Phi Kappa Phi News Updates

Biography – Kathy E. K. Charleston

Thirty years of service to Longwood University has included seventeen years as Assistant Registrar, eight years as adjunct instructor in secondary social studies teaching methods in the History & Political Science department, and thirteen years as Assistant Dean of the College of Graduate & Professional Studies. Longwood is the third oldest institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia – the College of William and Mary being the oldest and the University of Virginia second. Longwood was founded as Farmville Female Seminary to train teachers and has been successfully doing that since 1839. As with so many teacher training institutions, we have gone through many names in our 175 year history including State Normal School for Women, State Teachers College and Longwood College. We consider ourselves one big family and strive to take care of each other like a family would.

I earned a B.A. in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and taught high school geography for several years. Once at Longwood, I completed the M.S. in Education/Secondary Social Studies allowing me to combine teaching with my administrative duties. After eight years of preparing students to be social studies teachers, the administrative duties claimed all of my time. The College of Graduate & Professional Studies is a combination of many parts including graduate studies, professional studies, instructional technology initiatives, and off-campus initiatives. Graduate studies is my area of responsibility from admissions through graduation. The majority of our graduate students are in the Education major reflecting our long history of training teachers, but we also offer graduate majors in Business Administration, Communication Sciences & Disorders, English and Sociology.

The Longwood chapter of Phi Kappa Phi was chartered in 1972 and I have served as Chapter President since spring of 2008. I’ve attended four conventions beginning in 2004; served on the BARC Committee twice and the Bylaws committee twice – currently as Chair; served on the Convention Credentials Committee at the 2012 convention in St. Louis; served as a Round Table facilitator at the 2007 and 2010 conventions; and participated in numerous Partnering for Success workshops and Cluster meetings.

I’ve been married to my husband, Jim, for 32 years; we have two grown sons, and five grandchildren. We raise Limousin beef cattle and in the past, also raised brush goats and black Minorca chickens. Our home reflects the history we both love. We know a major portion of the house was on the property in 1769, but haven’t been able to trace deeds to any earlier date. Our property borders the Appomattox River and has the remains of a canal and lock that was built between 1810 and 1820 to facilitate the travel of batteau boats carrying tobacco and/or grain downriver. There are also remains of a water operated mill that we know was operating in 1820 stone grinding grain.