ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
Radford University's dean of arts and sciences, Steven K. Pontius, is leaving July 1 to become vice president for academic affairs at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.
"I feel good about the opportunity he has because he's moving to a vice presidency at a school similar in character and similar in size to Radford," said Charles Owens, Radford's departing vice president for academic affairs.
The vice president for academic affairs, called a provost on many campuses, is a university's chief academic officer. Pontius, who's been at Radford for 19 years, said he's been on the lookout for just such a position for more than a year. He was a candidate for the opening being left by Owens' departure, awarded earlier this month to Ann S. Ferren, former interim provost of The American University in Washington, D.C.
"I'm looking for an opportunity to really bring the academic arena together and move it forward," Pontius said. "That challenge is really fascinating to me."
Asked if he could have done that if awarded the Radford post, Pontius replied: "I think it would have been possible. I think RU made the right decision. Radford University needed more women in administration," he said.
"Fresh blood is always a good thing."
Of Tennessee's six public colleges and universities, Austin Peay officially has been designated the state's liberal arts institution by the legislature.
"That really creates quite an opportunity for faculty and administrators to sit down and define what a public institution should do in a liberal arts context," Pontius said.
The former chairman of the geography department has been dean of Radford's largest college for nearly five years.
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