F. G. Lankford, Jr.

Francis Greenfield Lankford Jr. (1906 - 1997) was appointed by the Charlottesville City Council to the Charlottesville School Board in mid-1952. At the time he was a professor in the University of Virginia School of Education where he taught mathematics for more than 20 years and was the first director of U.Va.’s Division of Educational Research, later called the Office of Institutional Analysis, which he organized.

Notable events

• September 16, 1952 – Lankford gives a speech on cooperation to the Clark Parent Teacher's Association.

A Lancaster County native, he became the 18th president of Longwood College (1955-65) after leaving the University of Virginia. In 1962-63, under Ford Foundation sponsorship, he led a group of educational advisers to Pakistan on a 15-month mission to help that government develop a national educational system. During Dr Lankford's tenure at Longwood College, enrollment increased from 791 to 1,459 and the faculty from 62 to 100; the Longwood Foundation and the Board of Visitors were created; the annual operating budget more than doubled; and new construction, renovations and other capital expenditures totaled $5 million.

Francis Greenfield Lankford Jr. died on March 10, 1997 (aged 91), burial at the University of Virginia Cemetery and Columbarium.

Publications

Dr. Lankford was the author or co-author of 25 mathematics and algebra textbooks, including a pioneering work in consumer mathematics.

• Development of independence in adding and subtracting fractions. An experimental project in the teaching of arithmetic (1959)
• Basic ideas of mathematics (1959)
• Essential mathematics (1967)
• Essential mathematics (1961)
• Consumer Mathematics (1981)
• Teacher's manual / solution key: Essential mathematics (1975)