The new Maugans Alumni Center is infused with the spirit of Longwood
If you listen carefully in the new Maugans Alumni Center, you just might be able hear the faint voices of the thousands of hungry Longwood students who, until January 2000, flocked to the space for a meal or a snack.
The R. Tucker Winn ’48 Room, with its comfortable furnishings and widescreen television,
provides a space where alumni visiting campus can relax, have a cup of coffee or even pull
out their laptop and get a little work done. Winn was a successful independent college
admissions counselor. Photos by Andrea Dailey
The new center—with its soaring entryway, grand boardroom and attractive offices, library and alumni lounge—bears no resemblance to its former self, but the lingering spirit of all those students makes this portion of the building behind Ruffner Hall the perfect place to create a home for Longwood alumni.
Making the transformation possible was a $2.5 million bequest from Katharine Allen Maugans ’46 and her husband, Frank, as well as numerous generous contributions from other alumni and friends of the university. Katharine Maugans, a Buckingham County schoolteacher who entered the Navy in 1952 served in the armed forces for 30 years and retired with the rank of captain.
“It’s beautiful and so well done. Aunt Kat would be so pleased,” said Maugans’ niece, Sandra Seward Peebles ’63, at the official opening ceremony Sept. 12. The event drew more than 400 alumni back to campus for tours lunch and a presentation on Longwood history by Dr. Jim Jordan, Board of Visitors Distinguished Professor of Anthropology.
“Our thanks go most profoundly to the Maugans family,” President W. Taylor Reveley IV said at the opening. He also recognized several distinguished members of the audience, including former Longwood presidents Dr. Henry Willett, Dr. William Dorrill and Dr. Patricia Cormier, and former Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Nancy Britton Shelton ’68, who worked for many years to make the center a reality.
—Sabrina Brown
NAMED SPACES IN THE MAUGANS ALUMNI CENTER
- Robert O. and Eloise Hodges Martinelli ’51 Boardroom
- R. Tucker Winn ’48 Room
- Cecil C. and Margaret Finney Powell ’43 Room
- Katherine Bridgforth Hooker ’47 Atrium
- Page Cook Axson McGaughy ’46 Library
- Carol Combs Irvin ’64 Room
- Dr. Audrey L. Jarrelle ’66 Room
- Diane Bottoms Boxley ’72 Room
- Elizabeth Kelsey Hulvey ’62 Room
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