Longwood University

Patricia P. Cormier has served as President of Longwood University since 1996. Under her leadership, the institution has reaffirmed its time-honored commitment to preparing citizen leaders to serve the common good, while at the same time positioning itself as a high tech, learning centered environment that is second to none in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Known for her personal warmth, enthusiasm and strong commitment to learning, Dr. Cormier has been a vital force in workforce preparation and economic development in Southside Virginia and throughout the state. She has been actively involved in higher education for many years, serving in leadership positions on the American Council on Education Fellows Board, the American Association of Higher Education, the American Association of State Colleges & Universities, the Southern Association of College & Schools, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Since arriving in Virginia, she has dedicated herself to serving the Commonwealth and is especially active in fostering partnerships between business and higher education and K-12 and higher education. She served on the Governor's Five-Star Workforce Development Taskforce, the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education, as a team leader on the Attorney General's Task Force on Alcohol Abuse, and as a member of the Council of Presidents' Virginia 2000 Implementation Committee. She currently serves on the School-to-Work Advisory Committee of the Virginia Business-Education Partnership, the Virginia Business-Higher Education Council, the Southside Virginia Business and Education Commission, as Chair of the Committee to Enhance the K-12 Teaching Profession in Virginia (Department of Education and State Council for Higher Education in Virginia), as Chair of the Southern Virginia Higher Education Consortium. Nationally she serves as Chair of the NCAA Division II Presidents' Council, as a Commissioner on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges, Chair of the Council of Fellows of the American Council on Education, on the Board of the American Association of State Colleges & Universities, and as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Renaissance Group. In addition, she chaired the American Association of State Colleges and Universities' Task Force on Teacher Education.

One of 15 senior public institutions in Virginia, the University is among the top five most selective in the state. Nationally recognized for its educational quality, Longwood is ranked among the top ten public institutions in the Southern region in the 2002 U.S News & World Report college survey. Longwood has nationally accredited programs in business, education, social work, therapeutic recreation, athletic training, theatre, and music, and is systematically pursuing the goal of achieving national accreditation in all eligible programs. Significant increases in enrollment, levels of giving and investment in physical plant characterize the institution's popularity and health. Under Dr. Cormier's leadership, the application of technology to the educational experience has become a major priority, and Longwood was the first institution in Virginia to require that all of its incoming freshmen own a laptop computer.

Before assuming the leadership of Longwood University, Dr. Cormier served three years as the chief academic officer at Winthrop University beginning in 1993. Prior to this, she spent 12 years at the University of Pennsylvania where she concluded her tenure as an associate professor and associate dean of academic affairs. She published two highly regarded books in her field: Community Oral Health: A Systems Approach and Educating the Dentist of the Future. She served as vice president and dean of the college at Wilson College from 1984-1988. She was named vice president for development and alumni relations at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1989.

Dr. Cormier has master's and doctoral degrees in education from the University of Virginia and a bachelor's degree in health education from Boston University.

Her honors include selection as one of 30 fellows nationwide to participate in the American Council on Education's fellowship program in academic administration in 1982-83, a master's degree Honoris causa from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982, election to three national honor societies, and selection as a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She is married to "First Gent" Dr. Raymond Cormier, Visiting Professor of Modern Languages at Longwood, and they have two children - Madelaine, who is married and resides in West Palm Beach, Florida and Jean Louis, who works in Boston, Massachusetts in a major law firm.