Our Core Values

The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus embraces the university’s four core values, adapted to the campus’s unique vision and mission.  We add a fifth core value that underscores a unifying theme for the Innovation Campus.

Diverse and Inclusive Communities

The Innovation Campus will be a diverse and inclusive environment that invites students from all backgrounds to bring their unique perspectives, ideas, concerns and talents to bear on important problems.  With strong encouragement and support from the private sector and federal agencies, the Innovation Campus is setting the bold goal to become the most diverse tech graduate program in the nation addressing the global concerns that impact all communities.

Knowledge and Innovation

The Innovation Campus is not a branch campus; rather, it is a confident, outward facing campus.  The opportunities and challenges of the digital age cannot be solved through traditional means and working in silos.  They require transdisciplinary solutions, new platforms for partnerships, and use-inspired research.  Innovation Campus faculty and students will engage in world-class, purpose-driven research that aligns with, is inspired by, and will contribute to the needs and resources of the thriving technology ecosystem in Northern Virginia and the greater Washington, DC region. The Innovation Campus will evolve so as to remain at the cutting-edge of human-centered technology discovery and graduate education, and live up to the word “innovation” in all of its programming.

Opportunity and Affordability

The tech sector demands new sources of talent at scale. Consistent with our land-grant heritage, the Innovation Campus is committed to providing a premier graduate education to innovative, committed students, with a focus on achieving superior value and access. In particular, the campus will provide affordable and accessible offerings to both full-time and part-time students, and online offerings that will allow remote students to participate.

Excellence and Integrity

We commit to excellence through a metrics-driven process of continuous evaluation and improvement of key performance indicators and milestones with the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior.

Convergence of Research and Education

A unique aspect of the programming for all Innovation Campus students and the broader campus culture is a focus on project-based experiential learning that connects our students directly to the tech ecosystem of the region.  This is a central ethos of the campus.  With our partners, we will bring urgency, creativity and intentionality to solving problems that matter at scale. Centered around societal challenges, we will assemble and engage the faculty and students on the campus in dynamic projects focused on achieving results in real time, and through established platforms on campus, ensure those solutions provide immediate benefits to society.