Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501260013
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: NRV-26 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
But with its loss, many local business people fear they've lost a distinction that could have set the New River Valley apart from the many regions fighting for new industries.
Others, meanwhile, are trying to put a positive spin on the college's demise, hoping that the community will reap some benefits from what was begun before Gov. George Allen eliminated funding for the program in his proposed budget. The university's governing board decided this month not to fight to keep the program.
Since its inception a few years ago, the new college was seen as a draw in courting businesses to come to the New River Valley. Now that the new college has succumbed to Allen's budget cuts, there's one less goodie for local economic developers to dangle before prospective corporations.
"I saw it as bringing a sense of international focus and presence," said Franklyn Moreno, executive director of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance. It would have placed the valley "in the mainstream of what's going on in the economy,"
"Placing a facility like that here, amid international companies, next door to Virginia Tech with a worldwide reputation, sort of elevated the New River Valley," he said.
Meredith Strohm, provost for the new college, came to Radford from the Richmond law firm of Hunton & Williams, where she had set up its international offices. She sees a lost source of "international sophistication" that could have helped Southwest Virginia, making it "open for business," she said recently, borrowing a phrase from the governor.
Obviously, support for the college was not unanimous - even on the Radford campus. Three professors who taught international relations at the university recently praised Allen in an editorial in this newspaper for killing the program, repeating state officials' criticism of its "lack of rigorous academic focus."
Strohm said she spent hours networking with Southwest Virginia businesses, including 300 that had international ties, so that new college graduates would have had mentors, or even real-world teachers, when the doors of the school opened next fall.
Although the first priority for college administrators had been developing an undergraduate curriculum, businesses saw some benefits. The school sponsored an exchange program with Spanish students last summer, for instance, allowing the students and local businesses to network. The college also would have offered weekend seminars in Pacific Rim languages. In keeping with the program's ethic, courses at the new college might have been presented on video tape. Or CD-ROM. Or maybe even the Internet. The business community could have attended and learned.
That is now gone. But with $2 million already poured into the new college, Radford administrators are eager to salvage parts of the taxpayers' investment into experimental education. Meetings have begun to see if the university can incorporate some of its original ideas into, say, a traditional business degree.
Hiawatha Nicely, an executive with Pulaski's Magnox, Inc., has worked on economic development in the New River Valley for years.
"I clearly believe that addition to Radford University would have put Radford University on the map," he said.
And "putting Radford University on the map" only means boosting one of what Nicely calls the New River Valley's "three shining stars:" Radford, Virginia Tech and New River Community College.
"We have always worked to showcase them in whatever manner a prospect, by any stretch, could use one ... of those educational facilities," said Nicely.
Not only are the three schools among the biggest employers in the area, but they can turn around programs that benefit local industry. A case in point might have been the new college's seminars in languages frequently used by companies that trade with the United States.
From New River to Roanoke, the region served by the New Century Council, the new college might have added "a dimension to an international business education that would have added strength to the region," according to director Beverly Fitzpatrick, who said he could not comment extensively because his organization receives state funds.
Saying anyone familiar with economic development efforts "understands we have a lot to do to be competitive in the marketplace," Fitzpatrick pointed out that programs like the new college add an edge.
Radford's Republican state senator, Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, still thinks the new college concepts will fly. They just have to become part of the curriculum at Radford University proper.
He sees the Allen administration's actions as an effort to realign the new college concepts in a more traditional fashion that might appeal to more businesses.
Economic development still will grow from the new college investment, he said.
"It is essential in my mind that we be able to get on the cutting edge, maintain the cutting edge, of technology. We have got to do that for the western part of the state. Radford University, whether you call it the new college or international studies, has got to be one of those things that's a high mark," he said.
"Otherwise, people are going to think, 'There's nothing out there but coal mines,'" he said.
by CNB