A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor, a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

ACHIEVERS
Lenwood McCoy, university controller, was named president of FOCUS for 1999 at the organization's fall meeting. FOCUS is an organization of fiscal officers from the 15 state-supported four-year colleges and universities and the 22 community colleges in Virginia. The organization provides a forum for the discussion of fiscal issues with the state's central finance and administrative offices and provides professional development and training for the business and finance staffs at the institutions through its semi-annual meetings.
Tom Kaloupek, director of Materials Management, was named president of VASCUP for 1999. VASCUPP is an organization of the chief procurement officers of the nine largest state-supported four-year colleges and universities in Virginia. This group coordinates de-centralized procurement practices, works with various state agencies and conducts cooperative contracting on behalf of member institutions.
Sam Van Curen, Scott Reed, and Doug Yates recently presented "Student Learning: Outcomes Assessment in University Unions and Student Activities" at the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) Region 5 conference in Charlottesville, on November 7.
This presentation highlights the comprehensive assessment program under development in the department with special attention to the Student Leadership Outcomes instrument, student employee exit interviews, and the Student Employee Annual Survey. The presentation discussed the campus resources that are available, instrument development, data collection, preliminary results, future applications, timing of the surveys, and problems encountered. Keith Buckley did a presentation also on "The Tao of Conflict Resolution" and served on the Conference Planning Committee as well. Fourteen people from various schools around the region, which includes North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia attended the session.
Michael W. Heyer, professor of engineering science and mechanics, was one of 11 presenters from U.S. universities during the first Korean-U.S. Symposium on Composite Materials at Seoul National University in September. The symposium was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and its Korean counterpart, and was convened to encourage joint research efforts between the two nations.
Richard J. Neves, fisheries and wildlife sciences professor and leader of the Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, recently had articles published in both the Virginia Journal of Science and the Journal of Animal Ecology. The article in the former, co-authored with a colleague, addressed identification and artificial culture of two federally endangered freshwater mussels. The article in the latter, co-authored with two colleagues, discussed the impending extinctions of North American freshwater mussels following the invasion of zebra mussels. In addition to these recently published articles, Neves has continued his work in producing a monthly narrative report for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Eliza C. Tse, associate professor of hospitality and tourism, attended the Fourth Asian Pacific Tourism Association Conference at Tanyang, Korea in August. She and Lan Li presented a paper which examined the importance and competency of hotel-management skills. Tse also served as a moderator for one of the paper session. She and the other overseas participants received the honorary citizenship for the Tanyang County. This summer she also met with the faculty in Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Chinese University of Hong Kong to explore the potential for collaborative research opportunities.
The National Orientation Directors Association held its annual national conference in Austin, Tex., October 24-27. More than 700 professional staff members, faculty members, and students from colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada gathered to exchange ideas and develop new methods for assisting new students with their transition to college life.
Associate Director of University Relations Randall R. Stith and Associate Dean of Students J. Thomas Brown facilitated a program on the new VT Video, the video presentation used in summer orientation on our campus.
Harry M. Kriz, head of the Interlibrary Loan Department in the University Libraries, gave two presentations in Florida in October. "ILLiad: The Strategic Solution for Automated interlibrary Borrowing," was presented at the Southeast Florida Library Information Network ILL Vendor Showcase Series at Barry University in Miami. A program titled "ILLiad: A Library Strategic Information System with Customer In-Reach," was presented at EDUCOM '98 in Orlando. ILLiad is the library's unique automated interlibrary loan system. It is licensed through VTIP to major academic and government libraries.