Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 18, 1993 TAG: 9310180029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
Budget, schmudget.
Meredith Strohm, first-ever provost of Radford University's New College of Global Studies, is undaunted by declining state dollars for higher education.
Universities aren't the only ones facing hard times these days, Strohm noted.
The key is to adapt.
"Challenging times like this are exactly the times to innovate - to try to come up with a better way of doing it," she said. "At some point, you've got to stop downsizing and come up with a better idea."
Strohm began work as the college's provost Feb. 1.
In a recent interview, she talked of holding down costs for faculty and facilities at the new college. Of foreign professors teaching students from across the Atlantic by video or teleconference.
Of students someday soon taking courses without leaving their homes - even if their homes are in Kalamazoo.
"We're on the brink of a revolution in higher education," Strohm said. "I'm convinced that in 15 years you're going to be able to enroll at a course at Harvard from your living room."
It is the kind of talk you'd expect from a woman who was chosen to create from scratch, more or less, a college to prepare students for the global economy of the 21st century.
And it may be one reason the college is one of the few major new expenditures likely to be proposed by the State Council of Higher Education for funding in the next two years.
"We support the project and think it's a great idea," said Peter Blake, finance coordinator for the council. "We will certainly recommend that there be enough in there [Virginia's higher education budget] for Radford to take some substantive steps forward in the next biennium. It's just a question of how much can be made available from state funds to push it forward."
But Blake also conceded the future is uncertain, given that Gov. Douglas Wilder has said 15 percent budget cuts may be in the near future for Virginia's colleges and universities.
"This is one of the most mysterious budget processes I've ever been through," said Blake. "Anything is possible."
"The governor said everything is on the table," said council spokesman Mike McDowell of this year's budgeting process. "But at the same time, I don't think higher education can stand still while we address some of these things. We have to keep moving forward."
Blake said the final decision on funding would be made by the General Assembly in the spring.
University officials have stressed the college would not be built at the expense of the school's other programs.
But Radford President Donald Dedmon said in a recent statement that the college is "an initiative the commonwealth can't afford to pass up."
"The New College of Global Studies is an opportunity for Virginia - both from an educational and an economic development standpoint. I'm encouraged by the support we've received from virtually every sector - from state legislators and CEOs as well as faculty who have volunteered many hours to get this project off the ground. . . . It's especially gratifying that the plans are now moving along very rapidly."
Some $5 million for two new buildings for the Global College was included in the bond issue passed by Virginia voters last fall. The university cannot use that money for other programs, McDowell said.
Groundbreaking is set for spring.
"I think the message is, `Full speed ahead,' " Strohm said.
Strohm was picked for the $90,000-a-year provost's job from more than 200 applicants. She has a doctorate in education from the University of Maryland.
She has worked as a university administrator and teacher, and most recently was director of international services for a Richmond law firm.
Strohm now is in charge of an unbuilt college projected eventually to have 2,000 students. A pilot class is projected for 1995.
What those students will find is still anyone's guess.
Now folded into a small office complex in Preston Hall, the college - already four years in the making - will offer its first course in January.
Questions remain about curriculum. Prospective employers and students both are being queried about what the college should offer, Strohm said.
"We're within 60 days of seeing what our degree programs will be to start with," Strohm said.
In earlier interviews, Strohm has said the college will offer pilot courses to measure student interest and avoid later problems.
Students in the college also will take classes on the main campus, and have an area of concentration, or major, Strohm said.
But the course requirements will center on what prospective employers say they need, and not on tradition, Strohm said.
"Our curriculum is going to be performance-based and directed toward employment opportunities," Strohm said. "Students are going to walk out with a portfolio which shows that in college they've done many of the things they're going to have to do when they show up at the workplace."
Learning about other cultures will be a priority. Students at the college will probably be required to work or study abroad for a year, Strohm said. "But then, of course, how we're going to pay for that is a big question."
Other expected requirements:
Fluency in a foreign language. For one semester, students must live in a dormitory where only the language they are studying is spoken, said Strohm.
It could end up being the only semester a student is required to live at the college, which originally was envisioned as a kind of campus to itself on the edge of the university. By allowing students to live elsewhere for the rest of their education, Strohm said, the university could save money on dormitory costs.
Fluency in English. Strohm said real proficiency in English - oral and written - can't be taken for granted.
In fact, literacy in all aspects of American culture is critical to the mission of the college, Strohm said. Knowledge of American culture and history, not to mention the role the United States has played in world affairs, is central to understanding another culture, she said.
"They've got to know where they came from before they can learn about somewhere else," Strohm said.
by CNB