New V.P. is optimistic

More comfortable wearing jeans and Dr. Martin boots while traveling through Latin America than sitting behind a desk, the new vice president for academic affairs and second most powerful person on campus believes that being an administrator is how he can do the most good for the university.

"It is the best job in the institution. I get a panoramic view of what is going on with those in the trenches," new Vice President Thomas J. La Belle, 55, said. "A university works if this office, the faculty and the students have a successful relationship."

Following a lengthy search that took almost five months and involved more than 150 applicants, SF State hired a new vice president for academic affairs who brings with him a 25-year background in education, multiculturalism and Latin American Studies.
La Belle, a former provost at West Virginia University, Morgantown, was chosen last May by President Robert Corrigan to replace the former Vice President Marilyn Boxer, who after seven years, announced last December that she would be leaving the position on Aug. 1 to head the Northern California Center for Inter-Institutional Collaboration.
The largest increase in enrollment since 1990 and the beginning of a massive campus-wide construction project has been a burden on every aspect of the school and has made his first two months difficult.

"It is discomforting for everyone," La Belle said. "It is a pain right now but it shows that the campus can look ahead to the future."

In an SF State press release Corrigan said of the new vice president: "In Thomas La Belle we have found a rare combination of seasoned academic leader and active scholar. Particularly fitting for this university and our community, La Belle's scholarship is multiculturally-based, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean."

The choice of La Belle for the position was based on many factors according to Director of Space Management Hollis Matson who, as chair of the Academic Senate, headed the search committee that made the recommendations to Corrigan, who made the final decision.

"He was very experienced," Matson said. "He was provost at two universities prior to coming to SF State. He has worked at a number of public, urban universities that were similar to SF State and he knew what it was like. His area as an academic was multiculturalism and for a diverse campus such as ours that is very important."

Although La Belle has been at SF State for only eight weeks, he said one of his primary missions is to guide the university toward the future with more attention being placed on technology and a greater access to computers for both students and faculty, without losing sight of what a college experience is about.

"Should we just be concerned with what students learn and what they know," La Belle said. "Or should we also focus on the process: Being on campus, spending time with faculty, using labs. Those are all important parts of a college experience. We need to demonstrate that the process is important while using technology to enhance it."

With a second tidal wave of students enrolling by the thousands in California universities, La Belle sees a larger student population as part of the future of SF State and would like to see changes in both the physical appearance of the campus and in the curriculum that will meet the new challenges.

He said that improvements could come in the way of a new student center, an improved library, an expansion of the dorms and possibly changes in the general education requirements.

A Peace Corps volunteer in the early 1960s, La Belle believes that the most important thing that he brings to SF State is an international and multicultural background. La Belle speaks Spanish, has published books in Spanish and believes acquiring a second language should be one of the most important goals of any student.

A frequent chronicler of Latin America, La Belle has written or edited 10 books and published more than 70 articles on educational anthropology, international development, education and inter-group relations, and non-formal education.

He recently traveled through Chile, Venezuela and Mexico on his second Fulbright Scholarship to work on his latest book, "Empowering Poor Adults in Latin America," a study on how programs can be designed to help indigent adults with issues such as community development and literacy.

La Belle officially became vice president on July 1 and also joined SF State as a tenured faculty member in the College of Education's Department of Administration and Interdisciplinary Studies.

A native of California, La Belle received his bachelor's degree in education from California State University Northridge in 1964. After working in Colombia with the Peace Corps he received his master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico, combining Education, Anthropology and Latin American Studies. He became an assistant professor of Educational Anthropology in 1969 at UCLA where he remained for 17 years.

[ Golden Gater Online September 5, 1996 ]

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