In crafting the next five-year plan (ODU’s previous Strategic Plan was for the years 2000-05), the committee will be asked to keep in mind the following goals:

• Increase academic quality, retain faculty and gain a national reputation for excellence (to be among the nation's top 100 research universities);
• Create an agenda and climate that encourages research;
• Increase graduate programming;
• Create a viable, lively campus community in a beautiful setting, conducive to learning;
• Integrate all services, colleges and academic programs;
• Make the campus community sensitive to the region and world around it; and
• Find the means necessary to accomplish all of the above.

As the collective vision of Old Dominion, the resulting document should be inclusive and comprehensive, yet succinct – no more than 20 pages – and conform to the university mission statement, Runte said.

“The final plan must have considerable focus so that we do not attempt to be all things to all people at a time of insufficient resources,” she noted. “It must be possible. The goals must be achievable and must be accompanied by time lines.”

The planning process will include focus groups and open hearings to gain input from both the university community and the residents of Hampton Roads, as well as consultations with Old Dominion’s various boards. Once all of the information is collected, the vice presidents and other members of the President’s Council will review the material, prioritize where necessary and submit a draft document to the president for her review.

The final plan will be submitted this November to the Board of Visitors for its approval. Back to top

Wilson among statewide winners of award for exemplary teaching
Charles E. Wilson Jr., University Professor of English and currently department chair, recently became Old Dominion’s 15th winner of a Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award.

The annual awards program, now co-sponsored by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and TIAA-CREF, announced the 11 statewide winners for 2004 in January. Each receives a cash award of $4,000.

Old Dominion’s two previous winners, Sheri Reynolds and Janet Peery, also teach English.

Wilson, who has taught at ODU for 12 years, is a favorite professor among English majors and non-English majors alike. His areas of specialization include American literature to 1900, Southern literature and African American literature.

“Term after term, his sections fill; term after term, he sends his students away satisfied that they had a rich learning experience,” said Jeffrey H. Richards, professor of English and former department chair. “He serves as a model instructor for the many teaching majors in his classes and a model of devotion to professionalism, adherence to standards and passion for knowledge. “

Many former students wrote in support of Wilson’s nomination. Among their comments were:

• “His classes always provided a forum for students to speak freely without the threat of being silenced if their views opposed others.”
• “He worked with me to improve my writing skills, and he inspired me to work harder than I had ever before worked. He trained me to write and think critically. His impact has been immeasurable.”
• “You have quite simply inspired me, Sir, and I am grateful beyond words.”

Indeed, Wilson’s vast knowledge of his subject matter, his unbridled passion for teaching and his interest in students are what keeps them coming back for more of his classes. One of Wilson’s favorite letters is one he received via e-mail not long ago from an older student.

“She wrote to thank me for my inspiration and guidance and to share with me how on one particular occasion I truly redirected her scholastic path,” Wilson said. “On the given day, when she was walking to my class, she was haunted by all the reasons that she should drop out of school and return home in another state. But walking from my class she considered only all of the reasons that she should remain in school and complete her undergraduate education.

“She insisted that my passion, my concern and my dedication to the intellectual process completely changed her thinking. Now that she will soon earn her degree, she is preparing to enroll in graduate school. These are the moments that professors cherish, and they remind us of why we work so hard to inspire and enlighten.”

Wilson was one of nine faculty nominated by ODU for the award and one of about 80 nominated altogether by Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities.

He received the university’s highest honor for teaching, the A. Rufus Tonelson Award, in 2000. His latest publication, a book titled “Walter Mosley: A Critical Companion” (Westport: Greenwood Press), was released in 2003. Back to top

Some of the world’s greatest romantic classical music will be performed by the ODU Symphony Orchestra and ODU Percussion Ensemble; one of the all-time endearing love stories, “Cyrano de Bergerac,” will be staged; and dozens of “Married Monarchs,” former ODU students who have since tied the knot, will return to campus for an Alumni Association social in their honor.

Even the Gene W. Hirschfeld School of Dental Hygiene is showing its love in the form of a gift to the community – free dental-decay screenings for children ages 6-18 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Call 683-4308 for an appointment.)

The concert, scheduled for 4 p.m. in the atrium of the Diehn Fine and Performing Arts Center, features the winners of this year’s ODU Concerto Competition – baritone Anthony Marcano, a senior music performance major, and Kevin Jones, a sophomore music performance major and principal cellist of the ODU Symphony. They and their fellow musicians will fill the atrium with the music of Wagner, Rossini, Elgar, Bizet and Shchedrin.

Under the direction of conductor Leslie Stewart, the orchestra will open with Siegfried Idyll, a surprise birthday present Wagner wrote for his wife, Cosima.

“This most romantic of composers arranged to have the piece performed by 13 musicians on the stairway to her bedroom just as she was waking up. She wrote later in her diary that it was the most beautiful music she had ever heard,” Stewart said.

Perhaps the most famous aria from Rossini’s most famous opera, “Largo al factotum,” introduces the barber Figaro. Known as the town matchmaker, he sings in mock complaint that whenever anyone needs anything, he gets the call. Later in the opera, Figaro saves the fair Rosina from the disaster of an arranged marriage.

Elgar’s Cello Concerto (Finale) is one of the most romantic works of the 20th century, “even though it was written by an Englishman,” Stewart notes. Composed in 1919, it is his last major work.

Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin arranged Bizet’s Carmen Suite for strings and percussion in 1967. Based on the opera which features a most colorful heroine – the haughty, flirtatious and ultimately tragic Carmen – “the music will be familiar to everyone in spite of the unusual instrumentation,” Stewart says. This performance will feature the Percussion Ensemble, conducted by David Walker.

Old Dominion University Theatre’s performance of Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” one of the greatest romances of all time, opens at 8 p.m. Feb. 13 on the University Theatre stage. It will be presented again at 8 p.m. Feb. 14 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 15; additional shows are scheduled for Thursday to Sunday through Feb. 29.

The play features the favorite comic hero, Cyrano, whose unusually long nose forces him to hide his lifelong passion for the beautiful Roxanne.

Under the direction of guest artist Thadd McQuade, ODU’s production strips away the lavish settings and operatic sentiment that often accompany Rostand’s play to focus on the clownish antics and unparalleled wit that lie at the heart of the evening.

Tickets are $5 for ODU students; $8 for faculty, staff and non-ODU students; and $10 for general admission. For tickets call 683-5305.

According to university records, there are approximately 4,000 ODU alumni couples, half of whom live in Hampton Roads. Of course, not all of these “Married Monarchs” met during their time at Old Dominion, but many did, and a number of couples will be on hand to share their love stories at the Alumni Association-sponsored Married Monarchs Social the evening of Feb. 14 at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

One of the stories, in fact, comes from Angela Jones Hudgins ’94 (Psy.D. ’02), who joined the Office of Counseling Services last month as a professional counselor. She and her future husband, Patrick Hudgins ’94, met during a study group in psychology class their junior year.

“Patrick was 11 years my senior – he was 33 and I was 21 – and got my attention by offering me candy and bubble gum daily. He was literally the ultimate sugar daddy!” Angela says.

Angela, who is also an assistant professor of counseling and psychology, said she and Patrick became good friends at first but didn’t start dating until they were master’s students at Virginia State University. They were married in the summer of 2001. Patrick is currently finishing his doctorate in clinical psychology at ODU and will receive his degree in May.

An array of romantic door prizes will be given out at the social – everything from boxes of chocolates and gift baskets containing a bottle of the Alumni Association’s signature wine to a free night’s stay at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel and the Hotel Helix in Washington, D.C. (the latter courtesy of CI Travel). Back to top

James Oleson selected for Supreme Court Fellowship
James C. Oleson, assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, has received one of four 2004-05 fellowships with the Supreme Court of the United States.

The fellowship, which begins this fall, is a one-year appointment with the Administrative Office for the U.S. Courts in the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court Fellows Program was founded by Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1973. The Supreme Court Fellows Commission, a panel appointed by the chief justice, selects the fellows after a highly competitive process. This program provides a unique opportunity for highly qualified individuals with an interest in public law.

Fellows have access to some of the Federal Judicial Center’s educational programs, including various colloquia and meetings relevant to their professional interests and specific projects. They attend luncheon seminars sponsored by the administrative assistant to the chief justice and a lecture series sponsored by the Supreme Court Historical Society.

In recent years, fellows have participated in events with individual justices, members of Congress, law professors, leading attorneys and executive branch officials, including the attorney general, the solicitor general and the director of the FBI.

Oleson applied for the fellowship out of an interest in the federalization of crime and punishment. “The expanding role of the federal courts in adjudicating criminal matters and the structured sentencing under federal guidelines presents society and the federal courts with a number of socio-legal challenges,” he said, adding, “I was eager to gain a closer view of crime and punishment in the federal courts.”
Back to top

Both lectures will be held at 10 a.m. at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. On Feb. 27, Osheroff will discuss “The Nature of Discovery in Science.” The next day, he will summarize the work he performed with the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and provide conclusions and recommendations in “A Report on the Columbia Space Shuttle Accident.” The lectures are sponsored by Verizon and the IEEE Lasers and Electro-optics Society.

Osheroff received the 1996 Nobel Prize in physics for his contributions to the discovery of superfluidity in Helium3. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He has a doctorate from Cornell University. Back to top

Talk on learning styles set for HACE town meeting
Sandra Waters, director of academic continuance, will give a presentation on “How We Learn and Why We Don’t” at the Feb. 24 Hourly and Classified Employees Association town meeting. The program begins at noon in the Pretlow Planetarium.

Those who plan to attend are encouraged to request a copy of the “Cognitive Profile Inventory” questionnaire in advance, which will make the presentation more meaningful. To obtain a questionnaire, contact HACE President Phyllis Brown at 683-3280 or pbrown@odu.edu.

Attendees will receive a free copy of the book “How We Learn and Why We Don’t.” The book is useful for understanding learning differences in children and grandchildren, as well helpful for supervisors, Brown said. Back to top

Marshall, who would later become the first African American Supreme Court justice, led NAACP lawyers in their constitutional challenge of racial segregation in public schools. After numerous legal challenges by the NAACP and others to end the discriminatory doctrine of “separate but equal” schools, the Supreme Court issued a decision in 1954 that provided the legal foundation for public school desegregation and ultimately led to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

“Show Your Other Side” coming to Webb Feb. 20
The Association of University Administrators will host its second “Show Your Other Side” noon to 1 p.m. Feb. 20 in the Chesapeake/Portsmouth Room of Webb Center.

Open to the campus community, the event highlights ODU administrators’ outside interests and hobbies, from photography and art to music and collections.

Feb. 13 is the deadline to take part as an exhibitor or presenter. To register or more information call Sandra Waters at 683-3773. Back to top

Scientist to discuss mechanisms of evolution
Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will give the Distinguished Presidential Lecture in Science, “The Composite Individual and the Evolution of Machines,” at 8 p.m. March 4 in the Mills Godwin Jr. Building auditorium.

In her recent book, “Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species,” written with Dorion Sagan, Margulis challenges the assumptions scientists have made about the mechanisms of evolution, providing evidence that new species arise by symbiotic merger of genomes rather than by random mutation.

The Gaia Hypothesis, further developed with scientist James Lovelock, asserts that life does not passively “adapt.” Margulis says, “Rather, it actively, though unknowingly, modifies its own environment to increase chances of its perpetuation.” Back to top

“Baskets for Books” game offers special ticket price
The Monarchs will be looking to avenge an earlier loss this season as well as shoot Baskets for Books when they host William and Mary at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales to the game, the Monarchs’ next-to-last home contest of the season, will benefit the ODU Libraries.

Friends of the Old Dominion University Libraries, sponsor of the annual fund-raiser, has arranged for individual tickets to be sold at the special group rate of $7 per ticket for anyone presenting a local public library card. These tickets must be reserved by calling Nicholas Mastrocco at 683-5000. Back to top

Farideh Goldin to address Norfolk Round Table
Old Dominion alumna Farideh Goldin, author of “Wedding Song: Memoirs of an Iranian Jewish Woman,” will be guest speaker at the March 1 meeting of the Norfolk Round Table.

Free and open to the public, the meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Virginia Rice Webb Room of Webb Center. For more information call Edith White at 423-5535. Back to top

CVC giving tops $108,000
The campus community contributed $108,616 in the recent Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. Donations went to local, regional, national and international nonprofit health and humanitarian service organizations, including United Way. The average gift was $146.58.

With its 39 percent participation rate, ODU was one of the state’s top five contributing agencies with 1,000 or more employees. Back to top

Letter to the editor: Write your legislators
Dear members of the ODU community:

As president of the Old Dominion University Faculty/Staff Alumni Chapter, some 400 members strong, I am writing to urge you to contact your state representative and state senator in Richmond.

Members of the General Assembly will be deciding in the next several weeks how – if at all – higher education will be supported. All of us need to remind our Hampton Roads legislators of the importance of higher ed both in the Commonwealth and in this region.

Of equal importance, we must challenge our elected officials to correct the funding inequity facing Old Dominion University. We cannot continue to be funded at 77 percent compared to our national peer institutions, especially when the state average is 85 percent. Remarkably, some institutions in the Commonwealth still receive over 100 percent funding from the state.

Faculty and staff from other colleges and universities have made a difference by writing letters and calling elected officials. You need to let them know you’re a constituent and that the time has come for them to support Old Dominion University. Our alumni, students and parents are being asked to contact their legislators as well.

Please don’t pass on this opportunity by saying someone else will do it. Legislators represent voters and respond to calls and letters. The more they receive, the better the case we can make. Dr. Runte and Vice President Broderick are in Richmond every week fighting on our behalf, but they need legislators to hear from others, like you, who are concerned about Old Dominion. Please take the time to help your university and yourself.

– Crissy Jambard ’99 Back to top

University Village poised for growth explosion
The University Village is on the verge of a growth explosion, a planned transformation which will turn the east side of campus into, as the name for this 75-acre tract implies, a veritable hamlet of housing, retail shops and academic facilities that support the Old Dominion community.

As new student housing units continue to rise along Monarch Way behind the Ted Constant Convocation Center, an exciting project is in the works for Lot 17, located just north of the center. A 100-plus-bed, four-to-five story extended-stay hotel will be built on the west end of the site, with an anticipated opening in fall 2005, according to Robert L. Fenning, vice president for administration and finance.

The timing of the construction will depend on receipt of the design for an adjacent parking garage, to be built immediately east of the hotel on the lot, but it will most likely begin sometime this summer, as major renovations get under way at the adjacent Technology Building. The university has issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and has been “peppered by requests from hotel developers,” said Julie R. Adie, ODU’s director of real estate development.

Fenning noted that additional student housing units may also be constructed on the site just east of the new garage.

A shopping center is also on the drawing board for the area south of the current Constant Center parking garage, which will feature a large grocery store (up to 50,000 square feet), a row of one-story retail shops with apartments on the top floor, and associated parking facilities. This area, bordered by Hampton Boulevard and Monarch Way and 41st and 38th streets, will include a small park, which will be the centerpiece of a traffic circle for Monarch Way.

Adie said she hopes to have land assemblage completed in the area by late this year so that construction can begin in early 2005. The University Village master plan also calls for adding “a signature building” at 38th Street and Hampton Boulevard, which will likely be a bank, along with some adjacent retail shops, Adie added.

As for the retail space currently vacant underneath the first-phase units of the University Village Apartments on Monarch Way, it appears now that their prospective tenants will not be moving in until late summer or early fall. Adie said the university hopes to announce in the next two to three weeks which eateries will be occupying this space.

“We are in active discussions with four food tenants,” she noted, “but work on the streets in this area will need to be completed before they can move in.”

Also opening in time for the fall 2004 semester will be the second phase of the University Village Apartments, located across Monarch Way behind the Constant Center, offering 572 additional beds and another 30,000 square feet of street-level retail space, Fenning added.

But wait, there’s more. At the end of this month, Fenning and Adie will seek authorization from the ODU Real Estate Foundation board to issue requests for proposal (RFP) for the construction of restaurant and retail space on the grassy area immediately behind the Constant Center, as well as for office and research space at the east and west ends of the current Constant Center parking garage.

“These upcoming projects signify the initiation of the private-sector phase of the University Village and will transform this area adjacent to the campus into one of the most exciting, mixed-use developments in the region,” Fenning said. Back to top

Update on other selected campus projects
A number of other campus construction projects are slated to begin in the not too distant future, and one facility, the Engineering and Computational Sciences Building, is nearing completion. The $20.4 million building is scheduled to open in May.

The following is an update on selected forthcoming projects on the main campus:

Writing evolution leads to prof’s 1st novel, “Shohola Falls”
Despite the critical acclaim for his recent novel, “Shohola Falls,” his first entry into the world of fiction after nonfiction works like “Imagined Places” and “Dreaming of Columbus: A Boyhood in the Bronx,”

Mike Pearson says he’s not totally done with reality-based works.
Professor of English and director of the creative writing program, Pearson said a narrative about his trip around the world during a Semester at Sea program through the University of Pittsburgh is in the works, one piece of which will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Creative Nonfiction. A publisher is also interested in the project, including a selection of photographs taken by Pearson’s students on the voyage. When that’s done, he said, “a lot of my heart and soul will be in writing fiction.”

Who could blame him, given the reception “Shohola Falls” has received. The story of orphaned teen Tommy Blanks, who is abandoned to live alone in the Bronx on the money his father left him and what he can steal, has been widely praised.

“Pearson not only creates a compelling picaresque hero in Tommy Blanks but also gives us a flesh-and-blood Mark Twain – not the literary cliché – haunting the pages of [Tommy’s] great-great-grandfather’s secret journals,” writes Philip Gerard, author of “Desert Kill” and “Brilliant Passage.”

“Across a century, Twain’s hard-won wisdom guides Tommy home to a future bright with the promise of lasting love. A fine and original work.”

Reviewer Deborah Donovan said, “Of the numerous writings on the life and career of Mark Twain, Pearson’s enjoyable debut is one with a refreshingly unique viewpoint. Bringing to life both his young hero and the historical figures in the book with equal skill, Pearson has created a memorable modern-day story with evocative echoes of the past.”

Despite his nonfiction bent, Pearson said he has been drawn to fiction since childhood. “I’m just a late bloomer (or I guess a late baby boomer bloomer) and it took all that training in nonfiction to get me to the novel,” he said. “There’s a pattern in what I’ve written, I think – first reportage, then personal essay, then memoir – each time closer and closer to fiction. Then I just jumped into the pond.”

The story behind “Shohola Falls” came from Pearson’s imagining its rootless main character.

“Like all dreamers, I was probably lost at that age in the Bronx, too,” he said. “Of course, my mother didn’t die, my father didn’t abandon me and my great-great-grandfather wasn’t the original for Huck Finn. Once I figured out the beginning of Tommy Blanks’ story, my dreams led me to Thomas Blankenship and thus Mark Twain.

“I think the story came to me in my dreams,” Pearson joked. “I don’t mean I was asleep. I daydream all the time. So avoid me on the highway.” Back to top

Mezzo-soprano highlights Diehn Concert on Feb. 23
Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Robynne Redmon will present a concert with pianist Charles Woodward and the Virginia Chamber Players at 8 p.m. Feb. 23 in Chandler Recital Hall of the Diehn Fine and Performing Arts Center. The performance, part of the Diehn Concert Series, will include works by Maurice Ravel, Manuel de Falla and Gustav Maller, and folk songs arranged by Luciano Berio.

Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the door: $15 general admission; $10 for faculty, staff, senior citizens and non-ODU students; and $5 ODU students with ID. Back to top

52 couples to wed at halftime of men’s game
The Ted Constant Convocation Center will be transformed into the most romantic spot in Hampton Roads the evening of Feb. 14 at, yes – a basketball game – thanks to a partnership between the Constant Center and Z104 radio.

In addition to the Alumni Association-sponsored pregame social for “Married Monarchs,” 52 area couples will exchange wedding vows during halftime of the Monarchs vs. Delaware contest as the culmination of the radio station’s unique promotion. The game begins at 7 p.m.

Following the ceremony, the newlyweds will receive a complimentary postgame reception on the club level of the arena. Back to top

University joins neighbors to form security task force
Old Dominion University has joined with neighboring communities Highland Park, Lamberts Point and Larchmont to establish a task force in an effort to assess and recommend campus and neighborhood security measures as well as promote safety and security awareness.

“The task force provides another opportunity for the university and its neighbors to join together for a significant cause,” said Roseann Runte, president of Old Dominion. “ODU and the surrounding neighborhoods have a keen interest in ensuring that we are doing everything possible to maintain our outstanding living and learning environment. Our goal is to increase dialogue and awareness among all members of our community, including our neighbors, students, alumni and the City of Norfolk.”

The new task force will be responsible for reviewing, evaluating and providing recommendations to the university administration and the City of Norfolk on safety, security and crime prevention on the Old Dominion campus and in the surrounding communities. Additionally, the group will recommend and promote student and resident safety and security awareness programs on a continuing basis.

The Rev. Anthony Paige of the First Baptist Church of Lamberts Point and Robert L. Fenning, vice president for administration and finance at Old Dominion, will co-chair the group, and Cecelia T. Tucker, director of community relations, will serve as secretary. Other members will include neighborhood civic league presidents Dale Ryder, Ellen Harvey and David O’Dell; neighborhood landlords John Warner and Thanos Polizos; and Old Dominion representatives Dana Burnett, vice president for student services, Interim Police Chief William Quinn and selected faculty members and students. Additionally, Larry Curtis, vice president for student affairs at Norfolk State University, and Quintin Bullock, provost of Tidewater Community College’s Norfolk campus, will participate.

Currently, Old Dominion’s 36 police officers, security officers and communications dispatchers provide policing and security services and emergency response for the university campus and assist the Norfolk Police Department through a concurrent jurisdiction agreement for a one-square-mile area encompassing portions of the surrounding neighborhoods. The ODU department provides 24-hour patrolling and offers an evening safety escort service for students, faculty and staff. Back to top