
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 9, 1994                   TAG: 9411090051
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW ADMISSION GUIDELINES AT RADFORD

Radford University will unveil new admissions guidelines Thursday as the first step in its journey to improve academic standards.

Among the three-pronged admissions approach will be one that admits students on a conditional basis, said Kathleen Green, acting vice president for academic affairs.

Those students will be expected to "do some foundation work - perhaps in the summer prior to fall enrollment, earn certain grades, bring their skill level up," Green said.

The students "will be required to perform at a certain level before they're permitted to take university coursework," Green said. "This will, in essence, mean all students entering the university will be prepared at a minimum level."

She declined to elaborate on specifics of the plan. Freshmen entering in the fall of '95 must meet the new guidelines so they must be disseminated right away to high schools throughout the state.

"We are just getting into the heaviest part of the recruitment season," Green said. "We need to move quickly."

Acting President Charles Owens must officially approve the admissions guidelines, which the Board of Visitors will discuss at its Thursday meeting.

The standards were hammered out by a committee appointed over the summer, part of the fallout of the departure of former Radford President Donald Dedmon. Owens, formerly vice president for academic affairs, stepped into the president's role on an interim basis and immediately said he would work to get rid of Radford's image as a "party school" and improve academic standards.

SAT scores for entering Radford freshmen stood at 888 out of a high of 1600 in 1992.

While Radford administrators said the school has admissions guidelines, they apparently have not been codified.

Green said quantitative measures will be attached to the three admissions categories. And, she said, admitting students on a conditional basis will benefit the university in the long run.

"The chances of those students eventually being successful are a lot higher than admitting students the way we do now - without requiring they do anything to improve their academic performance prior to being admitted," Green said.

by CNB