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Commentary...

A Friend to Many Passes On

Every university has its special personalities that become lasting treasures, even after they are gone. One such treasure for Virginia Tech is the Reverend Al Payne. Al spent the majority of his professional life serving our university, briefly in the 1940s and continuously since the late 1950s. His skillful manner guiding individuals to "choose the right thing to do at the right time" endeared him to many. Yes, he was a clergyman. And, yes, he was a spiritual leader for the university community. Yet, his most significant leadership was in the form of a gentle persuasion that helped many understand best how to use their talent, influence, and resources to make the university and its community better.

Al Payne's public invocations and prayers at university and other events were popular for their non-denominational and insightful views of life. A characteristic gleam in his eye seemed to encourage and inspire others. As he aged, he eventually retired from his university position that had evolved from earlier years staffing the YMCA program along with its director Paul Derring. Yet, one was hardly aware that he had retired. He continued well into his late 80s to assist student groups, churches, and community projects, as well as to perform marriages, baptisms, and memorial services. His humility, clever wit, and eternal optimism were revealed every time he spoke in private conversation or public settings. Sadly, this special treasure of the university passed away in November. Although not an alumnus of Virginia Tech, Al Payne touched and enriched the lives of many thousands who were once students of, taught at or worked for the university. To his memory we dedicate this issue of our Alumni Association News.

Legislators Hear from Hokies...

Virginia Tech is a public "land grant" university. But the percentage of its operating support from state government has declined steadily for decades.

Today it is only 28 percent. President Charles Steger said it best in his remarks to a group of alumni serving as advocates with legislators for an increase in state support, "Funding higher education in our nation is no mere 'academic' argument. The stakes are huge for the next generation of students, businesses, markets that rely on new knowledge and trained workers, for our nation's industrial competitiveness, and indeed, for our quality of life ...the future quality of Virginia Tech's programs is in the hands of the General Assembly."

About 60 alumni, joined by a few current students, gathered at the state capitol on February 4th to visit legislators and encourage their support to restore funds for Virginia Tech and other institutions lost through a series of cuts in the past ten years. To address these cuts, the university has reinvested in strategic areas and on selective faculty retention, laying the groundwork to become more tuition-dependent. A major reorganization of the academic colleges within the university has achieved more efficiency, realized economies of scale, and promoted collaboration among departments and research initiatives. Steger continues to emphasize strategic partnerships and entrepreneurial programs as other alternatives to strengthen funding.

The voices of our alumni must be heard more loudly if Virginia Tech is going to receive a reasonable share of state resources to add to the tuitions, fees, grants, contracts, and private gifts that are all necessary to fund the university. Some increased independence in terms of state oversight of the university's operation also would help reduce costs and provide funds to use to preserve quality, retain faculty, increase course offerings and reduce class sizes. This concept has been proposed by the university administration in concert with several sister institutions. Across the state, the funding gap that needs to be narrowed is in the hundreds of millions of dollars for all higher education. The more voices that join in, the better we can convince legislators that higher education is as critically important an investment for the state as it was in decades past. This message must be carried to them year after year.