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Virginians
of the Year
Fifteen
women and men used the challenges of 2002 to show
Virginians what resilience, commitment and
leadership are all about.
Selecting
Virginians
of the Year, even for a Kosmos-sized piece of
Bacon's Rebellion, requires one to seek out
candidates with vision, courage, honesty,
leadership and accomplishment. Reviewing the
challenges and events of 2002 brings the 15 women
and men who lead the senior colleges and
universities of the Commonwealth right to the top
of the list.
The
selection process was straightforward. Standing
where budget deceit and real numbers collide,
where quality education competes with passing
fancy and where political pressures whittle down
truth, 13 presidents, one superintendent and one
chancellor were honest in putting the difficult
financial and quality choices squarely to their
students, faculty, staff and boards of visitors.
Not
only did these leaders of four-year institutions
of higher education adjust on the fly to record
reductions in their operating budgets three
separate times in the last 12 months, they led the
campaign to approve an historic bond referendum to
boost capital investment in research and classroom
facilities. More than seven out of ten voters in
November found the case they made for excellence
and improvement compelling. They also brought 2002
Nobel Prize winners to George Mason University and
Virginia Commonwealth University.
The
University of Virginia's John Casteen sums up
their commitment to excellence as "a process,
a mode of thinking, and an ongoing exercise in
planning and improvement." Virginia State
University's Eddie Moore summarizes the efforts of
these higher education leaders as combining
"community service and the pursuit of
knowledge." So here are the 2002
Kosmos Virginians of the Year winners in
alphabetical order.
William
M. Anderson, Jr., President, Mary Washington
College
Josiah
Bunting, III, Superintendent, Virginia Military
Institute
John
T. Casteen, III, President, University of Virginia
Patricia
Picard Cormier, President, Longwood University
Douglas
Covington, President, Radford University
Stephen
H. Kaplan, Chancellor, University of Virginia's
College at Wise
Marie
V. McDemmond, President, Norfolk State University
Alan
G. Merten, President, George Mason University
Eddie
N. Moore, Jr., President, Virginia State
University
Linwood
H. Rose, President, James Madison University
Roseann
Runte, President, Old Dominion University
Charles
W. Steger, President, Virginia Tech
Timothy
J. Sullivan, President, College of William &
Mary
Eugene
P. Trani, President, Virginia Commonwealth
University
Paul
S. Trible, President, Christopher Newport
University
Individually,
these presidents, superintendent and chancellor
are extraordinarily successful men and women as
even a glance at their biographies proves.
Together, they are as smart and experienced and
accomplished set of leaders and advisors as any
Virginian could want.
President
Anderson is a native of South Boston and an
educator with service on the staff of the State
Council of Higher Education in Virginia before
becoming the youngest college president in
Virginia in 1983. He is now the longest serving
president.
Superintendent
Bunting is a retired Lieutenant General of the
Army, who helped VMI transition into a 21st
century institute that provides an opportunity to
serve to all Virginians.
Dr.
Casteen, UVA president since 1992, grew up in
Portsmouth, was Virginia's Secretary of Education
in the 1980s, is a widely published author and
served previously as president of the University
of Connecticut.
Dr.
Cormier, Longwood president since 1996, is an
expert in oral health and dental education with a
Ph.D. from UVa.
Dr.
Covington, Radford president since 1995, brings
expertise in psychology and special education and
experience as president of Cheyney University in
Pennsylvania.
Chancellor
Kaplan, who came to the College at Wise this year,
has published works in English and in German, the
result of masters and doctoral degrees from
Eberhard Karl University in Tubingen.
Dr.
McDemmond, NSU president since 1997, brings
educational management experiences built at
Xavier, New Orleans, Massachusetts, Florida
Atlantic, Atlanta and Emory.
Dr.
Merton, GMU president since 1996, has degrees in
mathematics and computer science and headed a
national commission on technology workforce needs.
President
Moore is an accountant and former corporate
executive who has served as Treasurer of the
Commonwealth and in the U.S. Army.
Dr.
Rose studied economics and higher education
management, is a member of the National
Infrastructure Advisory Committee and was Deputy
Secretary of Education in the 1980s.
Dr.
Runte, ODU president since 2001, is a writer and
poet with a Ph.D. in French and service as
president of Victoria University in Toronto.
Dr.
Steger is an architect with the long-term vision
that discipline requires, and an extraordinary
commitment, as his Virginia Tech history as
student, faculty, academic department head,
college dean and vice president illustrate.
Dr.
Sullivan, W&M president since 1992, weaves
experiences from the law, the Army Signal Corps
and a gubernatorial assistant for policy.
Dr.
Trani, VCU president since 1990, is a former
history professor who has changed the landscape of
Richmond through the expansion of VCU and the
Medical College of Virginia.
Trible,
CNU president since 1996, is a former United
States Senator, U.S. Representative and county
prosecutor.
Presidents,
poets and practitioners, these leaders of the
senior colleges and universities have kept the
best of the Commonwealth burning bright in a
difficult year. But there is something even more
important that Virginia has charged them with
doing.
Without
a conscious policy decision, but with the myopia
brought on by budget politics, the Commonwealth
has set out on the road to privatize its public
institutions of higher education. Quietly, these
13 presidents, a superintendent and a chancellor
are managing the transition of Virginia's
four-year colleges and universities from state
schools to state-supported schools to
state-assisted schools.
The
penury of the General Assembly forces these women
and men to draw ever more heavily on the resources
of their students, their alumni and their research
partners and on the forbearance of their faculties
and staffs to work without salary increases to
extend Virginia's record of excellence. Virginians
are left applauding politely the news that no
further cuts in college and university operating
budgets are proposed for the time being.
Fortunately
for the institutions, for the Commonwealth and for
Virginians, the value and quality of these
state-assisted four-year colleges and universities
are firmly established with private groups, who
are willing to invest more. Still, it will be the
great tragedy of the knowledge age to leave these
senior colleges and universities with little more
than the same tuition assistance grants Virginia
students bring with them when attending private
colleges and universities. 13 presidents, a
superintendent and a chancellor are proof Virginia
can and is ready to do better.
--
Jan. 6, 2003
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