ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604160017
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A massive lobbying effort by Southwest Virginia legislators and others preserved a $7.5 million Radford University nursing and health services building this week as part of a $163 million bond issue approved earlier by the 1996 legislature.
Gov. George Allen called university President Douglas Covington Wednesday night and reassured Covington that he would not veto the funding, as supporters of the project had feared.
Covington said Thursday the governor told him he was seeking ways to reduce the capital appropriations budget in order to put less strain on the capital debt capacity.
"So I knew that this was a project that was on the bubble, and he indicated to me that he had decided to endorse the funding of this project and not to veto it," Covington said. "We are extremely grateful to the governor for making what might have been a difficult decision."
Covington said he told Allen that his decision would not only benefit the university, but do much to provide well-qualified health care professionals in this part of the state.
Last year, Allen did not recommend a previously approved $2 million operating budget for the proposed College of Global Studies at Radford. The university's Board of Visitors voted not to fight him, leading to the loss of the college altogether.
But board members and others, including representatives of the New Century Council, city of Radford, Radford Chamber of Commerce, and corporate and health care officials, joined the Southwest Virginia legislative delegation this time to keep funding for the Waldron College of Nursing and Health Sciences. State Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, and Del. Tommy Baker, R-Pulaski County, led the legislative effort.
"Both Bo and I pursued every avenue available to us to make sure the governor fully understood the importance of this project to Radford University, the citizens of Radford and the entire New River Valley," Baker said.
"We worked every angle we could," he said. "I pretty much called in as many markers as I could ... and it paid off."
An architect to design the 62,000-square-foot building is to be hired in August. Construction bids would be sought in November 1997, with construction starting in January 1998, and being scheduled for completion by July 1999.
Covington said the college of nursing and health sciences is currently housed in various places, including Davis Hall and temporary buildings on Clement Street. "We have programs that need to be integrated and ... in close proximity," he said.
He said 100 percent of its graduates have passed state nursing license examinations in the last two years, and the college is accredited by the National League of Nursing. Its one problem has been the university's ability to house the program, he said.
The building also will house some other programs that have been existing in cramped quarters, he said.
Covington said the new building will allow for cooperative efforts between the college and a new comprehensive hospital planned for Radford in the near future, in training, demonstration programs, research and public service. "This is another reason why timing is so important to us."
He said the facility will bring more private-sector funding to the college, which already has a $2 million scholarship endowment, and attract even more qualified students.
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