Daily Press February 12, 2011 Citizen of the Year William R. Harvey, Hampton University president It was never inevitable that Hampton University would open a sophisticated cancer treatment facility. Almost all the other proton centers in the United States are affiliated with high-profile research universities, medical schools or teaching hospitals. But in 2010, the freestanding Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute switched on its cyclotron, opened its doors and began offering treatment - and hope - to people with cancer. In recognition of that achievement, the capstone of more than three decades of contributions to the local, state and national communities, the Daily Press honors HU President Dr. William R. Harvey as its Citizen of the Year for 2010. Listen to Harvey recounting how the Proton Therapy Institute came to be, and you begin to think it was meant to be. He talks of a "confluence of events" that set him on the path to the day in October when he welcomed Gov. Bob McDonnell to the ribbon-cutting at the center. In a single day several years ago, three different people - an alumnus, a faculty member doing cancer research, and a retired physician and Hampton graduate - talked to him about cancer or asked him if he knew about proton therapy. He didn't, but he went home and started reading. He discovered that there were only a few proton centers in the world. He looked into how proton treatment works and was impressed with its power to shrink tumors - gently, sparing other tissues and with fewer side effects than other therapies. He visited existing centers and talked to their professionals. He formed a planning team, brought on board legal and finance experts and quizzed the makers of the high-tech equipment that delivers the healing beam. Few people without Harvey's consummate ability to shake the money tree would have committed to a $225 million project before they knew where the money was coming from. But Harvey "absolutely stepped out in faith," as he puts it. He lined up investment bankers to issue bonds, confident that the money will be raised. That part of the project is a work in progress, but the center is a reality (see accompanying story). Even within the context of a career that has transformed a small college into a creditable university, the Proton Therapy Institute is the signature in Bill Harvey's legacy. That seems just right to Harvey, who says, "I really believe when you talk about easing human misery and saving lives, there is no higher calling." >From HI to HU Harvey's distinguishing accomplishment may be in an office park off Magruder Boulevard, but his fingerprints are all over Hampton University's campus. Under his leadership, it has been transformed, and so has the school's enrollment, endowment and stature (see accompanying story). Much of the academic growth has centered around the sciences. That aligns with a push by colleges and universities to produce more of the experts in science, technology and engineering that the nation must have if it is to continue to rely, for its prosperity, on its ability to innovate. It also aligns with a push by historically black colleges, government and industry to make sure the nation can tap into a wider work force, including the minorities who are now underrepresented in these fields. On Dr. Harvey's watch, dozens of new academic programs have been added, many of them in the sciences and engineering. Health has been a particular focus, and graduate programs have been launched in pharmacy, physical therapy and nursing. The new Skin of Color Research Institute grew out of a recognition of racial differences in how diseases affect this important organ, and cancer research is looking into questions like how treatment can be more effective for breast cancer. Harvey is less focused on the "gee whiz" aspects of high-tech research than on how it can, as he puts it, aid humanity. That is the goal driving the university's growing interest in health disparities, in understanding why diseases like diabetes, obesity, stroke and prostate cancer are more prevalent among black Americans and what can be done to address that disparity. HU has been adept at tapping federal sources to help fund its research, and in some years it has led the state's universities in dollars snared. Many of them have gone toward NASA-funded research in atmospheric sciences (see accompanying story). The school is using both traditional and very modern ways to reach more students. Bricks and mortar outreach has taken the form of 20 new buildings on campus and a new campus in Virginia Beach. Technology is making it possible to reach students far from Virginia: Programs in educational and business management are the first in HU's online education push. Harvey's sights don't end at the U.S. borders, and HU is exploring the possibility of a campus in Singapore. Hampton University is a community unto itself, but it is also part of a larger community where its president has played a leadership role. He has stepped up to raise money for the United Way and the American Red Cross, and he endowed an annual leadership award and leadership forum for the Boy Scouts. Local young people are able to train to be teachers thanks to a $1 million scholarship fund Dr. and Mrs. Harvey endowed in honor of his father. The White House is calling Talk with Dr. Harvey, and there's a chance your conversation will be interrupted by a caller with a 202 area code. Harvey chairs the President's Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a group working to strengthen the capacity of these national educational resources - and that is only one of several national-level appointments. He ticks off an impressive list of officials he's talked to recently about education issues, including Cabinet-level secretaries and the heads of the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. Harvey's contacts with the White House paid off last May for delighted seniors and their families, when President Barack Obama gave the commencement address. The picture of that event that hangs outside Harvey's office is the latest addition to a gallery of photos showing him with presidents and a host of faces that are instantly recognizable to anyone who follows the national news. The man locals think of as a Hampton leader is also a player on a national stage. Harvey is on the Executive Committee of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Division I Board of Directors. He chaired the Council of Presidents of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, which runs the Jefferson Lab. He has served on a number of corporate boards, including Fannie Mae, Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Newport News Shipbuilding and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. "It's a team effort" Norma Harvey is the woman beside - not behind - the man in a team that has been, as Dr. Harvey says, "building things together" for 44 years. Harvey is quick to credit his wife's contributions to the university and the Proton Therapy Institute, where it was her idea to connect the new with tradition by incorporating a clock tower that references the tower on the historic campus. She came up with the idea of a play area to occupy patients' children while they're waiting, and she keeps it stocked with toys and books. The Harveys are parents of Kelly, Chris and Leslie. And like proud grandparents everywhere, they light up when the talk turns to their granddaughters, Taylor, Gabrielle and Lauren. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.