TODAY’S EDITION See page 3 for information on Staff SPECTRUM Appreciation Day. VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY http://www.unirel.vt.edu/spectrum/ VOLUME 22 NUMBER 28 FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2000 Presidential Installation to highlight activities An Open Letter to the Roselle to speak at Founders Day 2000 University Community By David Nutter Studies in 1981. He left Virginia Tech to become September 20. The highlight of this year’s Founders Day is always a special David Roselle, president of the president of the University of Kentucky. He has convocation will be the installation of Charles occasion, but this year it is unusually sig- University of Delaware and former provost been president of the University of Delaware Steger as Virginia Tech’s fifteenth president. nificant. As part of this year’s Founders of Virginia Tech, will be a guest speaker at since 1989. Steger will share with the university community Day activities, Charles Steger will be in- the Founders Day 2000 and Presidential The Founders Day/Presidential Installation his vision for the university’s future. stalled as the 15th president of Virginia Installation ceremony on Friday, April 28. convocation will begin at 3 p.m. in Burruss The ceremony will also be carried live on Polytechnic Institute and State Univer- Roselle served as Tech’s provost from auditorium. This year’s Founders Day marks a Channel 6 of the campus cable system and the sity. An opportunity to be part of such a 1983 until 1987. He came to Tech as a major departure from previous programs. The Channel 15 on the Blacksburg cable system. pivotal moment in the history of our insti- professor of mathematics in 1974. Roselle university will present three major awards at the All Virginia Tech faculty and staff tution does not come along often. We also was appointed dean of the Graduate School ceremony. The faculty and staff awards will be members, students and members of the will be honoring two distinguished alumni in 1979 and dean of Research and Graduate presented at a Fall Honors Convocation on university community are invited to attend. and presenting the Ruffner Medal. Please come and join in the celebration of the heritage of Virginia Tech and the formal Two Tech programs receive SCHEV funding installation of its future. By Sally Harris laboratory experiences for students in rural opportunity to create, explore, and present In 30 years on the faculty at Virginia Two programs at Virginia Tech schools whose labs are not up to date. The geometry dynamically, Hagen said. The goal is Tech, I have seen four presidents guide us received funding recently from the State laboratory provides an innovative way for to help the teachers develop a deeper through different stages in the develop- Council of Higher Education in Virginia students to increase their knowledge of chemistry understanding of the geometry SOL’s so that ment of the institution. T. Marshall Hahn (SCHEV) through the Dwight D. Eisenhower and, thereby, possibly enhance their scores on they can translate that understanding to their was the power behind the growth of the Professional Development Program. the state’s Standards of Learning (SOL) tests. students. university from a specialized collection of The Virginia Tech Mobile Chemistry The second program, titled Networking Of the 38 proposals submitted, only 20 professional programs into a comprehen- Laboratory, initiated and directed by Barbara with Dynamic Geometry Teachers, received were recommended to SCHEV for funding, sive university. William Lavery presided B. Bunn, assistant professor of chemistry, $61,344 in funding. Susan Hagen, instructor of according to Phyllis Palmiero, acting director. over the change in the university from a received $38,615. The lab in a tractor-trailer mathematics, initiated and directs the program. “The review panel was impressed with the newly grown institution to a stable aca- contains the latest in chemistry-laboratory The award will fund tuition for 100 high-school quality of the proposals submitted,” Palmiero demic system. James McComas equipment. It travels to schools throughout geometry teachers to take an on-line distance wrote. “You and your faculty members are to be shepherded us through difficult times of Southwest Virginia to enable the state’s geometry course from Virginia Tech. With the commended for the important work you are budget reductions and readjusted expecta- chemistry teachers to provide top-level aid of technology, the teachers will have the doing with area public schools.” tions, and Paul Torgersen spearheaded our recent renaissance, a successful major fund drive, and our growing national recogni- tion on many fronts. Robertson But now we face a new century. Dr. Steger already has begun to share his vi- literary prize sion of where he wants to take the univer- sity in the coming years. In these times of established restricted support from the commonwealth it will take new ideas and new methods if The Civil War Library and Research we are to continue to advance, and Dr. Center has announced the formation of a new Steger is determined to have us improve literary award, the James I. Robertson Jr. our position on the national scene in higher Prize for Confederate History. education. We must prepare to act on the The award will be bestowed annually to changes and new challenges that face the the author of the best original work of pub- lished scholarship in the field of Confederate university under our new administration. history—military, political or social. Pub- Our future depends on your cooperation lishers are invited to submit any work re- and participation. Come join us on leased in 2000 for the inaugural competition. Founders Day as we install our new presi- The author of the winning entry will also dent and begin the future for Virginia receive $1,000 in recognition of his accom- Tech. plishment. Richard Bambach, president of the “Increased interest in the Civil War, Faculty Senate coupled with changes in the publishing in- George Flick, university distinguished professor of food science, addresses participants at the dustry, have led to an explosion of books on groundbreaking ceremony. (A. Correa) the subject,” said Robertson Prize chairman Joseph Pierro. “But ironically, as mass inter- Vice president est has intensified, the attention of profes- Ground broken for aquaculture center candidates’ sional historians to this period—especially By Angela I. Correa universities towards farmers, entrepreneurs, the Confederate experience—has waned. Researchers, Extension specialists, local and industry executives who are in need of new visits scheduled “If continued,” Pierro said, “this trend leaders, and legislators were on hand Saturday, avenues for the profitable use of their land and within the academic community will have The list of applicants for the position of April 8, to participate in a groundbreaking resources. The center will serve to develop the chilling effect of rendering this nation’s vice president for development and university ceremony for the new Southwest Virginia sound economic models and other resources most formative event its least understood.” relations and executive vice president for Accordingly, “the Robertson Prize serves Aquaculture Center, which will be located in for re-circulating aquaculture ventures, advancement of the Virginia Tech two functions: to ensure that works of quality Saltville. resources that will be used by persons Foundation, Inc., has been narrowed to three are foregrounded for the enthusiast, and to The goal of the Southwest Virginia considering starting a fish farm of their own. finalists. inspire historians to uncover, interpret and Aquaculture Center will be to channel knowledge The center will also encourage and support the Executive Vice President Minnis preserve Confederate history for succeeding gained during decades of re-circulating development of new aquaculture farms through Ridenour, chairman of the search committee, (See ROBERTSON on 3) aquaculture research at Virginia Tech and other (See GROUND on 4) (See VICE PRESIDENT on 4) 2 SPECTRUM FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2000 ACTIVITIES Casey, Wisconsin. EVENTS Family Support Program, noon-1 p.m., DBHCC MCBB, noon, 102 Fralin: David Mount, Arizona. conference room G: Dawn Barnes. Friday, 14 Botany, 4 p.m., 1076 Derring: William DiMichele, Theatre Forum, 3:30 p.m., Squires Studio Theatre: Ben Salary and Wage Paydate. Cameron. Smithsonian Institution. CEUT Program, noon-2 p.m., Hillcrest: Lunch and Theatre Event, 8 p.m., Squires Studio Theatre: “Much Ado Learning Communities. about Nothing.” Monday, 17 Faculty Recital, 8 p.m., Squires Recital Salon: Clyde Biomedical Engineering, 3 p.m., 114 Holden: Michael Shaw and members of the Audubon Quartet. Wednesday, 19 Buschmann, Montreal. Music Event, 8 p.m., Squires Old Dominion Ballroom: Horticulture, 4 p.m., 101 Saunders: Jonathan Watkinson. Bloodmobile, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Squires Student Center. Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Mechanical Engineering, 4 p.m., 110 Randolph: OWF Lunch, noon-1 p.m., DBHCC Dining Room. Theatre Event, 8 p.m., Squires Studio Theatre: “Much Marshall Fishwick, Bob Comparin. CEUT Celebration, 4-6 p.m., Hillcrest. Ado about Nothing.” “With Good Reason,” 7 p.m., WVTF: “Creating From Tuesday, 18 Saturday, 15 Trauma.” Theatre Event, 8 p.m., Squires Studio Theatre: “Much Ado Electrical/Computer Engineering, 3:30 p.m., 300 Fishing Tournament, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Duckpond: 17th Whittemore:Sanjay Raman. about Nothing.” Annual Mudbass Classic. Pet Show, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Animal Judging Pavilion. Thursday, 20 Wednesday, 19 Music Event, 8 p.m., Squires Haymarket Theatre: New Water Science, noon, 108 Seitz: Tamim Younos, Virginia Bloodmobile, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Squires Student Center. Virginians. Water Resources Research Center. Staff Senate, noon,1810 Litton-Reaves. Theatre Event, 8 p.m., Squires Studio Theatre: “Much Theatre Event, 8 p.m., Squires Studio Theatre: “Much Ado Ado about Nothing.” about Nothing.” Thursday, 20 Statistics, 3:45 p.m., 409 Hutcheson: Peter McCullagh, Sunday, 16 Friday, 21 Chicago YMCA Hike, 1:30 p.m., 403 Washington St.: Pandapas CSES, 4 p.m., 246 Smyth: Michael Gore.