|
Following
the announcement of a selection of an executive search
firm to provide a new CIT president, Newstrom
said: "CIT has a very straightforward mission that
will fullfill our vision to make the Commonwealth a
global center of innovation and achievement. We believe
technology extension ultimately can benefit every
citizen in each community. Our new president will be
charged to see that
"In
carrying out its endeavors, the CIT president will work
with companies, entrepreneurs, university faculty and
other members of the research community, including our
partners from federal laboratories; and members of
technology and economic development-related
organizations," Newstrom said. "CIT's role
almost always involves uniting disparate resources and
talents in an initiative leading toward a specific
benefit and goal. At the same time, the new president
will have to be able to articulate both the goals and
the journey to our legislators and citizens."
In a recent column, “Strong-arming Armstrong,” I
took Newstrom to task for the way in which he fired the
previous CIT president Anne
Armstrong, a loyal and respected state employee.
Whatever you think of his people skills, you have to
credit Newstrom for moving quickly and forcefully to
redefine CIT’s mission.
Indeed, one can only hope that Virginia’s
other cabinet secretaries act as decisively as Newstrom
as they carry out the latest round of budget cuts
ordered by Gov. Mark R. Warner.
Mushy, share-the-pain budget cuts diminish the
effectiveness of state agencies. It takes real
leadership to re-think an agency’s mission to focus on
core priorities.
If
You Snooze, You Lose
In
the August 12 issue I highlighted a Virginia Tech
initiative, still in the conceptual stages, to create a
Food Nutrition and Health Institute that would develop
ways to make food healthier and safer at every step from
the farm to the kitchen table. (“Cow
College Transformed.”) Among other benefits, the
initiative would stimulate creation of value-added
agricultural products that would help farmers and spur Virginia’s
food processing industries, backbones of the state’s
rural economy.
Alert
reader Sara E. Johnson of Washington,D.C.,
noted that Ohio
is
pursuing a similar initiative. Ohio’s
Foods
of the Future program, a government-
academic
collaboration, is promoting the commercialization of
“functional foods” – foods designed to address
health concerns – with the goal of strengthening the
state’s food industry. Likewise, Ohio’s Center
for Innovative Food Technology works with food
processors, industry equipment manufacturers and
suppliers, university researchers and government
agencies on industry-driven projects relating to food
safety and quality.
Optimistically,
Johnson notes that Ohio’s
programs demonstrate what’s possible here in Virginia. The
pessimist in me wonders if Virginia
has
lost the opportunity to achieve national leadership.
Virginia Tech requested $1 million from the General
Assembly earlier this year to get the multi-disciplinary
program started but got turned down flat due to the
budget shortfall. Indeed, Virginia Tech’s agricultural
research and extension programs took a seven percent
cut. The budget has deteriorated since then, so there
would seem to be little chance of getting any funding
even next year.
If
Virginia Tech is really serious about this initiative,
it may have to reallocate internal resources to get it
going.
-- August 26,
2002
|
