Dr. Peggy Childress Agee ’75

Three decades after Peggy Agee earned a B.S. in speech pathology, she was instrumental in creating Longwood's speech-language pathology graduate program, which puts a heavy emphasis on hands-on clinical experiences. Through Longwood's Speech, Hearing and Learning Services, she launched Camp Jump Start, a preschool language and literacy summer camp for 3- to 5-year-olds. It eventually morphed into a year-round program that helped graduate students gain valuable experience working with preschoolers. Later she developed a similar program for elementary and middle-school children who needed support with spelling and writing.

"I want to believe that the preschoolers and the elementary-age kids who came [to these programs] developed confidence and skills that helped them do their schoolwork."

Agee came back to work full time at her alma mater in 1999, teaching undergraduate classes in the communication sciences and disorders program and later serving as the program's coordinator. Previously she worked for Appomattox County Public Schools as a speech-language pathologist and as a preschool teacher.

In honoring her former colleague, Dr. Lissa Power-deFur, professor emeritus of communication sciences and disorders, noted the significance of Agee's contributions to children in Southside Virginia and that she had prepared hundreds of students to be top-quality clinicians during her many years at Longwood. Agee retired from Longwood in 2015-but not really. She continued to teach classes online in the speech-language pathology graduate program until last year.