724 Degrees Awarded at May Commencement

Lady Virginia Sturm Tate '64, spoke at Commencement

An alumna who is a successful entrepreneur urged graduates at May Commencement to have confidence, courage and determination. "You can do anything you want to do, you have to make things happen, and you must believe in yourself even when things are really scary," said Lady Virginia "Ginny" Sturm Tate ('64), founder of London's most successful recruitment consulting firm. Lady Tate sold her company, Tate Appointments, last year after 15 years. Some 629 undergraduate and 95 graduate degrees were awarded only 18 days after the devastating Ruffner fire. To commemorate that loss, graduates, faculty and staff wore blue ribbon pins provided by Barnes & Noble, which operates the bookstore. The Longwood bell was rung three times, signifying Longwood's past, present and future. It had not been rung since President Patricia Cormier's inauguration in April 1997.

"Today is not about loss and destruction," Dr. Cormier told graduates. "Today is about accomplishment and the first day of the beginning of your new life."

Lady Tate, who said "no other place could have given me a better start than Longwood College," asked the Class of 2001 "not to dwell on the loss of our beloved Rotunda."

Sara Rosanne Burritt, a biology major from Stuarts Draft with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, received the Sally Barksdale Hargrett Prize for Academic Excellence. She will study molecular biology in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, where she has done research on the transformation of DNA in yeast cells. She was a member of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges and biology honor society Beta Beta Beta, president of the Baptist Student Union her junior year, and a recipient of the Wayne H. Tinnell Biology Scholarship.

Dana N. Daniels, a liberal studies major from Chesterfield, won the Dan Daniel Senior Award for Scholarship and Citizenship. She will study sports administration in graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University. She was a member of Phi Kappa Phi national honor society, Alpha Lambda Delta freshman honor society and the Honors Program, and she was a Hull Scholar and a Longwood Ambassador.

Dr. Geoffrey Orth, professor of German, who in July became director of the Honors Program, received the Maria Bristow Starke Award for Faculty Excellence; Dr. Michelle Parry, assistant professor of physics, the Junior Faculty Award; and Dr. James Jordan, professor of anthropology, the Student-Faculty Recognition Award, which he also won in 1985.

Delegate W.W. "Ted" Bennett Jr. of Halifax, who is stepping down when his term expires in December, was presented with a resolution honoring him as "one of the Commonwealth of Virginia's foremost public servants and a friend whose extraordinary contributions to our community will be remembered forever."

Rotunda Fund Reaches $176,058 by July 1, 2001, with 1,057 Individual Gifts

In response to an outpouring of support following The Great Fire of 2001, the College created The Rotunda Fund. This fund will be used to satisfy immediate needs resulting from the tragedy, to ensure that the Rotunda is reconstructed to its prior state of grandeur, and to support the programmatic needs of the academic departments displaced by the fire.

All donors to this fund will be listed in a prominent location within the reconstructed Rotunda.

Times of crisis call for unique gifts. Please continue your traditional support while considering a special gift to

The Rotunda Fund.
C/O The Longwood College Foundation
201 High Street, Farmville, Virginia 23909
800.281.4677 extension 3
http://www.longwood.edu