Word: alden
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Status Symbol. The renaissance in Athens is largely the work of President Vernon Alden, 43, who has brought about such rapid growth that he now actually worries about his university's becoming "massive, monolithic and impersonal." That worry, of course, is today's major academic status symbol...
...During Alden's five-year tenure, enrollment at Ohio U. has nearly doubled (to 15,000), more than $28 million worth of buildings have gone up, and an ambitious $205 million fund drive has begun. Alden has also enlivened the faculty by promoting outstanding teachers without regard to seniority and raising top salaries from $13,000 to $25,000, luring some professorial stars from both State and Ohio's private colleges...
...keep Ohio on the cozy side, Alden has turned to a solution that other universities have found satisfactory-dividing the large campus into small, college-like areas. Ohio U. has also created six smaller satellite campuses in nearby towns, with a prospective total enrollment...
...order to stay in touch with his students, Alden holds twice-monthly breakfasts with them and semiannual conferences at which they can grill him on any topic they wish. He also plans to spend occasional nights in the dorms. Alden often shucks his glasses and joins students in a pickup basketball game on the court behind the presidential house. His kind of enthusiasm spreads to his staff. At many universities, says Fine Arts Dean Jack Morrison, things "slow down at the top-but that's where things begin to swing around here...
...Alden's goal to "shape a university that's in touch with the real world." He has brought an impressive list of guest speakers to the campus, ranging from President Johnson, who spoke there on a war-on-poverty tour in May 1964, to the late Protestant theologian Paul Tillich. The university's select "Ohio Fellows," 30 members of each class chosen for their potential as future public leaders, have been able to quiz such officials as Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Alden has also defended the right...