THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170470
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Virginia Wesleyan College's Board of Trustees on Wednesday added a new project to the school's ambitious $25 million campaign: a $4 million student center.
``We are still growing this college,'' President William T. ``Billy'' Greer Jr. said, ``and one of the ingredients that we think we need is a place for students to gather. We are seeking to establish a community on campus; we are not just a filling station.''
Greer envisions the student center including a food court, offices for student publications, weight room and pool. The student center would connect the Boyd Dining Center with the college's gymnasium. Wesleyan has more than 1,500 students.
The campaign would also fund a new academic building, an administration building, soccer field and dozens of scholarships. The fund drive, announced a year ago, has already raised $13 million, Greer said.
Greer said officials don't know whether they'll need to increase the amount targeted for the fund drive to accommodate the student center. To help cover the costs, he said, they will reduce the size of the academic and administration buildings.
``For the first time in my professional life,'' Greer said, ``I saw and heard faculty members say, `We will gladly give up some square footage in our offices if that will assure us of being able to create a student center on campus.' ''
The first building scheduled for construction in the program will be the academic building, which Greer expects to be finished in mid-1998. The student center will be next.
In recent years, several colleges across Virginia have built or expanded student centers to improve campus life and boost enrollment. In 1993, Old Dominion University finished a $12 million addition to Webb Center, including a food court and 11 new meeting rooms.
At Virginia Wesleyan, Jerry Hoyt, a recent graduate from Virginia Beach, said: ``I was a reporter on the student newspaper for two years; one of the biggest criticisms I heard was the lack of a place for students to gather for functions. The addition of a student center . . . will unify the student body - commuters and residents.''
The board also approved a new major in general science. ``It's a degree that will give a student who goes through that program more flexibility in terms of what they're going to do with their lives after they leave us,'' Greer said. ``Not every student is going to head off into graduate school or medical school.''
Greer also announced that the college had hired Katherine M. Loring, from Syracuse University, to be its new director of adult studies. She will replace Dorothy ``Dot'' Hinman, the longtime director, who is moving to Chicago.
Hinman, Greer said, ``has taken a small adult studies program and given it a life of its own.'' The program had more than 370 students this year. by CNB