
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 13, 1993                   TAG: 9403180045
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BEVERLY SGRO

ALONG WITH budget cuts, Virginia's colleges and universities have suffered a loss of status in Richmond over the past four years. The Wilder administration's regard for them has seemed out of touch with their importance as building blocks for progress and prosperity in Virginia, not to mention as educators of the next generation.

Last week, Gov.-elect George Allen gave a welcome signal that he appreciates the significant role of these institutions. He reached out to academe and chose Virginia Tech's dean of students, Beverly Sgro, to become his secretary of education.

Of course, Allen's specific intentions for higher education, in budget matters and otherwise, remain to be seen. Sgro, though, is a respected educator, and one intimately familiar with the problems and challenges facing schools.

Of course, her responsibilities will go well beyond colleges and universities. But her selection - as Tech's new president Paul Torgersen observed - suggests at the least that higher education will be "represented at the table." Higher education has good reason to hope he's right.

by CNB