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

DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995                   TAG: 9508230102
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENT                    PAGE: SW-60   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW RADFORD PRESIDENT, TECH OFFICIAL PREPARE FOR THEIR DUTIES

Virginia Tech students return this fall to find a new vice president for student affairs. Landrum "Lanny" Cross steps into the post for a 2 1/2-year appointment to replace Tom Goodale, who resigned in May and is headed for American University in Washington, D.C.

Cross expects to spend the first weeks of the semester talking to students - in the dorms and in the dining halls.

"I really need to be sure my understanding of student needs and concerns is pretty current," said Cross, who has worked in the student affairs office for 15 years.

"I sometimes feel in university administration, when we talk about student concerns, we mean the kind of things we think [students] should be concerned about," Cross said.

So while he fully expects to continue efforts to deal with alcohol problems and diversity issues, he's also wondering how students are being affected after years of budget cuts.

"Do they feel accepted here? Do they feel respected? Do they want more hours in the library? I want to know if students care about those things," Cross said.

Cross, who came to Tech from a post in the residence hall department at North Carolina State University, received his doctorate in counseling and student personnel from Tech. He and his wife, Linda Kay, have three sons.

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Radford University's new president, Douglas Covington, arrived June 1 to near-audible sighs of relief on campus.

It had been a long year at the 9,000-student university, marked by controversy after controversy. By contrast, the former president of historically black Cheyney University outside Philadelphia is a conciliator who listens - and won't be hurried.

He has made clear he intends to do a lot of listening to all university constituencies during the first weeks of his presidency. The native of Winston-Salem, N.C., also has had to jump right into the university's restructuring process, which was initially rejected by the state last winter.

The plan approved earlier this summer by the university board of visitors still may be refined, as Covington begins to exert his influence and develop a long-range plan for the university.

Covington and his wife, Bea, have two grown sons. He is the former chancellor of Winston-Salem State University and former president of Alabama A&M University in Huntsville. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate in psychology, both from Ohio State University.

by CNB