Previously a female seminary, normal school, and college, Longwood became coeducational in 1976 and gained university status on July 1, 2002.

[7] And Israel Hill, a community of free African Americans that formed around the turn of the 19th century, is two miles from campus.

Led by a number of Methodist ministers, the school offered English, Latin, Greek, French, and piano.

In 1902, Joseph L. Jarman was named president of the State Female Normal School, a post that lasted an astounding forty-four years.

[9] During Jarman's presidency, the college purchased in 1928 the nearby estate of the Longwood House, which would become the namesake of the institution in years to come.

Men were admitted as day students in 1973, by order of the Virginia Department of Education until Longwood went fully coeducational in 1976.

[13] William F. Dorrill, president from 1988 to 1996, was instrumental in increasing Longwood's international population and expanding study-abroad opportunities for students and faculty through partnerships with numerous educational institutions around the world.

The building was undergoing extensive renovations at the time, and no one was injured in the blaze, though the rotunda and much of Grainger Hall required rebuilding.

[14] Virginia Governor Mark Warner signed legislation designating Longwood a university on April 2, 2002, one year to the day after The Great Fire that burned the Rotunda and significantly damaged Grainger Hall.

Then-president Patricia P. Cormier said at the time that a "university is a better reflection of the type of institution that Longwood is today.

Longwood's Health and Fitness Center, which opened in 2007, was the first higher education building in Virginia to be awarded the gold level of LEED certification.

The English and Modern Languages department at Longwood University awards the annual John Dos Passos Prize For Literature, founded in 1980. Notable past recipients include Graham Greene, Tom Wolfe, Shelby Foote, Paule Marshall, Ernest J. Gaines, E. Annie Proulx, and Sherman Alexie.

The college also offers online speech language pathology courses to prepare students for graduate-level coursework.

[35] Cormier Scholars are an elite group of selected students who mostly live together in a learning-enriched environment and enjoy smaller classes, close interaction with faculty members, increased opportunities for independent undergraduate research and an emphasis on experiential learning outside the classroom.

The architecture of the campus ranges from its more historic "north core" to its more contemporary southern end organized along a central promenade, Brock Commons.

The rest of campus is organized along a picturesque central promenade, Brock Commons, that stretches south perpendicular to High Street.

[36] At the south end of Brock Commons sits the Health and Fitness Center, an 80,000-square-foot facility that features an indoor track, basketball and racquetball courts, a climbing room and exercise equipment.

In the agreement, the LCVA will serve as a repository for an invaluable collection of primary Folk Art source material, publish its annual magazine, and manage its growing ranks of several hundred members.

[39]In addition to operating the museum, the LCVA partners with several regional school systems to supplement art education.

[40] Longwood also operates Hull Springs Farm, a 662-acre plantation on two tributaries of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Nearly all of the campus' heat and hot water are provided by burning woody biomass, mostly pine and some hardwood, which is a byproduct from local sawmills.

Longwood is the only public institution of higher education in Virginia and one of only two state agencies that burns biomass for heating fuel, which the university has done since 1983.

[42] Southeast of the university's main campus is the Longwood House, a home built in 1811 but was burned and rebuilt in 1815 by Nathaniel E. Venable.

Longwood has six varsity men's teams, including baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer and tennis.

Longwood's eight women's sports include basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball and tennis.

Longwood also has many club sports, including rugby, baseball, football, men's lacrosse, roller hockey, golf, and others.

[45] Princeps was founded on seven principles of leadership and also keeps member identities secret until a revealing their senior year.

The university's three sculptures of the 15th-century French heroine are French sculptor Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu's 1870 plaster statue officially titled Jeanne d'Arc, and known affectionately as "Joanie on the Stony"; Anna Hyatt Huntington's 1915 bronze Joan of Arc equestrian statue, nicknamed "Joanie on the Pony"; and Alexander Stoddart's heroic monument, dedicated on November 9, 2018.