Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia. Founded in 1839 as Farmville Female Seminary and colloquially known as Longwood or Longwood College, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of the hundred oldest institutions of higher education in the United States. Previously a female seminary, normal school, and college, Longwood became coeducational in 1976 and gained university status on July 1, 2002.