Collegiate Times

Though many students can easily name Charles Steger as the university?s president, a far smaller number can identify a member of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. And still fewer know the process for picking these board members.

On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Kaine announced his appointments for the Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board, including former Tech President Paul Torgersen. The commission, created by former Gov. Mark Warner in 2002, and which the General Assembly made permanent last year, recommends members of boards of visitors at four-year public educational institutions across the state.

?They hear from individuals who want to serve,? said Kevin Hall, press secretary for the governor. ?They hear from schools about who they want to serve, typically alumni. They hear from alumni groups.?

After receiving a list of recommended applicants, the commission reviews the applications and makes its suggestions to the governor. This process, Hall said, is an attempt to rid the selection process from the one-sided political maneuvering of previous governors.

?It was an effort to take out some of the cronyism from the college board process,? Hall said of the commission?s origins.

Torgersen echoed these sentiments.

?Earlier governors were more inclined to do this with a political overtone,? he said.

Although a board of visitors ? called a board of trustees in most states ? makes policy and hiring decisions for a specific university, board members in Virginia do not have to meet any academic requirements. Torgersen, however, did not see this as a conflict.

?I don?t think a graduate degree is necessary at all,? Torgersen said about the lack of an educational requirement for board members.

Hall offered a possible reason for this.

?Administrators are involved in the actual delivery of education,? Hall said. ?Board members aren?t, per se.?

Four of the five appointments to the commission, including Torgersen?s, are second terms. According to a statement from the Governor?s Office, Val McWhorter, a founding partner of a Virginia law firm and former board member of the George Mason Board of Visitors, was the only new appointment.

Torgersen said there are currently five members on the commission, plus Virginia?s secretary of education and the secretary of the commonwealth. He added that he was excited to continue his involvement with higher education in the state.

?I was very pleased,? he said, speaking about his reaction to getting a second term.

After serving as the dean of the College of Engineering for two decades, Torgersen acted as the university?s chief administrator from 1993 to 2000. He teaches part time for the College of Engineering.