Old Dominion recently announced plans to build a maglev transit system - the first of its kind in the nation - connecting the existing campus with new development east of Hampton Boulevard. Passenger service is slated to begin in spring 2001, thanks to a $16 million gift and the unique partnership between the university, American Maglev Technology, the commonwealth of Virginia, the federal government and Dominion Resources/Virginia Power.
Sam Donaldson, veteran ABC News White House reporter, was the university's spring commencement speaker. His address to 2,400 graduates was later broadcast by C-SPAN and National Public Radio.
The award-winning President's Lecture Series continued to provoke thoughtful dialogue with presentations by doctor and film hero Patch Adams, former U.S. Surgeon General M. Joycelyn Elders and CNN legal analyst Greta Van Susteren.
Alumni joined members of the campus and community for the annual Founders' Day luncheon in October to hear Virginia Delegate Kenneth Plum speak and to honor distinguished alumni.
Old Dominion and the Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, combined forces to host an international symposium, "Technology - A Bridge to the Future."
The College of Engineering and Technology sponsored International Modeling and Simulation Week, the first symposium of its kind in the country.
Former Poet Laureate Rita Dove headlined Old Dominion's 22nd Annual Literary Festival, "The Spirit of the Word," in October.
The Hellenic Cultural Studies Program's new Odyssey Lecture Series kicked off in December with a talk by Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland.
The nation's leading scholar on urban poverty, William Julius Wilson, delivered the keynote address for the university's Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance.
The university dedicated the Albert Brooks Gornto Jr. TELETECHNET Center June 19. The building is named for the late "Buck" Gornto, a 1956 graduate of Old Dominion who served his alma mater from 1961-91 in various capacities, including terms on the Board of Visitors and Alumni Association board of directors.
Construction of the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center was completed over the summer and the facility opened for classes in August. President James V. Koch joined Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and Norfolk State University President Marie McDemmond in dedicating the facility in October.
Plans were developed for the new Northern Virginia Higher Education Center in Loudoun County. The center, which represents a significant initiative to establish Old Dominion in an area of high-population growth in the commonwealth, is expected to open for classes in 2000.
More than 12,000 students have participated to date in the Career Advantage Program, a unique initiative that guarantees internships for all undergraduates. In 1998-99, wages paid to students exceeded $2 million.
The Academic Honors College continued to attract the best and brightest students to campus with small, specialized classes, undergraduate research experience and the opportunity to earn a degree with honors in their discipline. In 1998-99, more than 400 students were selected for the Honors College.
The General Assembly's 1999 funding allocation placed Old Dominion as the overall recipient of highest percentage budget increase in the 1990s of any public doctoral institution in the state. The university received funds for technology initiatives, scholarships and planning for an engineering and computational sciences building.
Fall 1999 enrollment climbed to a record 18,879, the highest in university history.
Through a partnership with Sun Microsystems, Old Dominion purchased one of the 350 most powerful computers in the world. The supercomputer supports the virtual reality CAVE at the Center for Coastal and Physical Oceanography, graduate programs in modeling and simulation, and projects at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center.
The university hosted 1,400 students from more than 110 countries, giving more credence to Old Dominion's claim as "Virginia's International University."
For the second year in a row, the physical therapy program was rated by U.S. News & World Report as one of the country's top 25 programs, joining coastal physical oceanography and nuclear physics as Old Dominion's nationally ranked programs.
Old Dominion's use of classroom space is the highest in the state, according to an annual study by the State Council for Higher Education for Virginia. The university uses each classroom 45 hours per week on average, up 20 percent from just a few years ago.
In the June Virginian-Pilot supplement "Scholastic Achievement: Class of 1999," which recognized the highest-achieving seniors at Hampton Roads high schools, 19 of the students indicated they were enrolling at Old Dominion in the fall. With the exception of UVa, more of these students selected Old Dominion than any other state school.
Christine Drake, professor of geography, and Daniel Dauer, professor of biological sciences, were honored with Outstanding Faculty Awards by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
Sharon Raver-Lampman, professor of special education; Carl Boyd, Louis I. Jaffˇ Professor of History; and Cynthia Jones, associate professor of biological sciences, received Fulbright awards. Raver-Lampman spent all of the spring semester and half of the summer term teaching special education in Calcutta, India. Boyd is conducting research on the work of Polish cryptographers in World War II and teaching in Poznan, Poland, this academic year. Jones, who continues her work linking fish ear bone chemistry to models of marine fish populations, will complete her fellowship at the University of Sydney in Australia at the end of February.
Old Dominion's first capital campaign, the Campaign for Old Dominion University, surpassed its goal of $47.85 million two years ahead of schedule. Designed to benefit many areas of the university, the campaign did just that, including endowing scholarships and professorships, renovating buildings and providing funding for a new oceanographic research vessel. The campaign will continue to raise funds through June 2001.
Virginia Beach resident Theodore F. "Ted" Constant donated $5 million - the third largest gift in the university's history - in February to support Old Dominion's planned 75-acre development east of Hampton Boulevard, the University Village. Ground was broken in June for the $40 million 8,500-seat convocation center, which will bear Constant's name. It will be the cornerstone of the development. University Village also will feature a shopping center, restaurants, offices, research labs and residences. Construction is expected to begin this spring.
James V. Koch announced at the June Board of Visitors meeting he will step down from the presidency in July 2001.
Biological sciences major Kristine Gonzalez was named to the third team of USA Today's 1999 All-USA College Academic Team, the first time an Old Dominion student has been so honored.
Gilbert R. Yochum and Vinod B. Agarwal, professors of economics, garnered national attention following the release in May of their first-of-a-kind study which price-adjusts per capita income to compare the relative standard of living among 212 U.S. metropolitan areas. Their work was the subject of articles in more than 40 newspapers across the country, including USA Today and Dow Jones Newswire.
Old Dominion's Career Advantage Program was highlighted in an article in U.S. News & World Report's popular "Best Colleges" issue, published in August. Provost Jo Ann Gora and communications student DuRon Bell were quoted in the article, "Real Life 101."
Graduate psychology student Gary Capobianco's study on the effects of airplane crashes on victims was covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, Times of London, The Economist of London, San Francisco Chronicle and Toronto Globe and Mail.
More than 2 million frequent flyers learned about the university's Military Career Transition Program, which trains retired military personnel to become teachers, in a feature commentary in the September issue of Attachˇ, US Airways' in-flight magazine.
Assistant professor of psychology Bryan Porter's research on why people run red lights appeared last fall in USA Today, Newsday and the Associated Press, and on "NBC Nightly News," among other media outlets across the country.
Associate professor of psychology Michelle Kelley completed a study showing that children of deployed Navy mothers experience higher levels of sadness and anxiety. Her research was the subject of articles in The Washington Times, San Diego Union-Tribune and Augusta Chronicle.
