DATE: Saturday, November 1, 1997            TAG: 9711010664

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

12TH STAFF MEMBER QUITS STATE EDUCATION PANEL SINCE JANUARY

The State Council of Higher Education, a once-stable agency overtaken by turmoil and a wave of resignations this year, on Friday lost its 12th staff member since January.

The latest departure is Michael McDowell, senior coordinator for external relations for nearly six years. He left to join Virginia Tech, where he'll promote the college's high-technology projects.

McDowell's move means that more than a quarter of the 43-member staff has left, nearly all after longtime agency director Gordon K. Davies was fired by board members in April. Most of the 12 haven't been replaced.

The agency oversees Virginia's college system and provides data and budget recommendations to the governor and General Assembly. Under Davies, the agency won strong legislative backing and national acclaim for, among other things, promoting ``restructuring'' at the colleges.

Supporters say it's too early to judge the effects of the exodus, but some worry if the agency will maintain its clout and reputation.

``It has always been a dependable body that you and your staff could call upon and have confidence in,'' said Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, who is co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and criticized Davies' ouster. ``When you keep hearing about people leaving and not being replaced, it leaves questions in your mind that they can function as well as they did in the past.''

Norfolk insurance executive George G. Phillips Jr. was among four council members who resigned in May to protest Davies' firing and what he called ``micromanagement'' of the agency. He believes that also is triggering the staff resignations.

``I think it's simply an indication of a lot of frustration on their part,'' he said. ``There are still some outstanding people left there, but they have also lost some good people, and I don't think that speaks well for what's going on there.''

But Norfolk lawyer John D. Padgett, the agency's vice chairman, said the changes will open the way for ``fresh faces and new ideas. Any time the captain of a football team leaves, you'll have some players that defect. I don't think it implies that the team is doing something wrong.'' Both Padgett and Timothy J. Sullivan, president of the College of William and Mary, said they hadn't seen a decline in the agency's day-to-day work.

McDowell, 37, said of his new job, ``I think information technology is going to be the driving force in Virginia in the next century, and I think Virginia Tech will be the unquestioned leader.'' But ``I think I join the rest of the staff in saying it's been hard to witness the incredible loss of talent in the last six months. But I think the agency will recover in time.''

The departures have included some of the agency's highest-ranking officials. Margaret A. Miller, who oversaw academic affairs, resigned to become president of the American Association for Higher Education. Donald J. Finley, a former state education secretary who led the agency's finance section, left to be executive director of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, a coalition of business leaders.

The agency staff developed a reputation as a tight-knit group intensely loyal to Davies. After his dismissal, the council members choose his longtime deputy, J. Michael Mullen, as interim director until they select a permanent replacement.

Genene M. Pavlidis is among the dozen people who left. A former senior academic affairs coordinator for the agency, she is chairwoman of the business division of Northern Virginia Community College's Alexandria campus.

Davies, she said, stressed what was best for students and gave his staff latitude. Under the new board members, ``I was no longer aligned with the philosophy that was being developed for running that unit . . ., the shift in what the council was paying attention to, that level of detail.''

Pavlidis will be replaced in December by Norfolk State University Dean Belinda Anderson. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Sen. Stanley C. Walker,

D-Norfolk, says the string of resignations ``leaves questions in

your mind. . . .'' KEYWORDS: RESIGNATION

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