Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994 TAG: 9404160018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Setting a vision and leading a community of scholars, staff and 24,000 students into the 21st Century would be a complex and daunting mission during the sunniest of times.
But Torgersen steps up to the plate at a time when state budget cutbacks and public skepticism about higher education will force significant changes at Virginia Tech. As the university's 14th president, he must use the discipline of these cuts to shape a more effective institution while inspiring the faculty and staff with a sense of mission rather than a sense of diminished resources.
When his predecessor, James McComas, was newly installed, state budget cuts were a matter for debate.
Today, they're a matter of fact.
State Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, made it clear in his address at Torgersen's inauguration that it's a new day - one in which state financing for higher education is not going to grow as it did during the '80s, where faculty are expected to go beyond their traditional lecture courses to develop more innovative, active ways for their students to learn.
Yet Torgersen sounds energized by these demands. "To hold down costs and improve quality at the same time . . . is a challenge I accept," he told the audience of state legislators, faculty, students and townspeople at his inauguration.
It won't be simple. Morale and staff energy normally plummet in times of budget constraints and job cuts. As the university restructures, many professors are asking, "What's going to happen to my job? My department?"
But somehow, the general mood on campus and in the community seems one of optimism and expectation that mirrors Torgersen's own excitement about the challenge ahead.
Here is an engineer who in the past 20 years has shaped the university's college of engineering into one of the top 25 in the nation, a top academic who also knows how to work the old-boy network of legislative power and money in this state.
More than that, you've got to like this guy.
His low-key style, his humor, even the unpretentious way he dealt with his own inauguration will serve him well at a time when he must call on others to make changes and sacrifices.
His job will also require diplomacy as he continues projects started by his predecessor, such as the Hotel Roanoke and the "smart road," which are straining the alliance between two of the university's most important constituencies - the New River and the Roanoke valleys.
He already has begun the crucial task, however, of improving the university's relationships in Richmond. By showing the university's good intentions to restructure and cut costs where possible, he can enhance the university's standing with the General Assembly and its chances of receiving its fair share of state dollars in the future.
It's hard to overstate the significance of Torgersen's mission in the years ahead.
Anyone who has seen a bright, but lackadaisical student suddenly come to life in the academic rigors of Tech's graduate programs or under the inspired teaching of a professor knows the impact the university can have on individual lives.
In turn, these individuals, graduating from Tech by the thousands, will be driving the state's economy in the years ahead - if Tech succeeds in its mission.
Our expectations are no higher than those of one worried parent quoted by Torgersen in his inaugural comments. Writing at the turn of the century, this parent allowed: "Your school is supposed to build character so I am sending you my son. I do not want him to smoke, chew, cuss, loaf or run around. He does all these things now."
by CNB