ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996              TAG: 9604170075
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 

POMP AND SILLINESS?

LENGTH: Short :   28 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  GENE DALTON/Staff. It's been a few years since the 
          academic pomp and circumstance at Oxford and Cambridge universities 
          in England so inspired Gary Wamsley (at left, with banner) that he 
          decided to institute a Virginia Tech version.
             So it was Saturday that the academics of the Center of Public 
          Administration and Policy took plungers and tubas in hand and 
          marched from the Draper Road center to Owens Dining Hall during 
          their annual "High Table."
             "We like to make this something like a celebration of the life of
          the mind; at the same time, we don't want to take ourselves too 
          serious," Wamsley said.
             About 180 professors and center alumni participated in weekend 
          activities. Among those who joined Wamsley in the march to hear a 
          lecture on public policy and administration entitled, "Whither Us," 
          were Provost Peggy Meszaros (center) and center director James Wolf 
          (sporting the spiffy jester's cap). color.