ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 19, 1996 TAG: 9602190073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Don't look for new degree programs at Virginia Tech in the next five years, as the state's largest university prepares to consolidate under a new blueprint.
President Paul Torgersen unveiled a draft Sunday of the so-called University Plan, a strategy for action during the next five years, to the board of visitors. If the board adopts the plan in April, expect to see Tech focus on using technology to teach, asking professors to collaborate across academic disciplines, and extending itself further as an economic development engine for the state.
Tech won't abandon its role as a residential campus, which is anticipated to grow by about 1,000 students to 25,000 by 2001.
"I'm not sure we will never add a degree program," Torgersen said. "But they'll be few and far between. We're certainly not going to expand."
He also said the plan is geared so the university will be technologically ready to respond, because "there's going to be more change in the next 10 years than there has been in the last 50."
In many ways, the plan signals further shifting toward a business-style operation. Such change has been under way since deep budget cuts began six years ago, changing the perception that Tech had an endless money supply.
Board members wanted specifics. What measures will gauge progress? Who is accountable for each?
"I can bet you there's already jockeying within the colleges for position," said board member Jim Turner, advocating what he called "an excellent top-down type of document."
The 23 targeted "support strategies" range from maintaining the University Pledge that requires full professors to teach, to continuously reviewing programs to see if they are still needed. Tech also will embark on a campaign to make certain that it's seen as more than a school devoted to technology disciplines such as engineering.
"One of the things I worry about, with a name like Virginia Tech, does the student in Midlothian ... understand we have excellent undergraduate programs in history, communications studies and music?" Torgersen said.
Under the plan, Tech also will:
Work with first-year students to help them understand the problems of substance abuse, violence, gender relations and racial/ethnic tensions.
Look for more help for graduate students, an essential link to the school's continued work as a major research university. "We must acknowledge the competitive nature of financial support for research and teaching assistants and for graduate scholarships," it states.
Give more funding to "a limited number of already distinguished departments and centers for their programs of research and graduate studies."
Work more closely with K-12 schools - one of the ideas Torgersen cited when he decided in November to merge Tech's College of Education with another college. The newly constituted College of Human Resources and Education will be launched officially this summer.
The plan also stresses campuswide efforts to integrate technology into the classroom and would continue to strengthen the athletic programs that have put Tech in the limelight in the past two years. Torgersen, Provost Peggy Meszaros, and Executive Vice President Minnis Ridenour will set up a time line for action once the board votes on the plan in April.
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