert perspective on the day’s news, societal issues, popular culture and other topics trending across Google, Twitter and YouTube.

The award in the Website category was for the redesign of the WhyLongwood.com site, implemented in August 2010.

The SIAA competition attracted nearly 2,000 entries from more than 400 advertising agencies and 1,000 institutions from all 50 states and Canada.

Students gain real nursing skills in state-of-the-art simulation facility

(From left to right) Nursing student Stacy Bolt; project manager Kim Bass (of Longwood Capital Planning & Construction); Dr. Melody Eaton, chair of the Nursing Department; Longwood President Patrick Finnegan; lead donor Dr. Edward Gordon; and Cindy Crews, clinical simulation director in the Nursing Department

The Nursing Department’s state-of-the-art instructional and simulation facility was dedicated Feb. 1, 2011.

The Edward I. Gordon, M.D., Clinical Simulation and Learning Center is designed to advance the clinical and critical reasoning skills of Longwood students in a safe environment. The facility was made possible by a $1 million gift from Dr. Edward Gordon, a longtime Farmville physician, in August 2009.

The center features high-tech equipment, including manikins capable of simulating a remarkable array of physiological functions and a digital audiovisual system that allows simulated experiences to be recorded and played back for faculty and student evaluation. All of the funding for the work and equipment came from private donations and grants. Longwood’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program was launched in fall 2009.

Renowned dancer shares talents with Longwood students

Desmond Richardson, who has danced to unstinting critical acclaim throughout the world, taught three two-hour classes Jan. 19-21 at Longwood.

Desmond Richardson, who has been called “one of the great modern dancers of his time” by the New York Times, shared his talents with Longwood students in January 2011.

Richardson taught three two-hour classes to the Longwood Company of Dancers at the invitation of Rodney Williams, the company’s director.

Richardson is co-founder and co-artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York City. He was a principal dancer with the famed Alvin Ailey Dance Theater for seven years and was the first African American to join the American Ballet Theatre as a principal dancer. Richardson has performed with Michael Jackson, Prince, Aretha Franklin and Madonna, and has worked in television, film and video. Some of the Longwood students were familiar with Richardson through his work on “So You Think You Can Dance” on the FOX network.