Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 9, 1993 TAG: 9312090221
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Superlatives were the order of the day Wednesday as word filtered out that Virginia Tech's respected dean of students, Beverly Sgro, had been appointed secretary of education by Gov.-elect George Allen.
Even Tech President James McComas, formally retiring next month and undergoing cancer treatment, weighed in from Columbus, Ohio.
"He's delighted," said Adele McComas, whose husband oversaw the university when the dean of students position was re-established, and Sgro installed, in 1989. In a statement, McComas said Sgro "has a rich and varied background in dealing with student issues and problems in higher education, especially at a very practical level."
Sgro's appointment was announced Wednesday at a Richmond news conference, along with those of Will Bryant of Fairfax County as deputy secretary of education and William Bosher Jr. of Henrico County as superintendent of public instruction.
The new team is expected to focus on parental and community involvement and "not be meddling, mandating and supervising," said Allen. At the same time, they'll establish "rigorous academic standards" for public schools in reading, writing, math, science and history, and institute a system to test individual students' levels of learning every other year.
"My experience as dean of students has made me very aware of the current concerns of our students, their parents, our colleges and universities and our taxpayers," said Sgro, 52.
Allen repeated his promise to limit tuition increases for incoming freshmen at state schools to the rate of inflation. He said he chose a secretary of education with a background at the college level to complement the superintendent of public instruction, responsible for oversight of the state's primary and secondary schools.
The significance of Allen's action - to appoint a lifelong educator as secretary - did not escape local notice.
Sgro has taught for years, advised fraternities and sororities, promoted women's issues on campus, and even helped Blacksburg Town Manager Ron Secrist ease tensions when the Ku Klux Klan marched through town in 1990.
"She's not easily led. She's a good thinker and listener. Anyone who knows the commonwealth and sees an appointment from a senior university has got to be encouraged. First and foremost, Bev Sgro is an educator," said Tom Goodale, Tech's vice president for student affairs, who tapped Sgro as dean following her long years working in student affairs.
With budgets shrinking and universities increasingly being forced to rethink how they teach, "higher education will be represented at the table," said Tech's acting president, Paul Torgersen - who once coached a basketball team with Sgro's husband.
"It's different, being and living on a campus - talking with students, meeting with faculty on a day-by-day basis. I think her sense of what a university is is what's exciting about her appointment."
During her four years as dean, Sgro has been highly visible as the university's point-person on student-related issues.
"She's one of the ones that looks at our diversity and treats it with respect, really paying attention to the women's groups on campus," said senior Brooke Kimmel of the campus Women's Leadership Coalition.
"We recently had a roundtable on [women's] issues on campus, and she gave us her support for lighting on campus, and a proposal for a women's center in the future."
Sgro, who holds master's and doctoral degrees from Tech, has worked in a variety of the university's administrative offices since 1981. An athlete who has coached women's tennis at Tech, Sgro also worked as tennis pro at Blacksburg Country Club.
She and her husband, Joe, chairman of the Tech's department of psychology, joined the Tech community more than 20 years ago, where they raised children Jennifer, now a Hollins College junior, and her older brother, Anthony, named this week to the Allen transition team.
Blacksburg Police Chief Don Carey credited Sgro with making his job easier by ensuring that students had to answer not only to the police for criminal violations, but to the dean's office as well.
"Over time, students began to realize as a group that misconduct and misbehavior are a serious matter and could affect their academic careers," said Carey, who reciprocated by speaking to parents at Sgro's revamped freshman orientation.
"I'm absolutely delighted," said Goodale - who had just hung up from a conversation with his employee, who apologized because she couldn't tell him her news sooner.
"She is highly thought of," said Torgersen.
"An extremely competent administrator," added Secrist.
"An educational visionary," declared Mary Louise Leipheimer, head of Middleburg's Foxcroft School, where Sgro is chairwoman of the board of trustees.
Concluded student leader Kimmel: "I'd say it's an extreme gain for the state, and an extreme loss for Tech."
Staff writer Rob Eure contributed to this report.
by CNB