THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260595
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Old Dominion University's president, James V. Koch, announced Thursday that he will take a one-semester paid leave in the fall of 1995 to teach in Australia and write a book.
``It's an all-consuming job,'' Koch, 51, said in an interview. ``After nine years as a president, it seemed appropriate to me to do something else for a couple of months.''
The leave, he told faculty members in a speech Thursday, will allow him to ``renew and refresh myself so that I will be better able to maintain my long-range effectiveness as president.''
The move, he said, also reflects his desire to spend the rest of his career at ODU.
``I'm not going to leave ODU and become a president somewhere else,'' he said in the interview. ``When I'm finished being a president, I'm going to teach economics at ODU, so I need to maintain my knowledge base to continue to teach and do research.''
Koch said he will be away from September to December 1995. He will teach economics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and work on a book on ``the university of the 21st century.'' He will also spend two weeks in Japan, lecturing on higher education and economics.
Koch came to Old Dominion in 1990 from the University of Montana. He said the ODU board members agreed to let him accrue vacation time and sick leave for a paid one-semester leave. Koch makes nearly $135,000 a year.
Koch said he has taken about one week of vacation a year, compared with the four weeks that would be standard for college presidents.
The university's Board of Visitors will appoint a temporary replacement, he said. The likely choice will be the provost, Jo Ann Gora, who is the chief administrator under Koch.
Paul J. Champagne, a professor of management, said he understood Koch's need for a break: ``He probably needs some time away. He's been faced with budget problems every moment from the time he's walked in the door.''
In his speech, Koch said:
``For better or for worse, I have never been a president of an institution whose state financial support was increasing. Life as a president is a rugged, all-consuming, draining experience when cutbacks are the constant order of the day.''
ODU foresees a cut in state aid of up to $5 million in the 1995-96 year. But Koch said the decisions on how to handle the reduction will be made before he leaves.
``I'll be back,'' he told the professors, ``even if there are more cuts.'' by CNB