ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 10, 1993                   TAG: 9403180005
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP

LIKE others who know him, we were saddened by the news that Virginia Tech President James D. McComas was retiring at age 64 to return to Ohio, where he'll continue his fight against colon cancer. As we editorially noted a week and a half ago, McComas during his five years in Blacksburg has displayed a quietly effective intelligence, and a sense of dignity under sometimes trying circumstances.

As the initial jolt from the suddenness of his retirement fades, new thoughts arise - less about McComas himself than about his legacy.

In the final analysis, that legacy seems to consist of two interdependent parts: a vision of what a university such as Tech can and should be, and a sense of the kind of leadership necessary for nudging that vision into reality.

One central ingredient in McComas' vision of the university has been his emphasis on undergraduate education - an emphasis he began as soon as he arrived in Blacksburg, before state budget crunches and rising tuition rates made it a cause celebre.

Rome wasn't built in a day; there is work still to be done. But McComas' talk was more than just talk. Cafeterias and student-advising services were improved. Budget cutbacks reduced the number of positions at Tech by 253; the size of the instructional faculty, however, stayed the same at not quite 1,500. Moreover, the teaching staff was redeployed to reduce class sizes in courses, such as first-year calculus, where students were encountering the most academic difficulties.

Another ingredient in McComas' vision of the university has been the idea of service, the notion that there's a purpose to acquiring knowledge beyond the acquisition itself. "I hope they don't just make a living," he has said of young people who seem to measure success only in material terms, "I hope they make a life."

McComas' idea of service found a response among the Tech student body, where an upsurge of voluntarism was under way. But the idea implied more: that the university should be a force beyond the campus. The idea of university outreach isn't new, of course, particularly at land-grant institutions like Tech. But McComas got Tech involved in community-building and economic-development activities far beyond the cooperative extension as traditionally understood.

There are, of course, the Hotel Roanoke project and the Smart Road initiative, among others.

Another prime example of this aspect of McComas' legacy will occur Tuesday, when the New Century Council convenes at Mountain Lake. The council is partly an outgrowth of conversations between McComas and Roanoke Valley leaders, who have sought to promote regional economic cooperation.

The hope is to develop and articulate common, communitywide goals for the Roanoke and New River valleys; then devise a roadmap for reaching them.

How well that kind of process works depends in good measure on the quality of the leadership that will propel it.

McComas' style of leadership at Tech was gentle, openminded, judicious - but also, say his associates, resolute to the point of stubborn if he had become convinced of the rightness of the cause.

That can lend itself to mistakes, even in someone with a good a sense of proportion in separating matters that are open to compromise from matters that aren't. In someone without much judgment or sense of proportion, it can lead to horrendous blunders.

But it is also an essential ingredient in leadership. You gain agreement, you forge consensus - and at some point you say "enough," and write off the naysayers. Such leadership is essential for running a university. It will be essential in developing goals and strategies for the Roanoke and New River valleys.



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