Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990 TAG: 9003071530
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Short
The school's 12th superintendent will be inaugurated at an 11 a.m. ceremony that will include a speech by James Madison University President Ronald Carrier, school officials said. There will be a parade at 9 a.m.
Knapp, 57, a 1954 graduate of VMI, already has presided over some of the most tumultuous months in the 150-year-old institute's recent history.
The U.S. Justice Department in January challenged the state-supported institute's male-only admissions policy, bringing the school continuing national media attention. VMI has been discussed on ABC-TV's "Nightline" and written about in The Washington Post, and has been visited by dozens of newspaper, magazine and television reporters.
Knapp, who received a degree in civil engineering from VMI, went on to earn master's and doctoral degrees in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
He joined the VMI faculty in 1959, and went on to serve two terms as head of the school's civil engineering department. Knapp also is a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve.
Knapp's inauguration was ordered by the school's board of visitors, according to VMI spokesman Tom Joynes. Gen. Sam Walker, Knapp's predecessor, never had one - "He didn't want to fool with it," Joynes said - but the board decided that Knapp should.
by CNB