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Interview With Provost
Reader Raps With Gross
By Joan H. Klein
C.C. Reader: In March, when the
Board of Advisors dined with the
Board of Trustees, faculty members
said that the formation of Capitol's
Board was possibly the most important
event that had happened on this
campus since it opened. I have read,
"The Board of Advisors ... has taken
extensive efforts on our behalf" and
"our development plans are moving
rapidly toward completion." What
efforts? What plans? Can we discuss
specifics?
Gross: The Board of Advisors was
established to help give the campus
greater prominence in the community
and to help us develop particular
projects.
It is made up of distinguished
citizens of the Greater Harrisburg area
- judges, businessmen, the editor of
Harrisburg's largest newspaper, and
others. These people have never been
involved with the campus before be
cause nobody asked them. But they
are here now and are more willing to
help.
Whenever a problem comes up, I
feel free to call any one of the Board
members for advice. This gives us
valuable outreach to the community.
These people know what can and can't
be done.
CCR: It's still not clear to me how they
are going to help.
Gross: They have established five
different action-oriented committees.
One will be a finance committee that
will help go out in the community to
secure funds. Another is a physical
plant committee which will make re
commendations of beautification pro
jects that should be implemented.
There are also committees on academic
affairs and community relations. Fin
ally, there is an administrative com
mittee which, among other things, has
been working on a name for the
campus.
CCR: Let's talk about the last first.
What was the final resolution concern
ing the name change? I understand
your preference was to change it.
Gross: I had thought that "Harrisburg
Campus" might be interesting, but
when I learned that there were so
many mixed feelings about it, I felt it
wasn't worth changing the name. Votes
were taken by the faculty, students,
and staff as well as by the Board of
Advisors. The votes were so mixed
that the decision was to keep the name
The Pennsylvania State University,
The Capitol Campus -- in short, Penn
State-Capitol. The final discussion oc
curred at an open meeting of the
Provost's Advisory Committee. There
were no objections.
CCR: It's hard to keep up with all these
committees. What is the Provost's
Advisory Committee?
Gross: I have asked representative
administrators, faculty, and students
to advise me on particular problems on
campus that may not be thoroughly
discussed anywhere else. I wanted a
forum in which students would feel free
to register their opinions directly to
me. The meetings have not been as
well attended as I would have liked,
but I think people attend such meet
ings only when there is an issue.
CCR: There seems to be a problem in
getting students actively interested in
campus activities.
Gross: It's hard to get people involved,
I think, because this is, to a great
extent, a commuter campus. If you
don't have a fully residential campus,
it's hard to create excitement about
certain kinds of programs.
Another factor inhibiting social life
is an imbalance between men and
women on campus. Because of the
engineering and business programs,
the campus is heavily dominated by
male students. If there were a greater
balance between men and women, I
think we would have larger attendance
at social affairs.
CCR: It must be a sign of terminal
middle age that I never noticed that
imbalance. Getting back to Board of
Advisor committees, what should we
know about the physical plant commit
tee?
Gross: Part of our general effort to
raise funds from the private sector is to
implement the beautification program.
We're going into the community to
secure funds for particular projects
here on campus. We have tried to
identify those elements most important
to students, faculty, and administra
tors. The number one item seems to be
Vendorville, and the number two item
the sign in front of the campus.
Beyond that, we want to plant as
many trees as we can afford -- we might
get volunteers for this project. The
beautification program has been star
ted in the area of the dorms, paid for
out of our on-going university budget.
We have had recommendations
from consulting architects on remodel
ing Vendorville. It must go through
certain campus committees before the
remodeling is approved. When we
determine the dollar figure, we hope
that the proposal we have submitted to
University Park will be approved. If so,
we can remodel in a short period of
time. If the university can't support it,
we will try to raise the funds outside.
CCR: Are the niche for our Nittany lion
in the entry hall and the colorful signs
in the halls part of this program?
Thursday, May 29, 1980
Gross: The directional signals in the
halls were the idea of the faculty
beautification committee headed by
Mel. Bleau. Credit for the new look in
the lobby should be given to Joe Kemp
who oversees the physical plant at the
campus.
CCR: How about the academic devel
opment committee of the Board? What
is its function?
Gross: This group has been looking at
academic programs in relation to com
munity needs. The citizens of this
committee can offer fresh insights as
academic programs are formulated.
If we are planning, for example, an
allied health program or a mass media
program, we would like that committee
to look at draft documents and offer us
advice. The key word in all relation
ships with the Board of Advisors is
advisory. It advises; it does not dictate
policy.
CCR: And the committee on commun
ity relations?
Gross: The community relations com
mittee is interesting. That is chaired by
Sondra Osler and one of the plans is to
have an open house in the fall. We will
invite as many leaders from the com
munity as we can. At that point, if we
have been successful in raising funds,
we will make an announcement of the
development plans that are under way.
CCR: What development plans?
Gross: We have plans for a three-year,
fund-raising development program
hat includes a science and technology
building, beautification projects, a
scholarship program, and faculty fel
lowships or endowments.
CCR: Will you explain "faculty endow
ments?"
Gross: The endowment of a faculty
fellowship is conventionally the dona
tion of a hard sum of money in support
of a faculty salary. The university
draws on the interest of the endow
ment. For example, if a company gives
$35,000, we would draw interest on
that donation and add the amount to
the salary of a faculty member -- either
in the form of secretarial help, travel,
supplies, or other related expenses.
The purpose is to draw to the campus
the most attractive faculty possible.
CCR: I think that students will be
curious about what these companies
will expect in return. To put it bluntly,
what's in it for them besides the tax
advantage it permits?
Gross: There is a tax break. But, in
addition, the company renders a com
munity service. It also repays the
campus for having trained so many of
its employees. The university can
conduct seminars and workshops of
interest for the company employees
and continue to conduct research that
might be valuable to the company. In
general, the company gains high visi
bility by helping create a better uni
versity in the area where it does its
business.
CCR: Do these funds also support the
proposed scholarship program?
Gross: Possibly. But the scholarship
program is really something separate,
geared to a more modest scale. We
hope to ask individuals to endow
scholarships for particular students. An
individual might give us $5,000 over a
period of time. We would draw upTin
the interest and apply it to a scholar
ship for a qualified student to make it
easier for him to come to college. We
are now about ready to move forward
on these plans.
CCR: I think you have clarified the
"efforts" and "plans" of the Board of
Advisors. Thank you. Perhaps we can
move on to other topics. I have talked
with a number of faculty about the new
division structure -- trying to find out
why five divisions are better than nine.
The only answer I can get is, "It is
easier to administer a campus with five
divisions..."
Gross: Don't say "only." Making admin
istration easier is very important. It
can improve the academic result. It
also sharpens the focus of the entire
campus a good deal.
When you look at the catalog now,
you see nine different programs--some
small, some large, some undergradu
ate, some graduate. Our program in
business takes in 43 percent of our
students and our engineering program
handles 35 percent of the students. At
the same time we have programs in
urban and regional planning and math
ematical sciences which take in far
fewer students. There is an imbalance
and a kind of confusion in the minds of
people about the campus programs.
these small programs can continue to
exist--but within a larger structure.
With five divisions, there will be
clarification of the administrative
structure. The change will allow more
work of an interdisciplinary nature to
go on within those separate divisions.
It woOld also improve our recruitment
efforts.
Recommendations of the new divi
sion heads have been made to me.
Faculty from each division have voted
for the nominees Now I will select from
the recommendations. We hope to have
these division leaders appointed by
May 15.
CCR: May I toss out some one-liners
for your reactions? Budget recycling.
Gross: Every unit in the university is
in a budget-recycling mode. Our bud
get is being cut each year for five years
and that is true of every unit in the
continued on page 5
C.C. Reader