Dorm named for Laura Jane Harper
Knox named Architecture and Urban Studies dean
Renardy named fellow of American Physical Society

Dorm named for Laura Jane Harper

In recognition of her long years of involvement in establishing quality programs for women at Tech, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors has named a new dormitory for the late Dean Emeritus Laura Jane Harper.

The soon-to-be constructed residence on West Campus Drive will be known as Harper hall as a tribute to Harper, who was dean from 1960 - 1980 of what was then called the College of Home Economics. She began her career at Tech in 1949 as an associate professor teaching foods and nutrition and maintained her ties to the university until her death in 1996.

Known for her feistiness and hard-driving personality, Harper was the first woman academic dean at Virginia Tech. She was a pioneering voice for equal-educational opportunities for all. She had joint responsibilities for the home-economics programs both at Tech and at Radford College, which was then the women's division of Tech, and she guided the dissolution of this arrangement so that women would have equal opportunities at both institutions.

Among her countless achievements, Harper was instrumental in recruiting the first male students and faculty members into the home-economics program, arranged for the first woman to be commissioned in the ROTC program at Tech, developed the first college and career guidance programs, and started one of the earliest study-abroad programs at the university.

"Laura Jane Harper was not only a role model for many women educators, but a scholar in her own right. She paved the way for so many women at Virginia Tech that one need not look far in any direction to find her impact on campus life," says university Provost and Senior Vice President Peggy Meszaros.

Knox named Architecture and Urban Studies dean

University Distinguished Professor Paul Knox was appointed dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies after serving as interim dean for several months.

Knox, an internationally renowned geographer, has served the college as associate dean of academics since August 1993 and is the current director of the Ph.D. program in environmental design and planning and a professor in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning.

A scholar in the interdisciplinary field of urbanism, Knox has written 12 books and authored over 100 academic publications. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of the top 10 journals in his field. In 1988, he joined the ranks of a small group of "New Centurions," geography researchers whose work has been cited in certain recognized scientific journals 100 times or more during a five-year period.

Renardy named fellow of American Physical Society

Yuriko Renardy, professor of mathematics at Virginia Tech, has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for her seminal contributions to the fluid dynamics of interfacial instabilities."

Renardy received the Career Advancement Award by the National Science Foundation in 1989. She has authored two books published by Springer Verlag of New York in 1993 and a third was published by the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 1996.

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