Last updated: October 12 2011
U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Colleges 2012” (fall 2011)
The undergraduate programs in architecture and landscape architecture, both in the School of Architecture + Design, ranked No. 4 and No. 3, respectively, in the America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools study conducted by the journal DesignIntelligence. The school’s programs in interior design and industrial design also ranked in the study’s top 10 in their respective fields.
The Princeton Review ranked Tech among the nation's top 50 public universities in its "Best Value Colleges" for 2011. Princeton Review selected 50 public institutions and 50 private ones for its rankings.
Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine ranked Virginia Tech among the 100 public colleges and universities that offer a first-class educational experience at a bargain price.
A Wall Street Journal survey of 479 employers ranked Virginia Tech 13th in the nation for preparing graduates to succeed on the job.
IEEE Spectrum ranked Virginia Tech 10th among universities for the impact of its patents. The Patent Power survey focuses on quality rather than quantity of patents.
Dining Services was ranked No. 2 in the nation for Best Campus Food in 2011 by the Princeton Review and No. 3 in the nation in 2010 by the Parents and Colleges publication.
Virginia Tech, with an average starting salary of $51,600 for graduates, ranked fifth in the nation in that metric among NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, behind Stanford, Duke, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame, according to the website Payscale.com. The ACC ranked first among all FBS conferences. Virginia Tech also ranked in the top 20 nationally for mid-career salaries of graduates of FBS schools. At 14th, Virginia Tech graduates bring in an average mid-career salary of $91,500.
U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Graduate Schools 2012” (spring 2011)
DesignIntelligence ranked the graduate landscape architecture program fourth in North America, the graduate interior design program 10th, and the graduate architecture program 12th.
With more than 23,500 undergraduate students, about 7,300 graduate students, and more than 3,100 faculty members and researchers, Virginia Tech offers more degree programs and awards more diplomas than any other university in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Virginia Tech's fully computerized library contains more than 2.3 million volumes, an array of specialized collections, and numerous electronic databases.
Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top 15 schools in the nation in number of patents received.
Virginia Tech is one of only three public universities in the United States to support both a military and a non-military student lifestyle (the others are Texas A&M and North Georgia College and State University). Membership in the corps of cadets was mandatory for all able-bodied males until 1964, when it became optional. The corps preceded the federal service academies by first admitting women in 1973.
All campus facilities, including residence halls, are connected by fiber-optic cable, providing voice, data, and video communications and high-speed, direct Internet connection. In 2004-05, Tech began offering wireless Internet connections in more than 75 different buildings, including academic buildings, student centers, dining facilities, and even the south end zone of Lane Stadium. Tech is also the visionary leader of the internationally recognized Blacksburg Electronic Village project, instituted in the early 1990s, that connected the town and campus to the world.
The Center for Digital Government named Blacksburg the sixth-most technologically advanced town in the nation among urban areas with a population of 30,000 to 74,999.
For fiscal year 2009, Virginia Tech ranked 44th in the nation for total research and development expenditures, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF). Research and development expenditures for 2010, for which there has not yet been a ranking, are $398,169,000.
Each year, the university receives significant external support from an ever-expanding base of sponsors for research, instruction, and outreach projects. In fiscal year 2011, the university received 2,400 awards to conduct research.
Seven research institutes have been created to draw upon established strengths and build resources:
Fralin Life Science Institute
Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology
Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science
Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment
Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
The largest research institutes at the university are the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), with almost 300 employees and $104 million in active research awards, has a mission to save lives, time, and money for the transportation industry. Facilities include the 2.2-mile, two-lane, fully instrumented “Smart Road” and more than 51,000 square feet of office and specialized laboratory space – such as an asphalt lab, fully equipped garages, instrumentation bays, and a machine shop for working on VTTI’s vehicle fleet.
The Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI), with more than 200 people and $109 million in active research awards, combines information technology, medicine, and biology to solve problems in the biomedical, environmental, and agricultural sciences. VBI research has contributed to public health and national safety.
The Fralin Life Science Institute is dedicated to increasing the quality, quantity, and competitiveness of life science research, education, and outreach at Virginia Tech by coalescing resources around existing and emerging strengths within the life science community. Institute researchers investigate vector-borne disease, infectious disease, obesity, molecular plant sciences, and cancer biology.
Focused on the intersection of the arts, creative technologies, and learning, the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology will contribute to society through programs that promote creativity, critical thinking, and life-long learning. It will provide an innovative environment within which to conduct and apply transdisciplinary, collaborative research that will enhance learning in pre-kindergarten through high school and higher education environments. Targeted research and scholarship areas will include creative and critical thinking skills; learning advancement, especially in math, science, social studies, and language arts; and innovation of transdisciplinary educational experiences.
The Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science is building capacity at the intersection of engineering, science, biology, and the humanities. Thrust areas include nanoscale science and engineering, nano-bio interface, sustainable energy, safe and sustainable water, national security, cognition and communication systems, renewable materials, and emerging technologies. Researchers from across the university are taking advantage of the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory and building collegial partnerships as they use the resources of two new buildings — one in the university’s engineering corridor and one in the life sciences corridor.
The Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment is strengthening the university’s competitive position in the social sciences, humanities, and the arts. The institute provides organizational, technical, and financial support for targeted creative, interactive, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary research endeavors that address issues of social and individual transformation. The Global Issues Initiative is researching trade policies and poverty in Pakistan and the Philippines and the implications of agricultural subsidies in eight countries, among other issues. A Center for Public Health Practice and Research has been established to foster interdisciplinary, collaborative public health practice and research activities at Virginia Tech and among external public health agencies, organizations, practitioners, and researchers.
The Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute was created in 2009 to make major scientific advances in understanding and addressing the fundamental processes of human health and disease with development of new approaches to diagnosis, treatments, prevention, and cures. The mission is to become a premier institute of interdisciplinary and translational research within the medical sciences, to facilitate research-based medical education, and to improve patient care through discovery and partnerships with clinicians. The first faculty members’ research emphasis areas are: brain function of children and adults in health as well as in neurological and psychiatric disorders; molecular studies of cancer and heart development; infectious diseases in children; addiction and substance abuse; development of novel neurorehabilitation strategies for traumatic brain injury, PTSD, depression, and seizure disorders; and early life educational interventions for children at risk.
Other areas of research achievement and ongoing investigation throughout the university include high-performance computing; advanced materials; wireless telecommunication; housing; human and animal health; cognition, development, and behavior; the environment; and energy, including power electronics, biofuels, fuel cells, and solar-powered building structures. In the social sciences, scholarship and creative work include cultural expression and literature; interactions between ideas, technology, and people; and performing arts.
The university has two human medical schools, each with a significant research component. The Virginia Tech–Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences integrates the capabilities of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Virginia Tech’s research includes biomechanics, cellular transport, computational modeling, biomaterials, bioheat and mass transfer, biofluid mechanics, instrumentation, ergonomics, and tissue engineering.
The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine welcomed its first class in August 2010. Curriculum value domains are basic sciences, clinical sciences, research, and interprofessionalism. Students and clinicians will be partners in the research enterprise.
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc. (VTIP) was established as a nonprofit corporation in 1985 to support the research mission of the university by protecting and licensing intellectual properties that result from research performed by Virginia Tech faculty and staff members and students. During fiscal year 2011, 26 U.S. patents and 14 foreign patents were awarded to VTIP, and 24 license and option agreements were signed. Additionally, Virginia Tech ranked 10th among universities globally in the IEEE Spectrum Patent Power Scorecards, which analyzed the strength of patent portfolios for calendar year 2009.
The Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation (VT-ARC), a private nonprofit corporation affiliated with Virginia Tech, was established in fall 2010. With offices in Northern Virginia and Blacksburg, VT-ARC will foster applied research and development, and management of large contract research projects. It will apply Virginia Tech's basic and scholarly research achievements, expertise, and collaborations across multiple disciplines to solve complex national challenges in intelligence, cyber and information technology, national security, energy, and health.
Virginia Tech ranked fifth in the country with $91.6 million in agriculture and natural resources research spending in 2009, according to the National Science Foundation.
The Department of Biological Systems Engineering ranked seventh among biological/agricultural graduate programs according to U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools” 2012 survey.
Researchers in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise conducted the first randomized, controlled-intervention trial demonstrating that increased water consumption is an effective weight loss strategy. The trial confirmed that drinking just two 8-ounce glasses of water before meals enables people to shed pounds.
Virginia Tech's Department of Entomology was recognized with the 2010 University Exemplary Department Award for its efforts to provide international experiences to its students by positioning them to contribute to areas of human and animal health, pest management, and communication in the context of an expanding global economy.
Faculty members at the Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center are leading a multi-state effort to further improve grape and wine quality in the eastern United States. The five-year project seeks to create, refine, and encourage industry adoption of grape and wine production practices that integrate research-based recommendations with key market drivers to achieve a robust and sustainable grape and wine industry in the region.
An international consortium of scientists led by university researchers has completed the majority of its efforts to sequence the genome of the domesticated turkey. The genetic blueprint of the domesticated turkey promises to transform avian experimental research and, ultimately, help improve the quality of this commercially important source of food, including its disease resistance and profitability.
Researchers at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center have begun a five-year project to study integrated management of zoosporic pathogens and irrigation water quality to create a more sustainable green industry. The study will help the nursery and floriculture industries become more sustainable, enabling them to better compete in the global market.
An international team of scientists that includes researchers from Virginia Tech has cracked the genetic code of a plant pathogen that causes downy mildew disease. Downy mildews are a widespread class of destructive diseases that causes major losses to crops as diverse as maize, grapes, and lettuce.
Virginia Cooperative Extension is part of a team of industry and academic researchers that has launched an effort to develop a $100 million broccoli industry on the East Coast over the next 10 years by building grower networks in several production areas.
Virginia Cooperative Extension launched the Master Food Volunteer Program to educate the commonwealth’s citizens about the importance of good nutrition.
Scientists from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences received a $9.28 million grant to lead a multidisciplinary team representing 18 institutions that will create new disease-management technologies to improve the sustainability of soybean production.
A researcher in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences — who in 1957 began breeding lines of white Plymouth Rock chickens based on their juvenile body weight — has provided scientists with a model for exploring the molecular basis for chicken growth and reproduction. In 2010, a team of scientists used Virginia Tech’s decades-old lines of high- and low-growth chickens for a breakthrough in genetic studies of animal domestication.
An international consortium of researchers from more than 30 institutions, including scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute and from the Department of Horticulture, has cracked the genetic code of the woodland strawberry. The researchers hope that sequencing of the strawberry's genome will spur the development of nutritional improvements in the woodland strawberry and other related crops.
Marcus M. Alley, the W.G. Wysor Professor Emeritus of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Alley was selected for the honor — the organization’s highest — by his peers “for contributions to increased productivity of agro-ecosystems for food, feed, and fiber production with reduced environmental impacts, and leadership of the American Society of Agronomy.”
Scotty Bolling, a laboratory mechanic for the Department of Entomology, received the university's 2011 President's Award for Excellence. The award is presented annually to up to five Virginia Tech staff employees.
Dennis Dean, the Stroobants Professor of Biotechnology and director of the Fralin Life Science Institute, was named a University Distinguished Professor by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. The preeminent rank is bestowed on no more than 1 percent of the university's faculty.
Billie Jean Elmer, Surry County 4-H youth development agent and unit coordinator for Virginia Cooperative Extension, received Virginia Tech’s 2011 Alumni Award for Excellence in Extension.
Mike Goatley, professor of crop and soil environmental sciences, received the university's 2011 Alumni Award for Excellence in Extension. He is the turfgrass specialist for Virginia Cooperative Extension.
George W. Norton, professor of agricultural and applied economics, received the university's 2011 Alumni Award for Excellence in Graduate Academic Advising. The award is presented to Virginia Tech faculty members who have been particularly dedicated and effective while advising graduate students.
Paul Siegel, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Animal and Poultry Sciences, received an honorary doctorate from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.
The 2010 Virginia Tech Soil Judging Team won first place at the 50th American Society of Agronomy National Soil Judging Contest in Lubbock, Texas. This was the third time Virginia Tech team members have returned home as national champions, and the second time since 2005.
The North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture recognized Allison C. Echols with the 2011 Graduate Student Teaching Award. She is a master’s degree student in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences.
Stephanie Nicole “Nikki” Lewis, a graduate student in Virginia Tech’s interdisciplinary doctoral program in genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology, received the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Predoctoral Research from the National Institutes of Health.
Lumenhaus, Virginia Tech’s entry in the Solar Decathlon Europe, was declared the most efficient structure in the decathlon, beating out 16 other solar houses from seven countries on three continents. Lumenhaus placed in almost all of the 10 judging categories, including tying for first in architecture, taking second in communication and social awareness, and placing third in industrialization and market viability and in lighting.
The Myers-Lawson School of Construction is partnering with the Pamplin College of Business to offer a new simultaneous degree option at the master’s level. Students now have the opportunity to earn an M.B.A. alongside an M.S. in either construction engineering management or building construction in two years.
Keith and Marie Zawistowski, both assistant professors of practice, received the Grand Prize from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) for their practice curriculum, described by the prize committee as “engaging students in the often ‘mundane’ subject of professional practice by introducing it as a design problem – an innovative means to make the subject relevant to students.”
NCARB also awarded Joseph Wheeler, Robert Dunay, Robert Schubert, and David Clark a 2011 NCARB prize for their work on Lumenhaus.
Robert Dunay was recognized by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) as a 2010-11 Distinguished Professor.
ACSA also recognized James Bassett with the ACSA/AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award, given jointly by ACSA and the American Institute of Architecture Students. This award recognizes demonstrated excellence in performance during the formative years of an architectural teaching career.
Derek Hyra, of the School of Public and International Affairs, was named to the U.S. Small Business Administration's Advisory Council on Underserved Communities.
Anne Khademian, a professor with the Center for Public Administration and Policy in the School of Public and International Affairs, was elected a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow.
Four professors from the School of Architecture + Design were among 25 faculty members in North America named Most Admired Educators of 2010 in the 11th annual America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools study by DesignIntelligence. They were Brian Katen, Ronald Kemnitzer, Patrick Miller, and Lisa Tucker.
Four teams of students from the industrial design program in the School of Architecture + Design swept the five award categories at an international design competition that included professional designs. The competition was sponsored by Ardica, a clothing company focused on portable, miniaturized power- and heat-integrated apparel. In the competition, eight finalist groups, chosen from among 100 entries, were charged with designing an outdoor product that integrated the Moshi Power Pack, which is a flat, flexible battery system that weighs less than one pound. A team made up of Kyle McCrory, Patrice Hsia, and Greg Lefevere designed the first-prize winner, the “Voltage” sleeping bag. Two other Hokie teams took second and third, and Crosby Reinders won the Student Design Award.
Mary Jo Wills was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles. Wills, a career diplomat with more than 30 years of experience in international affairs, is a doctoral candidate at the Virginia Tech Center for Public Administration and Policy in the National Capital Region.
A team of five Virginia Tech students from the colleges of Architecture and Urban Studies and Engineering won first place in the Associated Schools of Construction/Associated General Contractors Region II Heavy-Civil competition. The student teams were given a construction problem statement at 7 a.m. on the day of the competition and had until 8 p.m. that same day to develop a solution, an estimate, and construction schedule. The teams had to consider concrete placement, traffic control, structural steel erection, bridge construction, and conventional concrete in their solution for the fictional Port Everglades Bridge project in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Virginia Tech is the home of the commonwealth's leading College of Engineering, known in Virginia and throughout the nation for the excellence of its programs in engineering education, research, and public service. It ranks among the top five suppliers of new B.S. degrees in the United States.
Virginia Tech ranks 13th among all engineering schools in the number of graduate students enrolled, according to the 2010 “Prism Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges” book. Tech enrolled 2,208 graduate students.
The college has 48 endowed professorships, with values ranging from $150,000 to more than $1 million, and eight chaired professorships endowed for at least $1 million each. This number of endowed professorships is one of the highest in the nation among engineering colleges.
The Wall Street Journal’s survey of 479 of the largest public and private U.S. companies, nonprofits, and government agencies ranked the College of Engineering fifth in the country for graduates best prepared and most able to succeed.
Ground was broken for the Signature Engineering Building in the summer of 2011, after an anonymous donor committed $25 million toward the project, the largest single donation ever given to Virginia Tech.
The Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, directed by Michael Karmis, a chaired professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, is currently managing some $33 million in research projects.
The college is now offering graduate course work that will lead to a master's degree in mechanical engineering with a nuclear certificate. Virginia Tech's nuclear course work also is available to off-campus students through the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program.
Twelve current or emeritus faculty members of the college are members of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering. Eleven current or emeritus faculty members are University Distinguished Professors; four are Alumni Distinguished Professors.
One current faculty member received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Presidential Faculty Fellow Award, three received the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, eight received the NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and 61 are recipients of the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program awards or the Young Investigator Award (changed to CAREER in 1994).
In April 2011, Charles Clancy was named director of the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology and associate professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Operated jointly by the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science and the College of Engineering, the Hume Center heads the university's educational and research programs in national security and has taken a leading role in the Tech's growth in cyber security.
Fred Lee, a University Distinguished Professor, earned membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 2011. His work in power electronics has led to a paradigm shift in the manufacturing of power-electronics products.
The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors named Roe-Hoan Yoon, the Nicholas T. Camicia Professor of Mining and Minerals Engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Separation Technologies, a University Distinguished Professor.
Peizhen Kathy Lu, associate professor of materials science and engineering, received a 2011 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award. As an award recipient, Lu was invited to spend a year cooperating on a long-term research project with Ralf Riedel at the Technische Universität Darmstadt’s Institute for Materials Science in Germany.
Michael Karmis, the Stonie Barker Chaired Professor of Mining and Minerals Engineering, put together a consortium of major research universities to address the environmental impacts of the discovery, development, production, and use of energy resources in Appalachia. The Appalachian Research Initiative for Environmental Science will study both upstream and downstream issues related to the energy sector.
Alexander Leonessa, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is developing a small device that could use functional electrical stimulation on the paralyzed vocal folds of stroke patients or others who have lost the ability to talk or even swallow or breathe properly.
Douglas Bish, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering, won a five-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development 2011 award to create mathematical-based computer models that eventually will help emergency managers better plan, train, and carry out logistically complex tasks.
Romesh C. Batra, professor of engineering science and mechanics, received the 2011 Virginia Outstanding Scientist Award. Working with his students, Batra has assisted in developing numerous new designs and products, such as bulletproof vests, tank walls, and shields to protect vehicles against improvised explosive devices.
Elementary school children in rural Southwest Virginia are the beneficiaries of an IBM Faculty Award presented to Wu Feng, associate professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering. Feng is using the grant to develop methods to deliver a computer science curriculum via virtual computing to children in kindergarten through eighth grades.
Padma Rajagopalan, director of the Virginia Tech Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Science’s Center for Systems Biology of Engineered Tissues, has received a three-year, $750,000 Science to Achieve Results award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She is a past recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to fund her work on cell migration.
The National Science Foundation named Rafael Davalos as one of its recipients of a 2011 CAREER Award to continue his trailblazing research on the ability of irreversible electroporation to treat diseased cells with and without adjuvant chemotherapeutic agents or radiation.
Sunil Sinha, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, has developed a National Pipeline Infrastructure Database, which contains information on technologies that can assess the condition as well as the location of buried pipes, and on methods of how to repair, rehabilitate, or replace these pipes entirely.
Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory team dominated the 2011 international robot soccer competition known as RoboCup, winning the Louis Vuitton Humanoid Cup, the competition’s version of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s World Cup. The team won first place in both the adult-size class with the 5-foot humanoid robot CHARLI-2 and the kid size class with the miniature humanoid-robot DARwIn-OP. The win is not just a first for the team headed by Dennis Hong, associate professor of mechanical engineering, but also a first for the United States.
In January 2011 students with the college debuted two second-generation Blind Driver Challenge vehicles. A blind person drove one of the vehicles on the inner-track of the Daytona International Speedway.
The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team won the 2011 international EcoCAR Challenge, a three-year design competition that seeks to inspire science and engineering students to build more energy-efficient “green” automobiles. In all, the team of engineering graduate and undergraduate students won 14 first-place awards.
A group of doctoral students in the computer science department and the Center for Human-Computer Interaction won first place in the 3D User Interfaces Grand Prize competition at the 2011 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Symposium. It was the second consecutive first-place win for the team known as the Fighting Gobblers, advised by Associate Professor Doug Bowman.
The Virginia Tech Student Engineers’ Council (SEC) finalized a permanent funding source for the dozens of undergraduate design teams in the College of Engineering, reaching its goal of a $500,000 endowment at the end of 2010. In 2011, the SEC also made a three-year $100,000 pledge to the College of Engineering for the Signature Engineering Building and paid a first installment of $30,000.
Thao Do, of mechanical engineering, is a National Institutes of Health-Oxford-Cambridge Scholar. She is spending 2010-12 on the National Institutes of Health main campus in Bethesda, Md., and 2012-14 in the United Kingdom at either Oxford or Cambridge university.
The college has five Alumni Distinguished Professors (ADPs) — the most for any of the university’s eight colleges. Only nine Virginia Tech professors currently have received an ADP appointment from the university’s board of visitors. The appointment recognizes extraordinary academic citizenship and distinguished service within the Virginia Tech university community. They are Jacqueline Bixler, foreign languages and literatures; Rosemary Blieszner, human development; Gary Downey, science and technology studies; James Robertson Jr., history; and Lucinda Roy, English.
The college has two University Distinguished Professors — English Professor Nikki Giovanni and political science Professor Tim Luke. The rank of University Distinguished Professor is bestowed by the board of visitors on those whose scholarship and writing have attracted national and/or international attention. Currently, only 12 Virginia Tech professors are recognized as University Distinguished Professors.
The career and technical education graduate program in the School of Education tied for fourth place among vocational and technical specialties in U.S. News & World Report's survey of America’s Best Graduate Schools.
Virginia Tech boasts a laptop orchestra – the first Linux-based orchestra in the world with a focus on ultra-affordable design. The group toured and performed in seven European countries. Ivica Ico Bukvic, founder and director of L2Ork and an assistant professor in the Department of Music, explained how the newest ensemble on campus started: “To minimize cost and encourage widespread adoption as well as exploration of opportunities in K-12 education, we utilize an inexpensive MSI Wind Notebook and employ a Linux operating system that is freely available for download.”
Philologia, the undergraduate research journal in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, rolled out Volume 3 this past year. Latin for “scholarship and love of learning,” Philologia is an 82-page, full-color magazine that contains research manuscripts, creative scholarship, and featured articles written by the student editorial board.
Virginia Tech celebrated the restoration and reopening of its oldest structure, Solitude, this past April. Solitude had been vacant for many years prior to a $1 million restoration that began in July 2010. “Part of our mission as a land-grant university is to engage with the region,” said Sue Ott Rowlands, dean of the college. “Solitude represents our ability to connect to the past, to families that originally settled this area, and to families that are still living and working here.”
Gary Downey, Alumni Distinguished Professor of science and technology in society, won the 2011 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, the commonwealth’s highest honor for faculty. Trained as a mechanical engineer and cultural anthropologist, Downey is recognized internationally as founding leader of a unique interdisciplinary field called engineering studies, which integrates research with pedagogy and what Downey calls “critical participation in broader discussions and debates about engineering education, research, practice, policy, and representation.”
In February, Virginia Tech celebrates its authors. Once again, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences claimed the longest list of faculty (27) who have authored, co‐authored, or edited books during the past year. The list includes one individual with three submissions.
Heather Gumbert, assistant professor, and Robert Stephens, associate professor, both in the Department of History, were named faculty principals of the Honors Residential College at East Ambler Johnston Hall.
Tory Smith, a 2011 graduate with a double major in mechanical engineering and German, received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Smith, a University Honors Program participant from Raleigh, N.C., will use the annual stipend of $30,000 for three years to study vehicle dynamics and control at the University of California, Berkeley.
Rose Filippell, who earned her bachelor’s in international studies in 2011, and Emily Barry, who earned her degree in 2009 in Spanish and is now a master’s candidate, both won a Boren Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious and generous awards for international study. Boren scholarships, worth as much as $20,000, support undergraduate study in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests but are often underrepresented by typical study-abroad programs.
Amanda Rohm Daquila, who earned her master’s degree in history in spring 2011, went to Germany to teach English through the Fulbright U.S. Student Grant Program. A Blacksburg resident, Daquila is working with students in the German state of Niedersachsen — Lower Saxony. She has taught German to middle school, high school, and Virginia Tech students.
Both student representatives to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors for 2011-12 hail from the college and will serve as liaisons between the student body and the board for a one-year term. Matthew Banfield, of Williamsburg, Va., a junior majoring in theatre arts and cinema, is the undergraduate representative, and Michelle McLeese, of Blacksburg, Va., a doctoral student and president of the Graduate Student Assembly, is the graduate representative.
Under the guidance of 2011 communication graduate Emily Feeney, the Virginia Tech Relay For Life and its 5,500 participants raised more than $600,000 for the American Cancer Society. Virginia Tech is currently ranked the No. 1 university in terms of online fundraising, according to the American Cancer Society. Virginia Tech has hosted Relay For Life fundraisers for the past 10 years with an outstanding history of community participation and charitable donations.
The National Science Foundation ranked the $91.6 million research program of the College of Natural Resources and Environment and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences fifth in the nation.
Programs in the College of Natural Resources and Environment have consistently ranked among the top of their type in the nation. The college’s wildlife program has been ranked first by its peers, and the fisheries program has been ranked second. In its recently released rankings of doctoral programs, the National Research Council rated Virginia Tech’s graduate program in forestry as one of the best in the nation.
A new bachelor of science degree in meteorology, the first in the commonwealth, was approved by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The new degree program, which will reside in the Department of Geography, will prepare students for careers in meteorology and weather forecasting with a significant focus on geospatial information technology, and will unite data from both the natural and the human environments.
The college launched the Leadership Institute, a new program to develop leadership abilities in some of its top undergraduate students to prepare them for managing natural resources for sustainability and biodiversity. In this two-semester special-study sequence, select students with demonstrated leadership skills and academic ability strengthen their talents through in-class discussion and hands-on leadership projects. The students also travel to Richmond, Va., and Washington, D.C.
A team led by Professor Jim Fraser and Assistant Professor Sarah Karpanty, of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, received a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior to evaluate the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on piping plovers, a species of shorebirds that has been listed as threatened since 1986.
Virginia Tech is among a consortium of land-grant universities and colleges across the South that has been awarded a $20 million Coordinated Agricultural Grant by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study the effects of climate change on southern pine forests. Thomas Fox, professor of forest soils and silviculture, is the lead principal investigator on the $3.4 million portion of the grant going to the Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation. In his additional role as the overall lead principal investigator for silvicultural research, Fox will help coordinate and synthesize the work of more than 29 scientists from 11 southeastern universities, eight forest-industry research cooperatives, and the U.S. Forest Service, as well as climatologists from the southeastern states.
The Wood-Based Composites Center based in the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products received a $675,000 National Science Foundation grant to create and support an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. The center’s mission is to advance the science and technology of wood-based composite materials, thereby promoting sustainable, environmentally friendly strategies for carbon sequestration and reduced energy consumption. The center’s industry members set the research agenda to focus on fundamental topics that support the needs of industry.
An injured golden eagle rehabilitated at the Wildlife Center of Virginia was released along the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Roanoke. David Kramar, a doctoral student in geography and a project associate at the college’s Conservation Management Institute, traps and releases golden eagles throughout the winter migration season and shares data collected with the Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group, an international partnership of more than 35 biologists, geographers, and wildlife managers from the U.S. and Canada.
The Virginia Master Naturalist Program, a multi-agency initiative based in the college, received a 2011 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence, earning a Gold Medal in the governmental environmental programs category. Through this program, trained volunteers broaden their own knowledge about Virginia’s natural resources while serving their communities and the environment. With 30 program chapters across the state and more than 1,000 active volunteers, Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers have reached more than 130,000 people.
The college hosted Imagining the Blue Ridge Parkway for the 21st Century, a symposium celebrating the parkway’s 75th anniversary. Focusing on sustaining the communities, environments, and economies along the parkway corridor, the conference featured nationally recognized guest speakers, including Richard Louv, author of the widely acclaimed “Last Child in the Woods.”
The Virginia Geospatial Extension Program has teamed with the Virginia Community College System and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium to develop a geospatial Web portal to help train the future generation of geospatial technicians in Virginia. The website, a repository for geospatial technology pathway models, curriculum, professional development materials, and other resources, is part of the Geospatial Technician Education Through Virginia’s Community Colleges project, which includes educational materials development, adaptation, and implementation and provides professional development and mentoring for faculty and high school teachers.
Kathleen Alexander, associate professor of wildlife, has discovered a novel tuberculosis (TB) species in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, a group of pathogens that have adapted by using mammals as hosts. It has been nearly two decades since a new organism was identified in this group. She identified the TB species in banded mongoose in northern Botswana and continues to study the behavior and ecology of banded mongoose and this new tuberculosis pathogen across both urban and protected environments in Botswana.
Kieran Lindsey, director of the Natural Resources Distance Learning Consortium, has been named the official animal-vehicle biologist for the famed Tappet brothers, Click and Clack, on “Car Talk,” one of the most popular shows on National Public Radio. Lindsey, who teaches graduate courses in urban wildlife management, human-wildlife conflicts, and human dimensions of natural resource management in the college’s natural resources program in the National Capital Region, tackles questions and explains what listeners can do about their animal problems.
Eric Hallerman, professor and head of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, spoke before a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel regarding the agency’s consideration to permit genetically engineered Atlantic salmon to be sold as food for humans. He also co-authored a commentary discussing the current status of developing and regulating genetically modified animals, published by the Council on Agricultural Science and Technology, and gave three talks to policymakers at agencies in Washington, D.C., on the subject.
Janaki Alavalapati, professor and head of the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, received the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Scientific Achievement Award, given in recognition of distinguished scientific achievement in the field of forestry research. Alavalapati and former graduate student Guillermo Trincado were honored at the IUFRO World Congress.
Jason Holiday, assistant professor of forest genetics and biotechnology, received a $1.5 million Faculty Early Career Development Program grant from the NSF to gain insight into how tree populations adapt at the genomic scale as a result of climate change.
Susan D. Day, assistant professor of urban forestry, received the 2010 Early Career Scientist Award from the International Society of Arboriculture, a professional society that serves the fields of arboriculture and urban forestry.
John Seiler, The Hon. and Mrs. Shelton H. Short Jr. Professor of Forestry, has been named an Alumni Distinguished Professor by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in recognition of his “extraordinary academic citizenship and distinguished service within the Virginia Tech community.”
David Trauger, professor emeritus of natural resources management, received the Washington Academy of Sciences Leo Schubert Award for teaching science in college. Founded in 1898, the academy has been honoring distinguished scientists who work in the greater Washington, D.C., area since 1940.
Peter Sforza, director and research scientist at the Center for Geospatial Information Technology, received the university’s 2011 XCaliber Award for excellence as an individual involved in teaching with technology.
Audrey Zink-Sharp, professor of wood science and forest products, was selected a Fellow of the Society for Wood Science and Technology. Zink-Sharp is the first female to receive this honor; she also served as the society’s first female president.
Thomas Fox, professor of forest soils and silviculture, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for research and teaching at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago, Chile.
Michael Mortimer, director of natural resources programs in the National Capital Region, was elected a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters, an honor reserved for less than 5 percent of the society's members.
Claudia Wultsch, a graduate student in wildlife science, was featured in the BBC documentary “Lost Land of the Tiger.” Wultsch was selected to join the film crew in Bhutan because of her expertise in tracking large cats using scat-detector dogs and genetic-sampling methods.
Kara Dodson, a junior environmental resources management major, was one of 80 students from 61 colleges and universities, and the only student from Virginia, to receive a 2011 Udall Scholarship from the Morris K. Udall and Steward L. Udall Foundation. Dodson served as president of the Virginia Tech Environmental Coalition for the 2010-11 academic year and is a student representative on the University Energy and Sustainability Committee.
Sarah Webster, a senior in the University Honors program majoring in wildlife sciences, was named a 2010-11 ACC Undergraduate Research Scholar. She was one of five students selected among 40 applicants for this scholarship program that recognizes highly talented undergraduate students who are pursuing ambitious and unique research projects.
Sophomore fisheries science majors Andrew Shamaskin and Brendan Runde each received an Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The scholarship provides academic assistance for full-time study and a 10-week summer internship position at a NOAA facility.
Kirsten Miller, a sophomore geography major, was awarded a scholarship from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars for her commitment to integrity. Applicants were required to submit two essays describing how they embrace integrity in their daily lives, both personally and academically.
Jung Ki Hong, of Daegu City, South Korea, a doctoral student in wood science and forest products, was selected as one of nine Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science Doctoral Scholars. Hong, who is researching the use of cellulose nanocrystals in bone scaffolds, received full graduate tuition support plus a graduate student stipend award and associated benefits.
Wildlife science doctoral student Sarah DuRant’s research on wood ducks continues to be well received by the scientific community. The findings of her recently completed research experiment have been featured in BBC Wildlife Magazine and the Journal of Experimental Biology (JEB), the leading journal in comparative animal physiology, as well as in the JEB 2010 Annual Research Highlights Booklet. DuRant was also featured in a video for Science Nation, an NSF initiative focused on bringing science to the general public with dynamic and entertaining short films.
Martin M. “Scooter” Cogar, a junior majoring in wildlife science and environmental resource management, won the overall competition in the Stihl Timbersports Series Collegiate Southern Qualifier. Cogar’s win earned him a scholarship and a trip to compete in the collegiate national championship.
Wyatt Blevins, a junior fisheries science major, was named to the first National Guard Forrest L. Wood College Fishing All-America Team.
Joe Davis, a senior majoring in conservation and recreation management, earned first-team All-American honors in the pole vault at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
U.S. News & World Report ranked the Pamplin College of Business undergraduate program 46th overall among the nation’s undergraduate business programs and 26th among public institutions. Pamplin’s ranking places it in the top 10 percent of the 600-plus U.S. undergraduate programs accredited by AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International).
Employers ranked the undergraduate program No. 32, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
The part-time M.B.A. program was ranked No. 45 by U.S. News & World Report.
Accounting and information systems was among the top 25 undergraduate programs in accounting, according to Public Accounting Report’s 29th Annual Professor’s Survey.
The college developed an innovative program to help alleviate the critical national shortage of business school faculty. Pamplin is among four U.S. business schools that have launched the first post-doctoral “bridge-to-business” programs approved by AACSB International. The programs are designed to prepare individuals with doctorates in non-business, but related, disciplines for new careers as business faculty members.
Five Pamplin majors are routinely in the 10 majors most sought after by recruiters visiting campus.
Faculty members who have received Fulbright Awards are business law Professor Janine Hiller, management Professor Richard Wokutch, accounting and information systems Professor France Belanger, hospitality and tourism management Professor Mahmood Khan, and management Professor Larry French.
The world’s top hospitality and tourism scholars include Pamplin’s Vince Magnini, Ken McCleary, and Zvi Schwartz, along with Professor Emeritus Michael Olsen, according to a study in the August 2011 issue of the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research.
Management Professor Richard Wokutch and marketing Professor Joseph Sirgy are listed among the most productive researchers in business ethics, according to a study in the Journal of Business Ethics, which ranked Virginia Tech 15th among the top 25 academic institutions in this field.
Mahmood A. Khan, hospitality and tourism management professor, was one of the winners in the Johnson & Wales case study competition at the 2011 summer conference of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education. Khan’s case study, co-authored with Maryam Khan of Howard University, was titled “Where is the Beef? A Case Study of Taco Bell.” Mahmood Khan was also selected to serve as associate editor of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly.
Pamplin faculty members are tackling major issues in industry, finance, management practice, and information technology, to name a few areas. Their research has contributed to greater understanding of business issues, has been cited in government hearings and court testimony, and has played a role in policymaking. Though sponsored research is not a central aspect of the research programs of business schools, several Pamplin faculty members have attracted national funding for their research, working as members of interdisciplinary teams. Based on publication in the leading academic journals in their fields, the college's departments are also regularly ranked among the nation's or world's top programs for scholarly productivity.
Pamplin’s senior faculty teach many of the required courses, and students learn from the professors who win teaching and research awards, write the books used in classrooms everywhere, serve as consultants to companies, or have worked in business and industry. The college has had 22 winners of the university’s Wine Award for teaching excellence since the award was established in 1957.
Business information technology students in a course taught by Assistant Professor Alan Abrahams publish a guide to e-business that is distributed free via small business development centers across the United States and available for purchase at the guidebook site, http://businessguidebook.org/, where a complimentary e-book edition can also be downloaded. The students have launched an outreach program to high schools and donated a 30-minute slide presentation, “How to start and grow an online business,” to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) online courses website, at the request of the SBA.
Pamplin College of Business students manage about $8 million of the university’s endowment through separate stock and bond investment portfolios of $4 million each. The stock investing project, called SEED (Student-managed Endowment for Educational Development), is believed to be the nation’s largest student-run portfolio that is managed entirely as an extracurricular activity, not as part of a course. The fixed-income portfolio is managed by a group called BASIS (Bond and Securities Investing by Students). Virginia Tech is the only Virginia school and one of only five universities in the country with a student-run, fixed-income securities fund.
The college is named in honor of alumni Robert B. Pamplin, the retired CEO of Georgia-Pacific who died in June 2009 at age 97, and businessman and philanthropist Robert B. Pamplin Jr. The college's notable alumni include David Calhoun, chairman and CEO of The Nielsen Company and former vice-chair of GE; Brad Casper, president and CEO of Dial Corporation; Lance Smith, retired U.S. Air Force general and former commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command; Terry Blevins, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Landmark Media Enterprises; Trish Cox, chief operating officer of Schwab Advisor Services; Lynne Doughtie, national managing partner of KPMG's U.S. advisory services; C.E. Andrews, president and chief operating officer of RSM McGladrey, a subsidiary of H&R Block; Vahan Janjigian, vice president and executive director of the Forbes Investors Advisory Institute, Forbes chief investment strategist, and author of “Even Buffet Isn't Perfect: What You Can and — Can't — Learn from the World's Greatest Investor”; and Denman Zirkle, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.
In order to recruit more students into the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the college has launched a unique integrated science curriculum that eliminates the traditional silos of specific science majors. Students enrolled in the curriculum will meet rigorous learning standards in six different science disciplines and will learn about the interconnectivity among these fields.
The college has launched what is known as a SCALE-UP classroom that enables highly collaborative, hands-on, interactive learning in what was traditionally a lecture-style class. Research shows that students in these types of classrooms have a better ability to solve problems, a better understanding of the subject matter, and are much less likely to fail.
The Department of Physics and the School of Education have received a grant to establish a program of study designed to attract students to high school physics teaching as a career. Virginia Tech’s is the only such program in the state.
The college is a major player in the university’s new research center in Arlington, which opened its doors in June 2011. The highly visible, state-of-the-art facility will be home to some of the world’s most renowned scientists and will enable new partnerships with corporate and government research entities.
A new method of delivering cancer-fighting drugs that was developed by researchers in the College of Science was named a “Top 10 Breakthrough” by Popular Mechanics Magazine.
Two programs in the college were cited in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2011” survey. Geosciences was named as having among the best paleontology and earth sciences programs in the country, and the graduate psychology program was ranked among the best clinical psychology programs.
The college is rapidly making a name for itself as an international player in the field of neutrinos. As a result, the physics department established the Center for Neutrino Physics this year.
Shuhai Xiao, professor of geosciences, was recently named a Guggenheim Fellow, an international award given on the basis of achievement and exceptional research promise.
Two members of the College of Science faculty were named Dr. Carroll B. Shannon Excellence in Teaching Award winners. Leo Piilonen, professor of physics, and Gordon Yee, associate professor of chemistry, were cited for their innumerable contributions to teaching and learning.
Patricia Dove, professor of geosciences, was named a Fellow of the American Geochemical Society.
Judy Riffle, professor of chemistry, was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.
Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and professor of biological sciences, was appointed to a three-year term on the external scientific advisory board of the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Geoff Vining, professor in the Department of Statistics, was awarded the prestigious Shewhart Medal by the American Society for Quality.
More than 90 scholarships were awarded to undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Science during a Celebration of Excellence luncheon.
Ryan A. Anderson, who graduated last spring in biological sciences, was named Virginia Tech Man of the Year, one of the most prestigious undergraduate awards given by the university each year.
Brittany Gianetti, an honors student in biological sciences, was awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship this past year to study ways of fighting gangrene.
Recent graduate Holly Berkeley was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to continue her public health studies in Malaysia.
The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM), in collaboration with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, launched a new master of public health program in fall 2010 in response to a critical shortage of trained public health professionals. The program, which offers concentrations in public health education and infectious disease, integrates and expands public health opportunities at the university.
One of the most common causes of lameness in horses — an injury to tendons or ligaments — can now be treated at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center with platelet rich plasma (PRP). PRP is derived from blood that is drawn from an equine patient and run through a centrifuge, which separates a solution’s less-dense components from its heavier ones.
For the past several years, Dr. Elankumaran Subbiah, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, and a team of researchers from the college have conducted innovative research to develop a treatment for cancer. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program of the Department of Defense have provided major funding for Subbiah’s work, which focuses on creating a cancer therapy from genetically altered Newcastle disease virus. This innovative work will continue thanks to a pledge from Robert Garst in memory of his wife, Maria, who died from cancer. The Maria Garst Memorial Fund for Cancer Research will enable Dr. John Rossmeisl, an associate professor in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, to take Subbiah’s work on brain tumors from the research laboratory into the clinical setting.
VMRCVM continued strong collaboration with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Science, and College of Natural Resources and Environment to operate the new Integrated Life Sciences building at the Corporate Research Center and strengthened the foundation for a similar shared approach to the planned Translational Medicine Building.
In response to an increased need for qualified veterinarians in North America, particularly those in the public sector, the first-year class size has been increased. In addition, plans are being finalized for construction of the Veterinary Medicine Instructional Addition, which broke ground in fall 2011. This new facility will include a state-of-the-art clinical techniques laboratory, as well as small group teaching spaces and faculty offices.
The Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine has partnered with the U.S. Animal Health Association to create mentoring, education, and networking opportunities for veterinarians and veterinary students. In response to increased demands for veterinarians in the public sector, the center is working to expand activities in the areas of public health, public policy, international veterinary medicine, organizational leadership, and the One Health Initiative.
Dr. Ansar Ahmed, professor of immunology and head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, completed research on a new, nonradioactive alternative to determining the proliferation of lymphocytes. The paper he authored on his research surpassed 500 citations in the citation index ISI Web of Science, a prestigious honor earned by few in the field of life sciences.
Dr. Jennifer Barrett, assistant professor of surgery at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, was selected to serve on the Founders' Committee for the North American Regenerative Society.
Dr. Sandra Diaz, assistant professor of dermatology in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, achieved diplomate status with the American College of Veterinary Dermatology.
Dr. Marion Ehrich, professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, was selected as the recipient of the 2010 Merit Award from the Society of Toxicology (SOT) for her contributions to the field. Ehrich was also honored during the recent 20th anniversary celebration of the SOT Undergraduate Education Program for Minority Students as an instrumental individual in the development and growth of the program.
Susan West Marmagas, assistant director of the Public Health Program at Virginia Tech, was elected vice chair of American Public Health Association Executive Board.
Dr. X.J. Meng was named Virginia Tech's inaugural Fralin Life Science Institute Senior Faculty Fellow. Meng was honored for his outstanding scholarship and his sustained leadership within life sciences at the university. The Fralin Life Science Senior Faculty Fellow award recognizes contributions of senior faculty members beyond their scientific achievements and regular faculty appointments.
Dr. Valerie Ragan, director of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine on VMRCVM’s University of Maryland-College Park campus, has been named to the Scientific Committee for the Consortium for the Advancement of Brucellosis Science. The consortium works toward successful brucellosis disease control and prevention, conducts stakeholder outreach, and provides broad scientific guidance to research activities focused on immunology, vaccines, and diagnostic tests.
Dr. John H. Rossmeisl Jr. spoke at the post-congress session of the 2010 European Society of Veterinary Endocrinology, which is part of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Congress, in Toulouse, France.
Dr. Bonnie Smith, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, was awarded the national Carl J. Norden-Pfizer Distinguished Teaching Award, an honor that celebrates her as the best among the thousands of professors teaching in the nation’s 28 colleges of veterinary medicine.
Dr. W.D. Whittier, a professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences and Extension beef cattle specialist, was honored with a Virginia Veterinary Medical Association Veterinary Service Award.
Dr. Anne Zajac received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists (AAVP). She also authored a book under the auspices of the organization, the royalties of which have added thousands of dollars to the AAVP student travel fund. Zajac is the first female president of the organization.
Anne Dewar '11, Jenny Miller '12, and Sarah Brauning '12 won the national American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) Quiz Bowl competition. The VMRCVM students beat out 23 teams from the United States and Canada at the AABP Convention.
Dr. Kathryn Simmons, VMRCVM alumna, was selected as a 2010-11 American Veterinary Medical Association Congressional Science Fellow. Simmons graduated with the college's charter class in 1984. This is the second consecutive year that a VMRCVM alumna has been selected for the prestigious fellowship.
Dr. Jean Richards ’06, former student of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine, has been selected as a Fellow for the 2010-11 American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science & Technology Policy Fellowships. The fellowships help to establish and nurture critical links between federal decision-makers and scientific professionals to support public policy that benefits the well-being of the nation and the planet.
Dr. Claire Simeone ’11 was awarded first place in the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners 19th Annual Student Case Report Contest.
There were 24,497 credit eLearning enrollments at the undergraduate and graduate levels in 1,181 class sections during 2010-11.
Growth continued in undergraduate enrollments with 18,042, equivalent to 601 30-seat classrooms. In 2010-11, 215 sections consisting of 53 different Curriculum for Liberal Education courses were offered online, accounting for a total of 12,851 enrollments.
The university’s graduate distance-learning portfolio included 415 courses and 805 course sections.
Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning (IDDL) research fellowships aimed at adding significant research to the field of distance teaching and learning were awarded to five faculty members.
IDDL partnered with Continuing and Professional Education to provide K-12 instructors with access to online teaching and learning best-practice information by offering its master online instructor certificate at sites around the commonwealth.
During FY11, 123 faculty and staff from 59 university departments participated in development or individual training for designing, developing, and delivering eLearning courses. Eighty-one faculty members participated in specific course design or development consultation.
The 2011 summer sessions accounted for 9,335 students. Almost 30 percent of those students were online learners. The 2011 combined summer sessions experienced a 6.5-percent increase in virtual enrollments compared to the 2010 summer sessions.
The number of offerings increased by 145 courses (or 19.07 percent) from the 2010 summer sessions. The number of course sections increased by 267, or 26.78 percent.
Human Anatomy and Physiology lecture and lab were offered for the first time online during the 2011 Summer Session II semester. Eighty-four students were enrolled in the lecture, and more than 60 students took advantage of the lab.
The Outreach and International Affairs Office of International Research, Education, and Development (OIRED) received a $28 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to revamp the agriculture curriculum in Senegal’s institutions of higher education over five years. The program is part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future Initiative, an effort to address the underlying causes of hunger and under-nutrition around the world. OIRED also won a $1.47 million award from the agency for a program that will help redevelop agriculture in post-conflict Southern Sudan. The grant will be used to set up university-level programs to train the next generation of agriculturalists in Southern Sudan.
OIRED administers research programs focused on sustainable agriculture, resource management, and pest management in more than 40 countries around the world. It also oversees Virginia Tech’s Office of Education Abroad, Center for European Studies and Architecture, Caribbean Center for Education and Research, Women in International Development program, and Peace Corps and Fulbright programs.
Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) is heading up Virginia Tech’s role in a $17.2 million, three-year grant project funded by the U.S. Army Education Outreach Program. CPE is collaborating with the university’s Office of Academic Assessment and the VT-STEM initiative on the project, which is an effort to nurture students’ interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. The $17.2 million grant brings together 10 national STEM outreach programs under one umbrella.
CPE, a major component of Outreach Program Development, provides more than 400 short courses, seminars, workshops, training programs, and conferences to about 30,000 individuals annually.
Faring well even during a time of federal budget cuts, Virginia Tech’s Talent Search program has earned a five-year funding grant of $1.6 million, renewing its outreach to middle and high school students in Southwest Virginia. The program will receive about $300,000 each year for five years from the U.S. Department of Education. Upward Bound and Talent Search at Virginia Tech are federally funded programs designed to assist high school students in making the transition from high school to college. The programs target students from families with parents who did not earn four-year degrees or on the basis of financial need.
The Roanoke-based Virginia Tech Pilot Street Project/Coalition for Refugee Resettlement, which helps resettled refugees transition into their new home, received the 2011 Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Award. Through the project, Virginia Tech students volunteer in English classes, tutor students, and serve as mentors to individuals and families. The Coalition for Refugee Resettlement is the student arm of the Pilot Street Project.
The recently established Virginia Tech Catawba Sustainability Center, situated on 377 acres in the Upper James River Basin in the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, is a showcase for university education and engagement with the local community. With research and demonstration projects from multiple Virginia Tech colleges, the center offers a place to practice, demonstrate, learn, and teach about sustainability issues. The Virginia Tech Roanoke Center administers the Catawba Center.
The Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute provides language-related programs and services for academic and professional development. Part of Outreach and International Affairs, the institute hosts about 350 students on the Blacksburg campus and about 100 diplomats and other professionals at the university’s National Capital Region campus.
The Outreach and International Affairs Office of Economic Development is spearheading a partnership of industry, academia, and government that has received a $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to help train health care workers in the field of electronic medical records. The 25-partner team will focus on health information technology training in Southwest Virginia communities hard hit by job losses.
Each year, the Outreach and International Affairs Office of Education Abroad coordinates credit-bearing study-abroad programs for more than Virginia Tech 1,100 students. These students have access to education abroad programs in more than 40 countries and on all seven continents.
Cook Counseling Center is accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services and offers a pre-doctoral internship in professional psychology that is accredited by the American Psychological Association.
The Cranwell International Center, in conjunction with the Council of International Students Organizations, 62 student organizations, and more than 200 volunteers, hosted the 52nd International Street Fair in 2011. With 13,000 attendees, it is the largest and longest-running international street fair at any university in the U.S.
Virginia Tech is one of only three public institutions in the U.S. to offer full-time military and civilian student lifestyles (the others are Texas A&M and North Georgia College and State University). The Corps of Cadets annually commissions more than 80 percent of its graduates; VMI, the Citadel, and Texas A&M commission 35 to 50 percent.
Success of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets’ leader development effort is demonstrated by the consistent selection of cadets as recipients of the university’s most prestigious student-leadership awards. In 2011, Cadet Ryan Anderson was named the university’s Man of the Year; Cadet Christina Devereux was awarded the Women in Leadership and Philanthropy’s Woman in Leadership Award; Cadet Kasey Beernink was awarded the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech’s 2011 Advancing Women Award; and Cadet Matthew Buffington was honored as the recipient of the A. Alan Baird Award.
The Princeton Review consistently ranks Virginia Tech Dining Services as one of the top three in the nation for Best Campus Food.
Dining Services is at the forefront of the sustainability movement nationally, with composting, a university garden, local purchasing, extensive sustainability training, classroom instruction, and creation of a sustainable dining venue.
Dining Services frequently receives awards from Food Management Magazine and the National Association of College and University Food Services for special event and theme meals.
The fraternity and sorority community at Virginia Tech contributed more than 28,800 hours of community service and raised more than $341,500 for various philanthropic organizations during 2010.
Virginia Tech is rated a “4 star” (out of five) institution by Campus Pride, the national rating organization for LGBT-friendly campus environments. The recent addition of a campus LGBTQ coordinator will allow the university to expand its collaborative efforts among faculty, student, and community supporters of LGBTQ issues.
Schiffert Health Center is accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.
The Big Event community service project celebrated its 10th anniversary at Virginia Tech in 2011 by holding the second largest event in the nation, involving more than 6,731 volunteers who completed more than 950 service projects for the local community.
Virginia Tech Relay For Life is ranked as the top collegiate relay in the country with 6,000 participants on 622 teams raising more than $630,000 for the American Cancer Society.
More than 19,000 students are members of the more than 700 officially registered clubs and organizations at Virginia Tech.
Recreational Sports received the Outstanding Sports Facilities award from the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association for the expansion and renovation of the McComas Hall recreational facilities. This award honors excellence in new recreation/fitness center construction.