April 28, 2006Minority faculty at Virginia TechIn my last blog I mentioned how the same statistics can mean completely different things to different people, using the "3 percent is not enough" chant by protesters at Tech last week as an example. I was able to track down some figures in that blog showing that, while Tech's student body was certainly not diverse by any measure, it wasn't the worst in the state. Now, thanks to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, I have numbers on faculty demographics at Tech and other four-year publics in Virginia. April 24, 2006Race and enrollment figures at Virginia TechAs the old saying goes; "There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies and statistics. While I don't think the administration or the protestors who took part in Wednesday's events at Virginia Tech were trying to deceive, the fact that both groups used similar numbers to support their points shows how, when it comes to numbers, it's often all about how you look at them. On their march from the political science department where Christopher Clement, teaches, students chanted "3 percent is not enough" in reference to the percentage of black, tenure or tenure-track professors at Tech. Hours later, Provost Mark McNamee, speaking to many of the same people who were chanting, pointed out that the percentage of black professors has increased from 2 to 3 percent from 1998 to 2005 (it actually jumped from 2.4 to 3.2 percent - a total of 11 additional professors for a school that lost 15 tenure and tenure track positions). Continue reading "Race and enrollment figures at Virginia Tech" » April 21, 2006Looking for interesting graduatesAre you or is someone you know graduating from Radford University or Virginia Tech next month? Is this imminent graduate 15 years old? Or 80 years old? Are they graduating with 8 majors? Do they have a 4.8 GPA? Or are they sweating out the last two weeks to see if they have a high enough GPA to receive a diploma? Do they have 50 relatives coming from thousands of miles away? Old, young, smart or um...academically challenged...The Roanoke Times is looking for compelling stories of graduates, or for that matter, faculty or staff who will be leaving. We'll be publishing at least two stories about people from each university as part of our graduation coverage. If you know of anyone who is interesting in any way, contact me. April 20, 2006ArtsFusion at Virginia TechThe next week will see several events as part of ArtsFusion at Virginia Tech. The event, a weeklong celebration of the arts at Tech kicks off today. Tonight Tech senior Anhvu Buchanan will be honored as the first Steger Award winner for his poem, "Mission Statement." Listen to Buchanan read his poem online. April 17, 2006Virginia Tech, Radford among destinations for compulsive college visitorSteve Lake, a pit boss in Las Vegas who has achieved some fame for his goal to visit 500 college campuses will be coming to Southwest Virginia in June. Lake attended Concordia University in Montreal, a place he described as "one big office building." On his honeymoon he visited some New England Ivy League schools with his wife and loved the feeling of being on a big college campus. What stared as a spur-of-the-moment idea in 1984 has turned into a decades-long quest. Continue reading "Virginia Tech, Radford among destinations for compulsive college visitor" » April 12, 2006Board discusses student fees based on majorAt its retreat last month the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors discussed ways to close the funding gap in higher education without raising tuition across the board. They discussed aggressively pursuing earmarked federal funds as well as private research and development money. Another, more specific idea, was also discussed. Certain majors are more costly for the university to fund. Provost Mark McNamee said the university has looked into the possibility of targeting engineering majors to pay additional fees that would be used to improve the quality of curriculum in the engineering college. Continue reading "Board discusses student fees based on major" » April 11, 2006Bits and pieces from Tech Board of Visitors RetreatWhile I was busy writing about pressing news items when Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors met a couple of weeks ago, there were several other issues discussed at the board's weekend retreat that bear watching. The board talked about possible demographic changes on campus. Their six-year plan to SCHEV includes bringing in another 1,000 graduate students. This isn't surprising given the importance of graduate students for enhancing research standing as the clock on President Charles Steger's Top-30 research goal continues to count down. Continue reading "Bits and pieces from Tech Board of Visitors Retreat" » April 7, 2006Colleges toughen admission standardsA story in today's Washington Post confirms the suspicion of high school students and their parents all over the country. It IS getting harder to get into college. The story reports on how students are having a harder time getting in anywhere from Ivy League schools to public universities. The University of Virginia, which detractors and supporters say thinks of itself as a little bit of both, admitted just 36 percent of its 16,252 applicants this year. That's the lowest rate in seven years according to the Post. A colleague of mine has a daughter who was a casualty of this competition. It appears she'll be going to Virginia Tech next year instead, after her sister got into UVa. with similar credentials. April 6, 2006Christ on Campus not going anywhereA few days ago I received an email from someone telling me that Christian Keesee, the author of the controversial "Christ on Campus" cartoon for Radford University's internet magazine was quitting. Sure enough, I went to the RU Whim site to find an announcement from him that he was stepping down, as he refused to let his cartoons be "filtered." His "last" cartoon was accompanied by a scripture reading. I left a slightly confused message on Christian's voice mail, not sure if what I was reading was true or not (Whim editor Andrew Lent had confused me before with his insane front-page ramblings of the battle being waged on the school's "Proletariat"). April 5, 2006Tech students to test drive grain-alcohol powered SUVVirginia Tech's Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team will test drive an ethanol-powered SUV Thursday afternoon in preparation for a national competition to find alternative fuels for vehicles. The demonstration will take place at Tech's Ware Lab at the corner of Stanger and Barger streets at 2 p.m. The vehicle is fueled 85 percent by ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, and 15 percent gasoline. This isn't Tech's first venture alternative fuels. Students demonstrated a vegetable-oil fueled Mercedes on earth day in 2005. |
About this blog
Rhode Island native and Virginia Tech reporter Greg Esposito posts on everyday college life, trends and issues affecting the 35,000-plus students in the New River Valley and beyond.
Tim Thornton, who is old enough to have children attending college, is still taking classes and is still fascinated by colleges, the students who populate them and the bureaucrats who operate them. His reporting beat is Radford University.
West Virginia native Anna Mallory blogs on student life topics at Virginia Tech, Radford University, New River Valley Community College -- and beyond.
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