University of Virginia Library

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

The President remarked that in Southwest Virginia, people often feel that "the world stops at Roanoke," that major conferences and the like are seldom held west of Charlottesville. Nonetheless, the University has been active in Southwest Virginia since at least 1926, when what is now called the Division of Continuing Education set up courses for teachers in Abingdon, Marion, Wytheville and Pulaski. The Division's presence in Southwest Virginia has continued to develop and it has been enhanced by the opening of Clinch Valley College, with whom it works in close cooperation.

The Southwest Virginia Center in Abingdon, the President said, now has five staff members who work in a region which includes 13 counties and 3 cities; he paid particular tribute to the Director, Ms. Rachel Fowlkes, and the job she has done. The Center, working particularly closely with Clinch Valley College, but also with the University in Charlottesville and with Virginia Tech, offers a variety of programs essential to the well being of the region. The President then cited graduate degree programs in nursing, in guidance and counseling, in reading and in education. In short, he said, there are programs for all professions active in the area, particularly the health professions.

The Center is linked to the University's televised programs in engineering and in other subjects, and in fact graduated its first engineer last spring. With the Center and with Clinch Valley College, the President concluded, the University is well represented in the Southwest.