C.C. reader. ([Middletown, Pa.]) 1973-1982, January 24, 1980, Image 3
C.C. Reader C.C. Reader interviews the Provost The following interview was conducted on Than., Jan 17 and was edited for clarity by Lyda Baker, interviewer and Theodore L Gross. The interview concerns Dr. Gross' future plans for expansion d Capitol Campus. C.C. Reader It is obvious that the Capitol Campus is in need of change. After all, change is an integral part of education. Why do you believe that the expansion of Capitol Cam pus into a "university pre sence" is a needed change? Gross For one thing, the campus is already a univers ity. It has graduate programs in place already. So it is not as though one is creating a uni versity presence, it already exists. It is a question of making the community aware of the fact and of strengthen ing the programs. There is no university in South Central Pennsylvania. There are universities in Phil adelphia, Pittsburgh and at State College. In the Greater Harrisburg Area and, by ex tension, South Central Penn sylvania, there are many col leges, but no single univers ity. It seems unfortunate that in a state capital one does not have a university. In other state captials in the country - Austin, Texas; Sacramento, California or Albany; New York - there are significant universities. And the need for a university here, I think, is self-evident. C.C. Reader As indicated in the working draft of "The Pennsylvania State Univers ity, The Capitol Campus: Status 1980 - Prospectus 1990; almost every aspect of the campus requires improVe ment. Listed in the draft. for instance, is that improve ments are needed in student scholarships, cultural pro gramming, research and teaching facilities; psychology laboratories, engineering labs and classrooms and, also needed is the modernization of the library and what was titled "The Next Step," a Science Center. Which of these needs will be fulfilled first? That is, what is the order of priority? Gross Several things will happen at the same time. But in terms of buildings, the building we are trying to establish first. is the Science and Technoiogy Students in eng . ineeeinv technology desperately need 1 , ) have ,aboratories for their Pn atAition. we are think ing of moving ahead in the area of allied health, Capitolizing on our future there is a great need for in this area. The university has already made a request of the state legislature for a 2.4 million dollar appropriation so that it is not as though we are all alone in that effort. The university is support ing us. We also hope to go out into the community to seek additional monies from corp orations and industries for that building. Mani industries in the area hire our graduates, so it would be to their advantage to let their future employes have a decent facility. At the same time, we are going to mount a scholarship program throughout Penn sylvania. We hope to attract the best prepared and most talented students from two year institutions. Ws en hyiq 6 prWss am- Ossi awk— of 8 Oilh hf.", And then, at the same time, we are going to be looking for monies to establish endowed chairs what are called Fac ulty Fellows. Probably the first thing we will do will be to try to find funds to develop certain beautification projects. There will be immediate physical change to make Capitol look more like a campus. One of our first projects is the sign in front of the campus; then Vendorville; then the lobby ... C.C. Reader How did you come to the decision that the Science and Technology Building is more important than, say, a theater for the performing arts or the ex pansion and modernization of the library? Gross We began by ask ing Dr. Nancy Tischler to be editor of an academic master plan. Dr. Tischler, together with the pro gram heads and the ad ministrative sthff, met at a day long retreat last Spring to review the first draft of the master plan. In the last few months she, together with Mark Dorfman and several other people, has been refining that academic master plan, sharing new drafts with the program heads and the entire faculty in terms of setting priorities and n .A.rms of writing the %ar io.us sections. The• neveiop inent of the 'Status do4'umc;ll items that i3l,3)e—!', Thursday, Jan. 24, 1980 We are trying to propose a plan that will work - not a wish list, but something that will work. The two buildings we have proposed, are first, the Science and Technology Building and a Conference Center, or a Continuing Edu cation Center. Now, we had in mind the establishment of an arts building - a humanities build ing. But, we were advised by people in the. community that that probably will not attract funds as readily as a Contin uing Education Center that will serve the needs of the community in a more com plete way and include in it facilities for the humanities. What we decided to do was to establish the Continu ing Education Center and in the Center have an auditor ium that could be used for the arts and humanities. We could have dance performances, concerts, lectures. And in that Conference Center also, we hope to build an extensive library. If- you have ever traveled to Berks Campus, you will see a beautiful multi-purpose building that is similar to the one we have in mind. There, you have different units. You have a student unit, cafeteria, a theater and a library. That's the sort of facility we have in mind. It would be primarily a building devoted to continu ing education, conferences, seminars, workshops and also available to the arts and con taining a library that will serve the entire campus. That building, we will not see funds for until about 1984 - 85. 71mrs an gaps as s Eska,* We on hythy N Ike gib C.C. Reader Are there also plans to incorporate HACC and the Hershey Medical Center into the "university presence?" Gross No. Not at all. HACC is a separate unit, and we do not intend to become - we do not need to become - involved in freshman and sophomore study. There is no need to. HACC provides that very well. What we need to do is to articulate as closely as pos sible with HACC at the same time as we work closely with Berks Campus and York Campus, so that people in the general area have a sense that they have a four year e!.;; , :ation a , ,aiiable to them. We are not a full univers ity, in the sense that we have seleaed courses of study. For e.xainpie, w.. do not have a program in science. You really can't have a university with out a program or course of study in science. This is one of the reasons we are moving in that direc tion. Our resources are lim ited. This campus should have a program in science that matches the programs in hu manities and social science. There are gaps as a uni versity. We are trying to flesh this out so that we have a more comprehensive kind of university. But Capitol Cam pus is very small and that is one of its strengths. There are only 2500 students, and there really should be, in my view, no more than 3,000. It is very difficult to form a full university on that small a basis, but you can establish a first-rate group of programs that provide university study. t k gel ply 6 he fH tokkka.." We are trying to develop a plan that meets the need of the student population. We have to synchronize the phys ical development of the cam pus with the developing en rollment. As • I have sug gested, we are contemplating stabilizing the enrollment at something like 3,000 students over the next ten years. C.C. Reader How do you account for a proposed in crease in student enrollment, considering the fact that there is decreased enrollment in colleges across th'el nation, and that educational fees in Penn sylvania are steadily increas ing? That is, how do you plan to safeguard the costly e*pan sion of the campus from being a futile mistake? Where will the students come from? Giese It is not going to be a futile mistake if we move step by step - cautiously. We 'need the Science and Technology Building and the Conference Center right now! Even if there were not to be an additional student or an additional faculty member, those facilities would be des perately needed for our pre sent student body - even with a decrease in students. But, I contemplate a slight rise in student enrollment because, if you introduce new programs, you're going to at t ra‘l. studtnts. Second !v. there should he an increase part-tithe students As you. know, there is :k &dine in stattionts oetwecn. t he atrt; ' tif iti at - : , et 22. Fr.it there ,s not k.ecline vpuli.itic.n of 1::.-3pio. :::-: 1;12:13. 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. And that is the population that tends to be one large segment of our student body. Then the Harrisburg area will be less affected in popu lation than any other area in the state. For one thing, you have the stability of the state capital. Even if there is a recession, or difficulty in the economy, the state capital employment tends to remain stable. In addition, with the infla tion, people might not want to send their children away to college. School is too expen sive. But I can see them sending their students to a school that is in the area. In a kind of perverse way, I think we will benefit from difficult economic times. C.C. Reader Now the inevi table question. Since you have become Provost/Dein of Capitol Campus, there has been talk of changing the name of the campus. Are you going to change the name? Gross That name change has been in the works now for at least five years. The faculty have wanted the name to be changed, so I am simply car rying out what I consider to be a mandate of the faculty. There is a possibility that it could be happening very soon. The university adminis tration has discussed the matter with me and what we at Capitol are doing is taking a vote of the faculty and hope fully, a vote of the student body too. These votes will be recomendations that I will take most seriously. The choices will be either remaining the same that is, Capitol Campus -- or becoming The Harrisburg Campus of the Pennsylvania State Uni versity, which, in its short ened form will be Penn State/ HarriSburg. There are argu ments for both choices. The arguments for Capitol Campus seem to be that first of all, we have been here for 13 years and people know us. We have established a repu tation. Furthermore, Capitol Campus seems to embrace a larger area. On the other hand, Penn State/Harrisburg his advan-, tages, too. If someone asks you where you go to school, you say Penn State/Harris burg, and Penn State -- with its great prestige -- becomes a constant feature. If you say Capitol Campus, people sometimes wonder if it is a part of Penn State or not. Penn State/Harrisburg in that sense, will be strong—for the students, as well as the faculty. It is a question or making a decision between the two. I'd -ether not make that decision. That decistor. must be made hy the lacuity students, :he Oeriiml staff, the adminis- ::'mmun- c - t;',.,.1 -, ',.:j ',_:.ilt%7: L..S