Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The university's board of visitors on Monday unanimously approved $28 million in funding requests to submit to the 1996 General Assembly. The technology-learning plan is one of those requests.
The raises - worth $16.5 million from 1996-98 - are included in a separate request to the legislature being made by the State Council of Higher Education.
If faculty raises are approved, the gap would narrow between Virginia Tech's pay and that offered by similar research universities around the country. Tech's pay has been slipping relative to the other universities since 1990.
The increases should help the school keep its current professors and recruit newcomers, said Minnis Ridenour, Tech's executive vice president.
New funding requests reflect the university's emphasis on using technology and contributing to economic development.
The technology initiative includes a new system that would beam classes, by video and voice, to 16 locations around the state where students could take graduate courses. Also, more undergraduates could take classes by computer, often using the Internet. New computer laboratories would be set up at the university. An effort already is under way to replace Tech's mainframe computer with new systems for administrative use.
Also on the table is a $4.1 million request for economic development efforts - in particular, plans for Tech to work with Northern Virginia and Roanoke industries to provide classes for their high-tech workers.
Tech won't be looking for new funding for the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, recently reorganized in an effort to avoid the kind of showdown that occurred during last year's legislative session. Money will be reallocated within the program or raised by adding new fees. For example, $124,000 is expected to be raised by charging people for advice from the popular Master Gardener program.
The board also approved a $3.7 million request to renovate the Cochrane Hall dining room, and will seek approval to raise an additional $1.25 million for a 40,000-square-foot athletic building. The now-$6 million building will be funded entirely with private money and will include an academic advising center for athletes.
The board said little about last week's decision by President Paul Torgersen to merge the College of Education into another of the university's remaining eight colleges. It did pass a resolution on the matter after a closed-door session, said campus spokesman David Nutter.
The resolution praises Interim Dean Wayne Worner and his faculty and staff for their efforts thus far to restructure the school. The board also endorsed Torgersen's efforts to restructure the college and streamline "administrative systems" around the university, Nutter said.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.