Designing architecture that reinforces urbanity starts with an intuitive understanding. Urban places are complex, containing many simple systems which combine to make a chaotic whole. This complexity is full of events, incidence and energy. In creating an architecture for urbanity, complexity is used to release the potential of a place to be urban. The purpose of the building proposed by this thesis is to reinforce the ideas of urbanity in historic downtown Blacksburg. It supports the expansion of the downtown urban density along Main Street and at the same time provides an important urban node, manifesting the meeting of the Town of Blacksburg and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It is an architecture that supports urbanity. / Master of Architecture

The purpose of this study was to develop a modified form of bibliotherapy (biblioplay) and to assess its usefulness in reducing separation anxiety associated with the transition to preschool. Six biblioplay sessions were conducted with 28 children using props for six consecutive days. Teachers rated each child on Scale 2 of the Hall (1967) Inventory of Separation Anxiety. Findings indicated that there was no significant difference between the group that received the biblioplay sessions and the group that did not. The indication that biblioplay conducted after the first days of preschool does not produce significant results in reducing separation anxiety suggests that other approaches to working with these children need to be formulated. / Master of Science

M.S.

Most educational leaders of higher education recognize the importance of creating and sustaining a sense of community on college campuses to enhance the likelihood that students achieve their educational goals. Historical definitions of campus community often are vague in their characterizations and difficult to use to structure learning experiences. This study was concerned with creating definitions of campus community with greater specificity and utility than has been traditionally revealed through literature. Historical conceptualizations of community were reviewed and a consensually oriented process for operationally defining campus community in a particular setting was employed to arrive at a preferred definition of community. The Hutchinson methodology for defining "fuzzy concepts" was used to arrive at a preferred definition of community. Student participants from a land-grant research university living in three distinct life style arrangements were consulted in workshops designed to achieve consensus to arrive at their operational definitions. The findings from this study should be useful especially to student affairs professionals who are concerned with structuring out-of-class college environments to strengthen the learning opportunities for students. / Ed. D.

In 1987 the Educational Administration Program Area at Virginia Tech began the process of change in its masters program for principal certification. This study examined the variables involved with that planned program change. The researcher used the historical method of research. Three variables of the Probability of Adoption of Change (PAC) model (Creamer & Creamer, 1986)--circumstances, leadership, and strategies--were used as organizational tools. The primary sources of data were interviews, letters, state and university documents, and documents on computer disks. First, the internal and external circumstances that occurred before, during, and after the change process began are examined. Second, the leaders are identified and their roles are explained in the planned program change. Third, the leaders' strategies are examined. Fourth, an epilogue looks at the program after implementation. The researcher found that all three variables played significant roles in the change process. For example, the circumstances directly linked to Virginia Tech caused substantive discussions between faculty concerning the state of principal preparation. Second, two faculty members were willing to be the changemasters and do the work necessary to develop a new program for principal preparation. Third, the leaders understood their strengths, and purposefully developed their strategies around them. The research contributes to the genera) field of knowledge in planned program change from theory to practice. The study has archival relevance for the educational administration program area faculty at Virginia Tech and provides information for students of educational administration. / Ed. D.

Factors involved in the development and performance of interdisciplinary university based research centers were investigated by an analytical case study of one such center, the "University Research Center" (URC). A description of URC's life cycle and the various factors that affected its performance is presented. The sociocognitive ideals of university-based research centers emphasized the promotion of interdisciplinary research and education. The organizational reality, however, showed that a variety of other factors, both internal and external to a center, may significantly influence its operations. Factors internal to URC included leadership, support of loyal participants and their motivations to participate in interdisciplinary research. External factors included the effects of university departments and the availability of funds. The interpretation of these factors made it possible to construct generalizations about the organizational characteristics of university-based research centers. In order to function effectively, a university-based research center must manage its sociocognitive ideals and its organizational characteristics simultaneously and with some degree of balance. / Master of Science

The purpose of the study was to determine the differences in the total annual income, total annual and monthly expenditures, and consumer expenditure patterns between American and foreign graduate students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI & SU). The study was based on a survey entitled "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Graduate Students Demographic and Economic Impact Study" conducted in April, 1989. The sample size used in the analysis was 442, including 373 American and 69 foreign students. The findings from the study showed that (1) the American students had significantly higher total monthly expenditures than did the foreign students; (2) the American students had significantly higher absolute expenditures on tax, auto insurance, gasoline and auto repair, medical, laundry, and gifts and contributions, while the foreign students had significantly higher expenditures for telephone calls~ and (3) the American students had significantly larger percentage expenditure on tax, auto insurance, gasoline and auto repair, and entertainment, while the foreign students had significantly larger percentage expenditures on food, utilities, telephone, and travel. / Master of Science

M.S.

Master of Science

Virginia Polytecilnic Institute and State University (VPI&SU) has embarked upon a project of planning, designing and constructing a Recreational Sports and Fitness Center. Because the center will be a building housing high levels of physical activity, the element of risk or danger is inevitably higher than in other types of facilities. This risk can lead to more accidents and injuries and ultimately to law suits. With the aid of a systematic facility wide program designed to reduce preventable injuries and to minimize the financial severity of potential claims, the administrators at VPI&SU can take steps to insure that the proposed facility is as safe as can be conceived. / Master of Science