THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110296
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
To George and Marcus Dragas, family is all-important. It's central to their culture. So it was no surprise that these sons of Greek immigrants were surrounded by sons, daughters, grandchildren and other kinfolk Friday at the dedication of Old Dominion University's new Dragas International Center.
The Dragas brothers gave $400,000 to fund a facility dedicated to strengthening the bonds of a bigger family - the family of man.
George Dragas is chief executive officer and Marcus Dragas is president of the Dragas Companies, a Virginia Beach real estate firm.
They and their two sisters are American-born, but their parents felt it was important to forge a deep appreciation for their heritage. So in 1938, all four children returned with their mother to Greece for what was intended to be a two-year stay. Their father, who worked in the dairy business, stayed behind in Norfolk to support them.
``They wanted us to go back and learn the language and get to know our family,'' Marcus Dragas, 68, the oldest of the four, said Friday.
But then World War II broke out, stranding them in the old country. The two-year stay stretched to seven years. They lost contact with their father - and the support he had been providing. They survived with help from their extended family.
Finally in 1945, with the hostilities easing, they got a telegram with tragic news: Their father had been killed in an auto accident three years before.
They returned to Norfolk and Marcus Dragas, then 18, went to work to support the family. Despite working two jobs, he found time to attend night classes at what was then the two-year Norfolk division of the College of William and Mary.
``It was one building then,'' he recalled.
George Dragas, six years younger, attended the Norfolk school, ODU's predecessor, for two years and went on to graduate from Virginia Tech. More recently he served eight years on the ODU board of visitors, the final year as rector.
``This has always been a warm place for us,'' Marcus Dragas said.
Now, the Dragas brothers are hoping their gift will help propel their alma mater into a leadership role in international education. Because of its proximity to the Hampton Roads port, the Norfolk naval complex and NATO's U.S. headquarters, they think it's a natural.
ODU now has about 1,000 international students - nearly 6 percent of the student body.
The Dragas Center, at 49th Street and Bluestone Avenue, will provide a central place for ODU's international programs, including study abroad and foreign student admissions and services.
JoAnn McCarthy, director of international programs, said the university wants to expand those offerings in the belief that in today's shrinking world, it is more crucial than ever that students understand the languages, values and priorities of other peoples.
In particular, McCarthy said, ODU wants to offer more opportunities for American students to study abroad - and to find the funding to make it affordable.
``We want to make it accessible to everyone, not just the elite,'' she said.
ODU will also seek to recruit more foreign students, she added. Not only do they enhance the diversity of the campus, they also tend to be high-achieving students, she said - ``so foreign students actually nudge up the overall quality of the student body.''
The urge to help that process along came easily to the Dragas brothers.
``Old Dominion is such a cog in the wheel of this whole Hampton Roads area,'' George Dragas said. ``Not to support it, those of us that can, would almost be a travesty.'' MEMO: FOREIGN STUDENTS
International students as a percentage of student body at state
public colleges and universities, fall 1995:
George Mason 12.2%
Virginia Tech 7.9%
Va. Commonwealth 6.0%
Old Dominion 5.9%
U.Va. 5.8%
William & Mary 4.0%
James Madison 3.5%
VMI 2.8%
Radford 2.6%
Norfolk State 1.3%
Source: State Council of Higher Education ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JIM WALKER, The Virginian-Pilot
With brother Marcus looking on, right, George Dragas, left,
introduces granddaughter Grace Cole Weaver to Old Dominon University
President James V. Koch. The Dragases gave $400,000 to ODU Friday.
by CNB