Baliles Center

The Baliles Center provides the perfect setting for studying the environment and critical sustainability issues. The property features hundreds of acres of pine and hardwoods, natural and constructed wetlands, major tributaries feeding the Chesapeake Bay, an abundance of wildlife, and an advanced research facility.

Future at the Baliles Center 

The research lab was completed in 2021 and is the centerpiece of the environmental education center. The property was renamed to honor Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, who arguably did more than any other public official in the nation to set in motion the modern transformation toward a healthier Chesapeake Bay.

New facilities were completed and dedicated in September 2024.

Speakers for the dedication ceremony included President Taylor Reveley, The Honorable John W. Daniel, II, President of the Longwood University Real Estate Foundation and first Secretary of Natural Resources for the Commonwealth, 1986-90; Christine O. Bridge, Executive Assistant to the Governor and Director of Communications, Baliles Administration; Ric Arenstein, Senior Policy Advisor, Baliles Administration; and Abigail Sommer, senior biology major.

Added to the campus are two student cabins, which will sleep 12 each; a new faculty cabin, “Cabinet Cabin”; two renovated faculty cabins, “Smith Cottage” and “Barbara Cottage”; and a screened meeting/event space, “Policy Pavilion.”