Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408250017
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS PAGE: 2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Here's what happened while you were gone:
When Radford University students left for the summer, they may have done so by a roundabout route - the Memorial Bridge, closed April 21 because of structural problems and remained closed until May 18. When it reopened at 6:17 a.m., vehicles at both ends were waiting.
To be on the safe side, Pulaski radio station WPSK invited the Rev. Tom Magri of St. Jude Roman Catholic Church in Radford to bless the bridge during rush hour Wednesday morning. A disc jockey broadcasting from the scene also handed out "I survived Memorial Bridge" bumper stickers.
The bridge carries U.S. 11 between Radford and Pulaski County.
Usually, when you try to describe the location of your campus to Aunt Gladys, you say, "It's near where 'Dirty Dancing' was filmed."
This year, try saying it's a little northeast of where they filmed "Lassie." The movie was made in Tazewell last school year. It opened nationally in July and it shows real live Southwest Virginians jumping on tractors and hanging out in front of the country store. There's lots of scenery, too.
Speaking of movies, a group of Blacksburg citizens is organizing a campaign to revive the once-handsome Lyric Theatre, which for decades drew patrons to College Avenue to see the movie of the day.
Dormant for three years, the 64-year-old theater sits in darkness and dust. Its supporters would like to refurbish this piece of town history so foreign and avant-garde films, recitals, plays and lectures can take center stage.
The "Bring Back the Lyric" Committee began meeting a couple of months ago and invited nearly 200 people to a reception July 28 at The Grove, the home of Virginia Tech President Paul Torgersen and his wife, Dot, to kick off a campaign to revitalize the theater.
Gibson Worsham, architect and chairman of the New River Valley Preservation League, said he wants to "restore the building to as close as it was when it was built." But the effort will take community support, he said. People interested in helping should contact the Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg, P.O. Box 233, Blacksburg, Va. 24063.
Maurice Deshazo, quarterback for Virginia Tech, had arthroscopic surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder this summer to remove bursal tissue that was causing pain, according to Dr. Marc Siegel, team surgeon who performed the surgery. The surgery is not expected to affect his ability to play.
Bill Foster, Virginia Tech's head basketball coach, was assistant coach for the U.S. men's basketball team this summer at the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia. The team won the bronze medal. Head coach for the team was Southern Cal's George Raveling. Foster was one of two assistants.
Look, up in the sky. It's a bird; it's a plane. It's Super Wal-Mart - probably.
Town Council this summer voted for a rezoning that opened the door for a 400,000-square-foot shopping center on Peppers Ferry Road.
No one has positively confirmed that the shopping center will include a Wal-Mart Superstore, but town officials have been fielding phone calls and queries from a Bentonville, Ark., engineering firm. Bentonville is Wal-Mart headquarters.
The zoning request was filed April 20 by William "Bill" Matthews, a real estate developer who has been a force in several commercial projects, including the nearby Market Place shopping center.
Matthews asked to rezone 9.5 acres for business use, to go with the adjacent 17 acres already zoned for business and for which he is agent.
Radford University hosted a "summit" of scholars from Russia and the United States to grapple with questions surrounding the catastrophic population changes within the former Soviet Union. The event, Aug. 6 and 7, was jointly sponsored by Radford, Dartmouth College, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Participants included the likes of Emil Payin, President Boris Yeltsin's advisor on ethnic issues, Steve Pontius, a Radford University dean, Gregory Ioffe, a geography professor at Radford and several professors from Dartmouth.
Virginia Tech Professor Carl Pfeiffer spent four days of his summer vacation at Cape Canaveral, waiting for his Japanese newts to come back from outer space. Two of them died during their nearly 15-day trip on the space shuttle Columbia. Two others survived and were later sacrificed for testing. New eggs were laid during the trip. Pfieffer and his colleagues will spend the next few months figuring out what weightlessness might do to new life.
A number of new deans were appointed this summer after extensive searches. Following are the people who made our summer dean's list:
At Radford University, BRUCE K. BLAYLOCK took over as dean of the College of Business and Economics, replacing Donald W. Kroeber, who resigned to return to full-time teaching. An old Virginia Tech management science teacher, Blaylock was dean of Western Connecticut State University for the past five years. He holds his doctorate from Georgia State University, where he penned a dissertation on decision-making under conditions of risk
WILBUR W. STANTON moves across the state, from Old Dominion University, to his first deanship. He'll be in charge of Radford's Graduate College, leaving behind posts as a marketing professor and member of the ODU graduate faculty. He also was chairman of the marketing department and associate dean and director of graduate studies. He holds a doctorate from Georgia State University, with specialties in marketing, decision sciences and applied statistics.
JAMES NICELY has shifted jobs, part of the domino effect of former president Donald N. Dedmon's departure. The former interim dean of the Graduate College now serves as acting dean of the Waldron College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Nicely holds a Ph.D. in speech sciences from the University of Illinois
KATHLEEN GREEN, former dean of the nursing school, has moved up to become acting vice-president for academic affairs. Green, who holds a Ph.D. in audiology from Syracuse University, came to Radford in 1989 from her former post as associate dean of the Division of Professional Studies at the State University of New York, Cortland.
At Virginia Tech, in June, F. WILLIAM STEPHENSON was appointed dean of the College of Engineering, a prestigious post that was vacated a year ago with the departure of Wayne Clough. Stephenson was promoted from his position as head of the Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering. He has been a professor at Virginia Tech since 1978. Prior to that, he taught at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, and the University of Rochester in New York. He is co-author of two books, the author of another, and served for two years as the Circuits and Systems Editor for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers "Circuits and Devices" Magazines. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom.
PATRICIA K. EDWARDS became Tech's second woman dean when she was named to head the College of Architecture and Urban Studies in June.
Edwards, who holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Tech, had served as the department's interim dean for more than a year. She is a professor of urban affairs and planning, has chaired the graduate urban affairs program, and has worked on a slate of regional and international planning programs and projects.
by CNB