THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110032
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
It seemed like the next logical step for former U.S. Sen. Paul S. Trible Jr.
He had been on the Board of Visitors at Christopher Newport University for more than a year. He had just begun serving on the search committee for a new president for the Newport News school. And he had decided to teach a government course there in the spring.
Independently, he and his wife came up with the same idea.
``Rosemary said, `You've really fallen in love with the university,' '' Trible recalled. `` `I think you ought to be the new president.' ''
Trible, for his part, looked at the wish list of characteristics of the new president, and ``it occurred to me I just might qualify.''
So, during a board meeting last month, he threw his name into the race. He had one condition: He would serve only if the vote was unanimous. A week later, the board abruptly canceled the search and chose Trible. The news was announced last week on campus.
In a phone interview from his Washington office, Trible, 48, said he took the job because he yearned to return to public service after six years of practicing law.
A high priority for Trible is boosting the image of Christopher Newport, a small, public university with 4,500 students. In South Hampton Roads, the university is still sometimes confused with its neighbor, Thomas Nelson Community College, in Hampton.
``It's real disheartening,'' said Brooke McKee, a senior from Chesapeake who is the student body president. ``I know we're a diamond in the rough . . . but we keep getting looked over.''
Trible said his job ``will be to tell more people in Hampton Roads and throughout Virginia that Christopher Newport University is a very special place. More people need to know that at the university, we care deeply about our students and that our students benefit from superb teaching, small classrooms and the safest campus in Virginia.''
Trible will start work Jan. 2. His salary has yet to be set. He replaces Anthony R. Santoro, who announced earlier this year that he would leave the presidency and return to teaching history at the college.
Even before assuming the president's role, Trible hopes to craft a strategic plan for the school with the help of faculty and students. ``My sense,'' he said, ``is that for far too long, Christopher Newport University has been reacting to events rather than proactively looking for things to happen. Others have been defining our mission. But if you react to events, you're not in charge and you're not shaping your own destiny.''
Among Trible's goals are:
Securing more money. Christopher Newport receives $3,069 per student from the state, the fifth-lowest appropriation among the 15 state-supported four-year schools.
``We need to raise more money from public and private sources,'' he said. ``We'll engage new friends in Richmond and Washington.''
Attracting more students. He wants to boost enrollment to more than 6,000 - and entice more students from South Hampton Roads - by the year 2000. The university's enrollment has lagged behind predictions in recent years, said Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education.
``I would hope that Mr. Trible is able to increase enrollment,'' Davies said. ``It's a growing part of the state, and for them to serve the population on the Peninsula would be very positive.''
Adding buildings. Christopher Newport, a commuter school, opened its first dormitory in 1993. Trible would like to build another so that the university has 1,000 students living on campus.
Trible, who lives in Williamsburg, graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1968 and Washington & Lee University Law School in 1971.
He served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1983 and as U.S. senator from 1983 to 1989. He lost the Republican primary for the governor's seat in 1989.
Trible brings much-needed name recognition and clout to Christopher Newport. But he lacks experience working in colleges, aside from a semester in 1989 teaching at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Davies, the director of the state agency overseeing colleges, says it's a mixed blessing: ``The advantage is, you come into the work with a perspective that is not determined by years of working in the culture of the academy. The downside is you come into the job with a perspective that is not shaped by working in the academy, and you, therefore, have some learning to do.''
More important than his ``brushes with the academy,'' Trible said, life has provided him experiences ``that are essential to the success of this university. I know how to lead and how to shape success through communication and teamwork.''
Student and faculty leaders don't seem to mind getting a non-academic leader.
``I think we'll be thinking a lot bigger than we have in the past,'' said Robert Doane, a government professor who is president of the Faculty Senate. ``. . . In the 22 years I've been here, I'm more optimistic about the future of the university than I've ever been.''
McKee, the student president, said: ``Dr. Santoro did a wonderful job and developed the university. I think Paul is going to be the one who brings us out and puts us in the window.''
Trible will give up his current jobs as president of the Jefferson Group, a Washington consulting firm, and attorney with the Newport News law firm of Shuttleworth Ruloff & Giordano. He also will step down from the university's board.
But he still intends to teach his course, ``Leadership and Politics.'' ``You're going to see me walking around campus, listening, teaching, asking questions and being available,'' he said. ``That's essential for the success of any enterprise.''
So will it be easier dealing with contentious students and professors than bargaining with members of Congress? Trible gracefully sidestepped the question.
``I look forward to embarking on probably the most challenging and perilous chapter of my life,'' he said. ``I haven't been this excited since I was elected to the House of Representatives when I was 29.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color photo]
Paul Trible's Goals:
More money.
Christopher Newport receives $3,069 per student from the state,
the fifth lowest appropriation among the 15 state-supported
four-year schools.
More students.
He wants to boost enrollment to more than 6,000 - including more
students from South Hampton Roads - by the year 2000.
More buildings.
Christopher Newport, which is a commuter school, opened its first
dormitory in 1993. Trible would like to build another so that the
university has 1,000 students living on campus.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE INTERVIEW by CNB