Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 11, 1995 TAG: 9511120022
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
President Paul Torgersen this week suspended the search for a new dean and said that "serious consideration should be given at this time to integrate the College of Education with an existing college."
Students could graduate in their existing programs, and no one would lose a job, Torgersen said. Torgersen predicted a savings of $250,000 a year.
Next week, a committee starts meeting with Provost Peggy Meszaros to decide what to do. The decision is due Jan. 15.
But the change came as a blow to those inside the college, particularly since most have spent the better part of the months since February 1994 redesigning the college after it lost $1.6 million - or 20 percent of its budget - at the behest of the former provost.
"I didn't like it," said Wayne Worner, appointed interim dean to see the college through the '94 reduction. "But I understood it. In this case, I don't like it, and I'm having more difficulty understanding this one."
One worker held back tears, declining comment, following Torgersen's closed-door meeting with the college Friday morning.
One doctoral student who hopes to graduate in May said: "As a student, it probably will affect pride. I'm hoping I still get a degree from the college."
"It's not based on rationality," said education Professor Darrell Clowes. "It's based on politics."
Torgersen's actions come amid intense pressures for the state's public colleges to save money by cutting or merging programs. Last winter, Gov. George Allen tied budget increases for the colleges to the quality of their blueprints for restructuring, which has been under way for years at Virginia Tech.
Asked if the cut was a political move, Torgersen replied, "I'm not sure that was the driving point, but it is a benefit."
Henry Dekker, a member of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, said the move was not political, but the college may have been a victim of changes to the state's teacher recertification requirements several years ago, which now require undergraduate students to major in a specific field, then earn a teaching certificate.
"I think a need for a College of Education per se is perhaps a little redundant," Dekker said, and its small enrollment makes it "hard to justify its status as a college."
The second-smallest college in the university, education graduated 100 students in 1993. Since its 1994 restructuring began, the college has narrowed its focus to kindergarten through 12th grade educational instruction.
Torgersen said a further reduction to the college - even after it lost $1.6 million - has never been a closed issue.
"I think there were some misunderstandings," he said. "I think faculty, with their restructuring, [thought] nothing else would change."
He also vowed that the long hours of effort put into restructuring since 1994 would not be wasted. In a Nov. 8 letter, he said he wanted the new committee to consider:
Strengthening teacher certification processes by bringing education classes closer to specific disciplines.
Integrating research on teaching and learning with other disciplines, especially through use of technology.
Reducing administration.
Taking ``advantage of the opportunity presented by the retirement of the current dean to make this change with minimal effect on current personnel."
Worner has taken early retirement and will depart next summer.
Professors said they understood Torgersen's explanation, given the intense pressures to shrink spending, but many thought a trust had been broken. Such major changes should be made through the policies set up to guide the shared university governance system, they said.
"He has every right and responsibility to make proposals," said education Professor Don Creamer. "But the proposals should be put on the table of the decision-making body of the college. This decision's been made not only outside the process, but without any consultation of those affected."
Tom Sherman, an education professor and president of the Faculty Senate, also worried that faculty had not been consulted.
"My primary concern, from the perspective of the Faculty Senate, is that there is a process in place when we think about great universities, involving the faculty in significant decisions that affect programs, students, curriculum. That tradition is to involve faculty because they deliver those programs, teach the students, are the authors of those programs.
"This seems to be a decision not in that tradition."
While Worner admitted feeling somewhat hurt, he also said he was proud of the restructuring the college had done, and that its plans would be considered a model.
Outside the university, Roanoke County School Superintendent Deanna Gordon, a graduate of the college and member of the stalled dean's search committee, said recruitment of top-notch faculty may be hurt over time if education is not a college.
"I don't see it as the end to the education program at Virginia Tech, but I guess I certainly see it as a diminished posture for the education program," she said. "Of course, all of us have to wait to see what the details of the plans are.
"I would think Virginia Tech would continue to have a strong program. But I don't think anyone would deny that its relationship with other colleges in the university would be less powerful."
by CNB