Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993 TAG: 9311270189
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On July 1, his job was swallowed in a merger with the Animal Science Department, and now he's the acting head of the new Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences. He's also waiting for someone else to come along to fill that post.
"I will be moving back into the faculty doing poultry management nutrition research and teaching. Under the new system, it is more attractive to me," said Wolford.
The "new system" may change life for lots of people at Tech, as the university follows the lead of the agriculture college in a move to retrofit operations. Under a plan called Phase II, academic programs may merge, classes may be dropped, computers will be accessed, and, in general, the way Tech does business will evolve into what administrators hope is a meaner, leaner and more effective system.
The idea is to do better with less - a concept implemented by countless businesses.
"When we were going through these four rounds of budget cutbacks, we knew we'd have to go through something like this," said University Provost Fred Carlisle.
"The real focus is on undergraduate education," he said. "Instructional technology. We're looking for administrating efficiency and improvement. Over time, we might consolidate administrative services or even academic areas. In that way, eventually, we'll have fewer positions."
Similar echoes are being heard on other campuses.
James Madison University in Harrisonburg is moving quickly through a sweeping reorganization that could go further than Tech's. Last week, the college voted to drop graduation hour requirements from 128 to 120 so students can graduate in four years, said campus spokesman Fred Hilton.
The effort will shift students into more upper-level classes, even as the university's six colleges try to cut classes by 15 percent.
"Rather than have classes that attract five students every semester, we might offer it once every three semesters," Hilton said.
At the same time, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond voted last week to embark on its own plan to streamline administration and eliminate obsolete programs, said Gordon Davies, director of the State Council for Higher Education.
On July 1, four departments serving fewer than 100 students were dropped at George Mason University, according to a spokesman there.
"It's been a long, hard four years, but I think there's movement out there," Davies said.
State budget cuts first proposed in 1989 propelled Tech's agriculture school into its reorganization, before Phase II. Now, as the rest of the university spends the next two years shifting operations under Phase II, it might want to take a page from the agriculture college's lesson book.
"Our college lost $10 million of state funding," said Andy Swiger, dean of the College of Agriculture. "We lost the ability to hire the equivalent of 300 people: 75 regular faculty, the equivalent of 100 [extension] agents. Staff. Most through attrition, although about 40 staff were sent from state [funded employment] to grant [funded employment], many of which expired."
Change was the only way to make the department work. This semester, the Animal and Poultry Science Department and the Biochemistry and Anaerobic Microbiology Department debuted.
In all, $250,000 has been saved by merging the four departments, said spokesman Charlie Stott.
"We had two small departments that didn't justify department status, and they're a good fit of disciplines," Swiger said.
Within Animal and Poultry Science, nine fewer faculty are at work, but the student body remains right around 360, said Stott.
"The same basic training in poultry science will be there as an option in the new department," Swiger said. "The student can really get the same training: genetics, nutrition, and it includes four other animals."
Change is afoot in administrative-business areas at Tech, too. With some luck, streamlining could start with payroll processing.
"We have 6,000 employees. It takes 17 days for the paper to move from point of entry to payroll. We need six signatures," said Minnis E. Ridenour, the university's executive vice president.
"We're trying to trim it down to one person. If we could do this, we'd free up, to redirect, $350,000."
Detailed Phase II plans should be ready by spring, say Tech administrators.
In the meantime, the General Assembly will debate budget cuts expected to be somewhat less than the 15 percent initially announced by Gov. Douglas Wilder. What changes those might bring remain to be seen, say administrators.
In the meantime, there is a big drawback to reorganizing.
"People don't like change very much," said Swiger.
They get sentimental.
"It's like school consolidation. They say, `My son can never graduate from poultry science, like I did.' "
by CNB