At the time, no one knew how quickly that character trait would come into play--or how important it would become--after McNamee assumed his new role as provost of Virginia Tech following eight years as dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at UC Davis.

With Virginia Tech now in the throes of serious budget cuts while the Commonwealth of Virginia struggles to regain its financial equilibrium, Tech's academic leader is tackling problems inherent in less-than-adequate resources. At the same time, he has started maneuvering the university into position to climb into the ranks of the nation's top-30 research institutions by 2010.

Fortunately for Tech, McNamee is no stranger to operating within the confines of funding inadequacies--or to facing such difficulties at the beginning of a new job. When he became dean at UC Davis in 1993, a deep recession had forced the state to cut funding. He led the Division of Biological Sciences through the hard times and into an era of rebuilding and growth, using his ability to forge relationships, develop collaborations, and think innovatively.

The provost is encouraged by what he has already found on the campus. "I've seen a lot of good progress at Virginia Tech, and I sense that there's very strong support to take that very ambitious step forward and try to move the university to the next level of prominence. The current economic climate is going to make that more difficult than any of us hoped it would be, but I think we have to stay focused, and, even more so, we have to make really good judgments about what's most important."

McNamee places high priority on investing resources efficiently and creatively. He announced early in his tenure that the university would invest in key areas and coordinate academic investments across college lines. "We can't do everything; we have to be selective, and what we choose to do, do it well," he says.

At the same time, he organized three coordinating councils to evaluate research initiatives in the areas of arts, humanities, and social sciences; engineering, physical sciences, and information sciences and technology; and biomedical, health, and life sciences. These areas, he believes, "have a very good chance of advancing Virginia Tech's reputation."

Engineering, he says, has already done that: "One of the big advantages that Virginia Tech has consistently had is its successful, highly regarded College of Engineering. That has always been a flagship program for Virginia Tech that everyone recognizes. I think that provides a competitive edge, and I think that advantage spills over much more broadly to all areas of technology and goes well beyond engineering."

Tech's academic chief, who holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from MIT and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford, believes that top-30 status is not just a goal for the university, it is also critical to the school's future. "Ten years from now, there may be only 40 or 50 universities that can compete at the top level for major research funding, whereas today, I think probably the top 100 universities can compete at different levels and to different extents. But if, in fact, the field gets condensed to 40 or 50 universities, you'd rather be 30th than 50th. You don't want to take any chance that you would be outside that margin of competitiveness. That's where the top-30 goal becomes critically important to the success of Virginia Tech to compete as a research institution."

That competitiveness and success in fostering cutting edge research, he adds, will attract outstanding faculty and undergraduate and graduate students, with improved opportunities for greater diversity. "If we really want to be a top educational institution and have first-rate academic programs, then we all gain by having that competitive research environment. Undergraduate education, scholarship in all disciplines, and outreach activities will all benefit from our improving reputation for scholarship."

With the cuts in state funding pulling Tech in the opposite direction, McNamee still points to hopeful signs for the institution's top-30 drive. One is the university's strategic plan,* which, he says, "has laid out a pretty good framework that can actually give Virginia Tech a chance to be competitive because it's a mindset of how we're going to look at the future."

He also cites the attitude of university employeestheir loyalty to and pride in Virginia Techas a major positive factor.

But one of Tech's greatest strengths, he believes, is "the entrepreneurial spirit" on campus. "Faculty and staff members have really had to improvise and cope with lots of adversity over the years. I think that has created a climate where people expect to work hard, are willing to work hard, and remain forever hopeful that things will develop in such a way that the investments they made will really begin to pay off. In addition, the faculty share an impressive commitment to teaching and learning, core values that will always serve us well."

Even though the biggest negative in Tech's drive to top-30 status right now is state support, McNamee hopes a different picture will emerge down the road. "To have major research universities flourishing in the state would make a big difference in the economy of Virginia 10, 15, 20 years from now," he says.

For the time being, though, he will make the most of what Tech does have.

*Editor's note: The strategic plan can be read online at www.unirel.vt.edu/stratplan.