Legacy gift funds new D. Michael and Tamara Bird Jones ’81 Center for P-12 Outreach and continues record-breaking year of philanthropy at Longwood

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I played teacher all the time. I had a chalkboard and everything. Family would visit, and my aunts and uncles would try to get away from me because they knew I'd pull them into my 'classroom.'

Tammy Bird Jones '81

Now more than four decades after the start of her own teaching career, Jones and her husband, Mike Jones, will ensure that passion continues to impact future generations of pre-K-through-12th-grade students and teachers through a legacy gift that will establish the D. Michael and Tamara Bird Jones '81 Center for P-12 (pre-k through 12th grade) Outreach at Longwood.

The gift is the latest contribution in a record-breaking fundraising year for Longwood. This fiscal year, the university has received more than $29 million in donations and pledges, including multiple major gifts like the Joneses'. All support long-held university priorities, such as the recently announced Keystones for Academic Excellence (KAE) Fund, or the Longwood student experience through scholarships, faculty development and more.

The Jones Center, which will operate within the Longwood's College of Education, Health, and Human Services (CEHS), will aggregate and support numerous education outreach and teacher development initiatives at the university-including those already in motion and new projects in the future. Among those are existing projects and initiatives, such as the award-winning Lancer for a Day program, the annual Talented and Gifted (TAG) and STEM camps, the GEAR UP initiative backed by a $7 million federal grant, and the Institute for Teaching Through Technology and Innovative Practices (ITTIP), as well as future initiatives.

Each of those projects is grounded in Longwood's role and self-proclaimed responsibility-as a public institution of higher education-to contribute to the prosperity of Longwood's home region through educational outreach and development of education professionals. The projects further align with the Joneses' personally held belief in the power of public education and the long-term impact of exposing young people to the opportunities created by a college education.

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It's about trying to get kids from all walks of life ready for, or at least interested in, college and using education as a means to pursue their dreams. It's about that interaction and showing them what's out there for them.

Mike Jones

"What appealed to me about setting up the center is the meshing of the college campus and what happens afterwards, where the rubber meets the road, so to speak," said Mike, an attorney who spent the majority of his career in Richmond, Virginia. "It's about trying to get kids from all walks of life ready for, or at least interested in, college and using education as a means to pursue their dreams. It's about that interaction and showing them what's out there for them."

Both Mike and Tammy were first-generation college students and products of public school education. Mike grew up on a farm in eastern North Carolina-"which will teach you to value education," he quipped-and attended the University of North Carolina for both his undergraduate studies and law school. His law career led him to Richmond where he and Tammy met in 2002.

"I wanted to be a teacher from a young age, so I knew what the path to becoming one required," said Tammy, who spent much of her career as a teacher and principal in Henrico County Public Schools and later mentored student teachers at Longwood and VCU. "But kids don't always know what they want to be. Some are limited in their dreams because they simply don't know what's out there. They've never been on a college campus or realized what they can become. Just showing them what college can do for them opens up so many new doors."

And while Longwood has long facilitated programs that bring local students to campus, place student teachers in local schools, and enhance development opportunities for education-focused undergraduate and graduate students, those programs will be strengthened by the resources and infrastructure made possible by the Joneses' gift and establishment of the Jones Center.

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This is something that will have a ripple effect for decades, not just for Longwood but for so many students who live in our region.

Dr. Angela McDonald, dean of Longwood's CEHHS

"The real strength of the Jones Center will be in the organization of all these programs with similar goals, the collaboration we'll be able to pursue across campus and the additional financial backing that will further enhance opportunities for students, both K-12 and our own," said Dr. Angela McDonald, dean of Longwood's CEHHS.

"We are obviously grateful for Mike and Tammy's gift, but it's also inspiring and validating to get this level of support from two individuals who see the value in things Longwood is already doing. This is something that will have a ripple effect for decades, not just for Longwood but for so many students who live in our region."

In addition to the academic outreach initiatives and teacher development programs the Jones Center will enhance, the new venture will also allow the CEHHS team to better lend its expertise across Longwood's campus in areas such as grant writing, educational data collection and analysis, and collaboration with local K-12 personnel.

"There are so many faculty at Longwood who are not only passionate about their subject matter, but also about their role as educators and the overall impact education can have on a person's life," said Dr. Paula Leach, director of ITTIP and P12 outreach and engagement at Longwood. "The Jones Center will allow us to better share the tools and resources we already have in place within the CEHHS so that our faculty, staff and students can have an even greater impact beyond the borders of our campus."

With the support of the Jones Center, Longwood will soon be able to reach even more of those students beyond its borders-students who, like an eight-year-old Tammy Bird, will one day graduate from teaching an attentive audience of stuffed animals with a miniature chalkboard to standing in front of their own classroom.