Virginia Tech

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Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University
Virginia Tech seal.svg
Former names
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872–1896)
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (1896–1944)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1944–1970)
MottoUt Prosim (Latin)
Motto in English
"That I May Serve"
Type Public land-grant research senior military university
EstablishedJune 20, 1872;152 years ago (1872-06-20)
Accreditation SACS
Academic affiliations
Endowment $1.7 billion (2022) [1]
Budget$2.06 billion (2023) [2]
President Timothy D. Sands [3]
Provost Cyril Clarke [4]
Academic staff
1,395 [5]
Students36,383 [6] [7]
Undergraduates 29,300 [6]
Postgraduates 7,083 [6]
Location, ,
United States

37°13.5′N80°25.5′W / 37.2250°N 80.4250°W / 37.2250; -80.4250
Campus Small city, 2,600 acres (11 km2; 4.1 sq mi)
Other campuses
Newspaper Collegiate Times
Colors Chicago maroon and burnt orange [8]
   
Nickname Hokies
Sporting affiliations
NCAA Division I FBSACC
Mascot HokieBird
Website www.vt.edu OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Virginia Tech logo.svg

Virginia Tech (VT), officially the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI), [9] is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. It was founded as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872.

Contents

The university also has educational facilities in six regions statewide, a research center in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and a study-abroad site in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. Through its Corps of Cadets ROTC program, Virginia Tech is a senior military college. [10]

Virginia Tech offers 280 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to its 37,000 students; as of 2016, it was the state's second-largest public university by enrollment. [11] It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". [12]

The university's athletic teams are known as the Virginia Tech Hokies and compete in Division I of the NCAA as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

History

Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall VT Burruss Hall.jpg
Virginia Tech's Burruss Hall
VT's 6th president, Paul Brandon Barringer Paul Barringer.jpg
VT's 6th president, Paul Brandon Barringer
Virginia Polytechnic Institute logo in the 1899 yearbook "VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE" LOGO ART DETAIL, Virginia Tech Bugle 1899 (page 25 crop).jpg
Virginia Polytechnic Institute logo in the 1899 yearbook

In 1872, with federal funds provided by the Morrill Act of 1862, the Reconstruction-era Virginia General Assembly purchased the facilities of Preston and Olin Institute, a small Methodist school for boys in Southwest Virginia's rural Montgomery County. That same year, 250 acres (100 ha) of the adjoining Solitude Farm including the house and several farm buildings on the estate were acquired for $21,250 from Robert Taylor Preston, a son of Governor of Virginia, James Patton Preston. [13] [14] The commonwealth incorporated a new institution on the site, a state-supported land-grant military institute named Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. [15]

Virginia Tech's first student, Addison "Add" Caldwell registered on October 1, 1872, after hiking over 25 miles from his home in Craig County, Virginia. A statue, located in the Upper Quad of campus commemorates Add's journey to enroll. [16] First-year cadets and their training cadre re-enact Addison Caldwell's journey every year in the Caldwell March. They complete the first half of the 26-mile march in the fall and the second half in the spring. [17]

The first five presidents of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College served in the Confederate States Army or the Confederate government during the Civil War as did many of its early professors including the first Commandant, James H. Lane, a VMI graduate and former Confederate General who taught civil engineering and commerce at the college and is the namesake of Lane Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus, built in 1888. [18] Its third president, Thomas Nelson Conrad, was a notorious Confederate spy who ran a covert intelligence gathering operation from a home in the heart of Washington, D.C. Its sixth president, Paul Brandon Barringer, was a son of Confederate General Rufus Barringer and a nephew of Confederate Generals Stonewall Jackson and Daniel Harvey Hill.

In a nod to this southern heritage the Confederate Battle Flag was traditionally waved by cheerleaders at Virginia Tech football games and the Highty-Tighties played Dixie as a fight song when the Hokies scored a touchdown. A large Confederate flag also hung inside Cassell Coliseum where Virginia Tech basketball games are played. [19] Since 1963, "Skipper", a replica of a Civil War cannon has been fired at football games by members of the Corps of Cadets when the team scores. [20] The Confederate Flag was also prominently featured on all Virginia Tech class rings. [21] The display of the Confederate flag at athletic events ended in the late 1960s after Marguerite Harper, a black woman attending Virginia Tech on a Rockefeller Scholarship for culturally disadvantaged students, was elected to the student senate during her sophomore year and made a successful resolution to end the practice. Following the resolution there was a large demonstration in opposition to the removal of the Confederate flag. The campus was covered in Confederate flags and Dixie was blasting from dormitory windows. Harper and her white roommate received hate mail and threatening phone calls, but the resolution stood, and the display of the rebel flag ended in 1969. [22] The Confederate flag on Virginia Tech class rings became optional in 1972 and could be left off of the ring at the student's request. [23] The Confederate flag has since been removed from class ring designs entirely.

Under the leadership of seventh president Joseph Dupuy Eggleston, who held the position from 1913 to 1919, the university established a Reserve Officer Training Corps to support national efforts during World War I.

Early on the morning of March 13, 1917, physics professor Charles E. Vawter, Jr. (son of Charles E. Vawter, who had served on the VPI board of visitors from 1886 to 1900), shot Stockton Heth, Jr., a scion of one of Montgomery County's wealthiest families, in his campus home on faculty row. Heth, who lived at Whitethorne, an antebellum mansion on a 1,500-acre estate near Blacksburg, later died of his wounds in a Roanoke hospital. Due to the Heth family's wealth and political connections, Vawter's position as head of the VPI physics department, and the scandalous extramarital affair that led to the shooting, the resulting murder trial was one of the most sensational in Virginia history (Vawter was acquitted, and left the school). [24] Eggleston attempted to suppress news of the affair in the media with considerable success, most likely due to the Russian Revolution and the US declaration of war on Germany that stole the headlines in the spring of 1917, rather than his efforts to protect VPI's reputation.

College reorganizations

During Thomas Nelson Conrad's tenure as president, the college switched from semesters to the quarter system, which remained in place until the late 1980s. Under the 1891–1907 presidency of John McLaren McBryde, the school organized its academic programs into a traditional four-year college and a graduate department was founded. The evolution of the school's programs led to a name change in 1896 to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute. The "Agricultural and Mechanical College" portion of the name was popularly omitted almost immediately; in 1944, the name was officially changed to Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI). [25]

VPI admitted its first female students in 1921 as civilian day students; they did not live on campus. In 1923, VPI changed a policy of compulsory participation in the Corps of Cadets from four years to two years. In 1931, VPI began teaching classes at the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary (now Old Dominion University). [26] This program eventually developed into a two-year engineering program that allowed students to transfer to VPI for their final two years of degree work.

A Jaguar Mark VII (left) and several Chevrolet Deluxe cars parked in front of Patton Hall, c. 1952 Patton Hall and cars at Virginia Tech, ca 1952.jpg
A Jaguar Mark VII (left) and several Chevrolet Deluxe cars parked in front of Patton Hall, c. 1952
Torgersen Hall bridge over Alumni Mall is an example of architecture using Hokie Stone. Torgerson Pedestrian Bridge.jpg
Torgersen Hall bridge over Alumni Mall is an example of architecture using Hokie Stone.
West Eggleston (left) and Owens Halls Eggleston and Owens Halls Virginia Tech.JPG
West Eggleston (left) and Owens Halls

The first women's dormitory at VPI, Hillcrest Hall, was built in 1940. In 1943, VPI merged with Radford State Teachers College in nearby Radford, which became VPI's women's division; the merger was dissolved in 1964. Today, Radford University is a co-educational research university that enrolls nearly 10,000 students and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate programs. [27]

Post–World War II

Corps of Cadets on campus c. 1952 Corps of Cadets drill at Virginia Tech, ca 1952.jpg
Corps of Cadets on campus c. 1952
Donaldson-Brown Center Donaldson-Brown Virginia Tech.JPG
Donaldson-Brown Center
One of the War Memorial Chapel pylons, "Sacrifice", on a snowy day War Memorial Pylon Virginia Tech.JPG
One of the War Memorial Chapel pylons, "Sacrifice", on a snowy day

In 1953, under the leadership of President Walter Stephenson Newman, VPI became the first historically white, four-year public institution among the 11 states in the former Confederacy to admit a black undergraduate. Three more black students were admitted in 1954. At the time Virginia still enforced Jim Crow laws and largely practiced racial segregation in public and private education, churches, neighborhoods, restaurants, and movie theaters and these first black students at VPI were not allowed to live in residence halls or eat in the dining halls on campus. Instead, they boarded with African American families in Blacksburg. In 1958, Charlie L. Yates made history as the first African American to graduate from VPI. Yates earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, with honors, and was hailed as the first African American "to be graduated from any major Southern engineering institute," according to news reports at the time. [28]

VPI President T. Marshall Hahn, whose tenure ran from 1962 to 1974, [29] was responsible for many of the programs and policies that transformed VPI from a small, historically white, predominately male, military institute with a primary focus on undergraduate teaching into a major co-educational research university. The student body that had been approximately 5,682 in 1962 increased by roughly 1,000 students each year, new dormitories and academic buildings were constructed, faculty members were added – in 1966, for instance, more than 100 new professors joined the faculty – and research budgets were increased. [29] During Hahn's tenure, not only did the university graduate its first Rhodes Scholar, W.W. Lewis, Class of 1963, [30] the requirement for male students to participate in the Corps of Cadets for two years was dropped in 1964. Beginning in the fall 1973, women could participate in the Corps, making Virginia Tech among the nation's first senior military colleges to integrate women. [31]

In 1970, the state legislature allowed VPI university status and gave it the present legal name, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In the early 1990s, university administration authorized the official use of Virginia Tech as equivalent to the full legal name; it has been used as the first-reference name for the school's athletic teams since the 1970s. However, diplomas and transcripts still spell out the formal name. Similarly, the abbreviation "VT" is far more common today than either VPI or VPI&SU.

Vietnam War era

During the Vietnam War, students on college campuses across the nation protested the draft and U.S. involvement in the conflict. Despite its long history as a military school, Virginia Tech was no exception. Most protests at Virginia Tech were small sit-ins and teach-ins, but In mid-April 1970 a group of anti-war protesters including students and faculty members disrupted a Corps of Cadets drill on campus. The Virginia Tech administration under Hahn took swift action. The students involved were suspended and the faculty members involved were fired from the university and the administration went to court and obtained an injunction to prevent them from repeating the act. This succeeded in calming tensions on campus, but only for a few weeks. [32]

Tensions on campus reached the boiling point several days following the Kent State Shootings when on May 12, 1970, a large mob including students and a number of non-student anti-war protesters enraged by the Kent State incident and angered by the administration's disciplinary actions in response to a number of recent infractions by protesters including; vandalism of university property, a series of potentially dangerous fires set on campus, breaking and entering into a university building, and a sit-in in Cowgill Hill, seized Williams Hall and barricaded themselves inside. [33] The administration responded quickly calling in law enforcement and early the following morning Virginia State Police forced their way into Williams Hall and began rounding up the protesters. Once inside the building the police discovered bomb making materials and determined that the students had apparently intended to build a firebomb. The first few protesters were dragged out of the building; the rest left peacefully and were arrested and taken to the Montgomery County jail. The students involved in the seizure, were suspended from Virginia Tech and given twenty-four hours to remove their belongings from campus after being released from jail.

Several more anti-war protests occurred at Virginia Tech during the early 1970s, but none turned violent. [32]

Late 20th century

The university continued to expand through the last quarter of the 20th century. In 1975 William E. Lavery, who had joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1966, took over as president when Hahn left the university to join Georgia-Pacific. [34]

Desperate for additional farmland for the support of teaching, research, and extension programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia Tech acquired Kentland Farm on December 31, 1986. Virginia Tech secretly traded about 250 acres of research orchards adjacent to a commercial area that would soon become Christiansburg's main shopping district to a group of developers for the historic but long fallow 1,785-acre Kentland property. The developers on the other end of the swap, one of whom was a former Tech athletics official, quickly sold 40 acres of the former university farmland for $2.7 million. News of the land swap, and especially the fact that it was done behind closed doors, with no input from College of Agriculture faculty sparked outrage. [35]

Also in 1986, Virginia Tech became embroiled in an athletic scandal sparked by allegations of illegal recruiting, the bitter departure of two athletic directors in less than a year and millions of dollars of debt run up by the university's sports program due to mismanagement of financial resources, million dollar coaching contracts, and lavish expense accounts for athletics officials that led to a rebuke from Governor of Virginia, Gerald Baliles in 1987. Baliles, the featured speaker at the Virginia Tech's 115th annual commencement exercises, scolded the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors for the scandal and warned other state-supported institutions in Virginia not to put athletics ahead of academics. [36]

Lavery developed a reorganization plan for the troubled Athletic Department, and Frank Beamer was hired to replace Bill Dooley as head football coach, but with negative publicity continuing to swirl within and around the university, he announced his resignation on October 16, 1987, effective December 31, 1987, to prevent polarization of the campus. [37] He was succeeded as president by James Douglas McComas who served until 1994.

Due to the unpopularity of US involvement in the Vietnam War enrollment in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets spiraled downward through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1991 through the efforts of Henry Dekker (Class of 1944) The Corps of Cadets Alumni Inc. was created to save the corps, whose numbers had declined to only a few hundred students. In 1992 the alumni organization-initiated Corps Review, a newsletter that was expanded to a magazine in 2004 and targeted corps alumni. In the mid-1990s, the corps alumni organization set a goal of "1000 in 2000" and initiated a major campaign to push the number of cadets to 1,000 by the turn of the century. The goal was not reached, but membership in the corps did increase substantially by the end of the decade. [38]

21st century

The early decades of this century have seen expansion across the university's institutions in both physical and population sizes. In 2001, Virginia Tech acquired 326 acres of the Heth Farm adjacent to campus, increasing the College Farm to over 3,000 acres. [39] The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute was created with a strategic partnership with the Carilion Clinic and the governor of Virginia. These years also brought about the rapid development of the university's professional schools of graduate education and business programs. Virginia Tech brought in over $500 million in research expenditures in 2014. [40]

The establishment of scholarships for cadets and a resurgence of national patriotism after the September 11 attacks helped the corps recruit new cadets, increasing the ranks to 1,127 by 2018—the largest corps the university has seen since the mid-1960s. [38] [41] The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets is poised to increase enrollment to 1,400 in coming years. [42]

2007 mass shooting

On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 32 faculty members and students and wounded 17 others in two locations on campus before killing himself. The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting on an American college campus, surpassing the University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. Although it was at the time the deadliest mass shooting committed by a lone gunman in U.S. history, it has since been surpassed by two shootings at an Orlando nightclub and an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas. [43] [44] [45] It is the second-deadliest school massacre in U.S. history, surpassed only by the Bath School bombing in 1927 that killed 44. [46]

The Virginia Tech massacre led to an intense nationwide debate over gun rights, gun safety and efficacy of gun-free zones. It prompted many states to introduce legislation to prohibit public colleges and universities from banning concealed weapons on campus for permit holders. In 2013, at least 19 states introduced legislation to allow concealed carry on campus in some form, and in the 2014 legislative session, at least 14 states introduced similar legislation. In December 8, 2011, a campus police officer Deriek Crouse was fatally shot by Radford University student Ross Truett Ashley, 22, before he took his own life. [47] [48] [49] In 2016, Tennessee passed a bill permitting faculty members to carry handguns on campus after notifying local law enforcement. In 2015, Texas became the eighth state to allow concealed weapons on college campuses. In December 2016, Governor John Kasich signed a bill into law that lifted Ohio's statewide ban on firearms on college campuses, leaving the decision to the institutions. [50] In 2017, Georgia became the tenth state to prohibit colleges and universities from banning concealed weapons on campus. [51] Virginia law allows individual institutions to make the decision whether to allow concealed weapons on campus, but Virginia Tech continues to ban concealed carry permit holders from carrying guns on campus. [52]

Patton Hall Patton Hall Virginia Tech.JPG
Patton Hall

Innovation Campus and further growth

After Amazon unveiled its second headquarters in Crystal City, Virginia, Virginia Tech announced plans to build a $1 billion graduate research center adjacent to the facility. The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus will be housed at a million-square-foot campus in Alexandria. It is expected to educate hundreds of graduate students. The Innovation Campus will focus on computer science and software engineering, with specializations in areas including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data analytics. [53]

Due to rapid growth of incoming freshmen classes, the university announced in 2019 that it would offer 1,559 incoming, in-state freshmen financial incentives to skip the 2019–20 school year in Blacksburg. [54] Expecting a larger-than-planned class size, the university budgeted $3.3 million for the endeavor. Virginia Tech also waived the requirement that freshmen live on campus for the 2019–20 school year, leased an off-campus Holiday Inn, and converted its on-campus hotel to house students.

Organization and administration

Virginia Tech is a public university and one of Virginia's two land-grant institutions. Its academic programs are administered by nine colleges, the Graduate School, and the Honors College.

College/School founding [55]
College/SchoolYear founded
Graduate School 1891
College of Engineering 1903
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences 1903
College of Architecture, Art, and Design 1964
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences 1964
College of Science 1964
Pamplin College of Business 1965
College of Veterinary Medicine 1978
College of Natural Resources and Environment 1992
Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute 2007
Honors College 2016

Academics

Virginia Tech offers 116 bachelor's degree programs through its nine undergraduate academic colleges, [56] 160 master's and doctoral degree programs through the Graduate School, and a professional degree from the Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. In addition, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute is a public-private partnership jointly managed by Virginia Tech and the Carilion Clinic founded on January 3, 2007. [57]

Admissions

Class of 2022 freshman [58]
Number of freshman applicants32,103
Admit Rate73%
Participated in Early Decision Plan18%
Average GPA of admitted students4.15
Average SAT scores of admitted students1310
Middle 50% ACT scores of admitted students24 to 28 [59]

Virginia Tech received a record number of nearly 22,500 applications for the fall 2015 freshman class, an increase of 7.6% from the previous year's 20,897 applications for an overall admissions rate of 65.8%. The typical student offered admission had a high-school grade point average of 4.00, with the middle 50 percent ranging from 3.84 and 4.27. The average cumulative SAT score was 1250 (out of 1600), with a middle range ranging from 1160 to 1340. Of the 5,518 students who accepted the offers of admission (for an admissions yield of 38%)[ discuss ], 18 percent accepted under the Early Decision Plan. [60] The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located within the Visitor and Undergraduate Admissions Center. [61]

Virginia Tech offers a highly selective Honors College, which provides undergraduate students 11 different ways to earn Honors credits towards one of the five Honors degree options. Once admitted, Honors students are required to maintain a 3.6 GPA in order to remain in the program. Roughly one-fourth of the approximately 1,600 University Honors students live in one of the two University Honors residential halls, the Honors Residential College located in East Ambler-Johnston and the Hillcrest Honors Community. [62]

For the 2013–14 academic year, the Graduate School at Virginia Tech enrolled 6,723 graduate students (4,465 full-time; 2,258 part-time) in its masters and doctoral programs. [63]

The Pamplin College of Business received 381 applications for its incoming Evening MBA program and offered admission to 142. The class's average GMAT was 610, and mean undergraduate GPA was 3.4. [64]

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, Va., received 4,403 applications for its eighth incoming class, the class of 2021, and offered admission to 42. The class's MCAT scores range was 503–520 (median 512, mean 512), and mean undergraduate GPA was 3.57. [65]

In 2023, Virginia Tech became the second public university after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard , banning affirmative action in college admissions, to end its use of legacy admissions. [66] The university also ended its binding early decision program because it "created unneeded pressure on students [...] particularly those needing financial aid". [66]

Rankings

Academic rankings
National
Forbes [67] 82
U.S. News & World Report [68] 47
Washington Monthly [69] 28
WSJ/College Pulse [70] 19
Global
QS [71] 302
THE [72] 201–250
U.S. News & World Report [73] 250
USNWR professional/grad rankings [74]
Biological Sciences73
Chemistry67
Clinical Psychology56
Computer Science38
Earth Sciences28
Economics59
Education105
Engineering29
English91
Mathematics62
Medicine: Primary Care94–122
Medicine: Research81
Physics61
Psychology81
Public Affairs45
Public Health89
Sociology47
Statistics61
Veterinary Medicine17
USNWR Engineering grad rankings [74]
Civil9
Environmental/ Environmental Health7
Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems6
USNWR global ranking [75]
Agricultural Sciences136
Arts & Humanities247
Biology & Biochemistry256
Chemistry269
Civil Engineering79
Clinical Medicine593
Computer Science58
Economics & Business198
Electrical & Electronic Engineering48
Engineering69
Environment/Ecology161
Geosciences158
Materials Science263
Mathematics241
Mechanical Engineering70
Microbiology130
Molecular Biology & Genetics378
Physics389
Plant & Animal Science87
Social Sciences & Public Health156
Space Science225

In U.S. News & World Report 's list of "2024 Best Colleges", Virginia Tech tied for 47th overall among national universities, tied for 20th among public ones, tied at 25th for "Most Innovative", ranked 156th in "Best Value Schools", and tied for 207th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility". [76]

The Pamplin College of Business's part-time MBA program was tied for 19th overall by U.S. News & World Report in 2020. [74] The Master of Information Technology program, jointly sponsored by the Pamplin College of Business and the College of Engineering, is ranked No. 4 in U.S. News & World Report's Best Online Graduate Computer Information Technology Programs. [77] This interdisciplinary program is offered entirely online. [77]

Programs in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies (CAUS) include architecture + design, landscape architecture, urban planning, and public administration. In its 2016 "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools" report, DesignIntelligence ranked the undergraduate architecture program 3rd nationally among both public and private universities. The graduate architecture program ranked 9th in the nation. [78] For 2013, DesignIntelligence ranked the university's undergraduate and graduate landscape architecture programs No. 2 in the nation. In addition, DesignIntelligence ranked the university's undergraduate interior design program 6th and undergraduate industrial design program 3rd. [79] The Planetizen 2012 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs ranked Virginia Tech's MURP program as 19th. Virginia Tech's MURP program was also rated among the best programs in Technology, Land Use Planning, Environmental Planning, and Growth Management. [80]

Kiplinger's Personal Finance places Virginia Tech 20th in its 2019 ranking of 174 best value public colleges in the United States. [81] In 2018, CEOWORLD magazine ranked the undergraduate architecture program 3rd nationally. [82] The graduate architecture program ranked 14th. [83]

Student affairs rankings

Virginia Tech received the following rankings from The Princeton Review in its 2017 Best 380 Colleges Rankings: [84]

CategoryRankings
Happiest Students7th overall
Best Campus Food4th overall
Best Quality of Life1st overall
Their Students Love These Colleges1st overall
Town-Gown Relations are Great7th overall
Best Alumni Network10th overall
Lots of Race/Class Interaction7th overall
Colleges That Pay You Back without Aid18th overall

Research

Burruss Hall houses the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation. Burruss Hall, Virginia Tech.JPG
Burruss Hall houses the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation.
Bishop-Favrao Hall Bishop-Favrao Hall.jpg
Bishop-Favrao Hall
Virginia Tech Skipper Crew Virginia Tech skipper crew.jpg
Virginia Tech Skipper Crew

Virginia Tech's research and development expenditures (R&D) were $542 million in fiscal year 2019, which ranked 48th among education institutions in the nation and 2nd in the state of Virginia according to the National Science Foundation. [85] As a result, Virginia Tech marked its 15th consecutive year of research growth, with the university's research portfolio more than doubling from $192.7 million in fiscal year 2000. The only Virginia institution in the top 50 of the NSF's rankings for research expenditures, Virginia Tech is No. 23 among public universities. The university's research expenditures rank it in the top 5 percent of more than 900 research universities and colleges. Each year, the university receives thousands of awards to conduct research from an ever-expanding base of sponsors. Researchers pursue new discoveries in agriculture, biotechnology, information and communication technology, human health, transportation, energy management (including leadership in fuel-cell technology and power electronics), security, sustainability, and a wide range of other engineering, scientific, social science, and creative fields. This research led to 36 patents and 17 license and option agreements in fiscal year 2013. [86] :5

Research Expenditures Fiscal Years 2009–2017 [85]
2009$399 million
2011$450 million
2013$496 million
2015$504 million
2017$522 million

Fralin Life Science Institute

The Fralin Life Science Institute is an expansion of the Fralin Biotechnology Center, which was established in 1991. [87] Research at the institute is focused on the areas of vector-borne disease; infectious disease and microbial sciences; plant sciences; obesity; cancer biology; and ecology and organismal biology. [88]

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) was founded as the Center for Transportation Research in 1988 and employs more than 350 personnel. VTTI has more than $125 million in active research awards, and has a mission to save lives, save time, save money, and protect the environment. It is the second largest university-level transportation institute in the United States, and the largest group of driving safety researchers in the world. Facilities include the 2.2-mile (3.5 km), two-lane, fully instrumented Virginia Smart Road; connected-vehicle test beds in Southwest and Northern Virginia; more than 83,000 square feet of office and laboratory space; the VTTI/Center for Injury Biomechanics Crash Sled Lab; and the National Tire Research Center in Southern Virginia. [89] These laboratories include an asphalt lab, fully equipped garages, instrumentation bays, and a machine shop for working on VTTI's vehicle fleet. [90]

VTTI develops and tests advanced transportation safety devices, techniques, and innovative applications. VTTI's research impacts public policy in transportation, notably through research into distracted driving [91] and commercial hour-of-service. [92]

VTTI conducts applied research to address transportation challenges from various perspectives: vehicle, driver, infrastructure, materials, and environment. [40] Most notable among VTTI endeavors are its naturalistic driving studies. These studies particularly utilize VTTI's data acquisition systems, which gather continuous video and driving performance data in real-world driving conditions. These systems have been installed in nearly 4,000 passenger vehicles, commercial trucks and motor coaches, and motorcycles. [93]

Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science

Since 2005, the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) has made efforts to build capacity at the intersection of engineering, science, biology, and the humanities. Thrust areas include nuclear engineering, nanoscale science and engineering, nano-bio interface, sustainable energy, safe and sustainable water, national security, cognition and communication systems, renewable materials, and emerging technologies. [40]

Other areas of research

Other research conducted throughout the university's colleges and interdisciplinary groups includes 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. [94]

War Memorial Hall War Memorial Gym Virginia Tech.JPG
War Memorial Hall

Campus

The Virginia Tech campus is in Blacksburg, Virginia. Most buildings are built of limestone in a neo-Gothic style. Notable green spaces include the Hahn Horticulture Garden, Virginia Tech Duck Pond, and the old-growth forest, Stadium Woods.

Seitz Hall Seitz Hall Virginia Tech.JPG
Seitz Hall

The central campus is roughly bordered by Prices Fork Road to the northwest, Plantation Drive to the west, Main Street to the east, and US 460 Bypass to the south, though it has several thousand acres beyond the central campus.

In the center of the Blacksburg campus lies the Drillfield, a large oval field running northeast to southwest, encircled by a one-way street that is known as Drillfield Drive. The Drillfield's name, coined in 1926 after the completion of Virginia Tech's first real stadium, Miles Stadium, stems from its use by the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets to conduct military drills. A waterway, Stroubles Creek, runs beneath the Drillfield on the south side. A three-sided conduit for the creek that retains the natural bed of the creek was installed in 1934, and, in 1971, the first two asphalt walks were added. [99]

On the northwestern side of the Drillfield stand most of the university's academic and administrative buildings, including Burruss and McBryde Halls. On the southeastern side of the Drillfield stand most of the residential buildings, including students' residence halls, dining halls, and War Memorial Gym. Newman Library is on the eastern side of campus and connects to Torgersen Bridge, which spans the main road into campus, Alumni Mall. North of the Drillfield and northwest of Alumni Mall lies the Upper Quad, known to many students as military campus. The Upper Quad is home to the Corps of Cadets' barracks.

On the main campus in Blacksburg, most of the buildings incorporate Hokie Stone as a building material. In 2010, the board of visitors passed a resolution about using the gray stone, shaded by hues of brown and pink, in all building projects. [100]

Drill Field Virginia Tech.jpg
Panoramic view of Virginia Tech's Drillfield

Extended campuses

The university has established five branch campuses: [101]

Northern Virginia Center (National Capital Region)

Walkway at Virginia Tech Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - panoramio.jpg
Walkway at Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech's presence in the Washington Metropolitan Area links regional graduate education and outreach programs that are consistent with the university's strategic research areas of excellence: energy materials and environment, social and individual transformation, health, food, and nutrition, and innovative technologies and complex systems. [107]

Supporting the university's missions is the Virginia Tech National Capital Region. The university has established collaborations and partnerships with local and federal agencies, nonprofit research organizations, businesses, and other institutions of higher education. Current locations include Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Leesburg, Manassas, and Middleburg.

Biomedical Technology Development and Management is an executive program in the National Capital Region. The Master of Science in Biomedical Technology Development and Management (BTDM) is a graduate level degree created by Virginia Tech in response to future directions in medical product discovery and development and the emerging needs of industry and regulatory agencies. Curriculum for the degree program integrates science with technology, management, ethics, and public policy, and draws on the strengths of Virginia Tech in science, industrial and systems engineering, business and management, and medical research programs. [108]

In 2014, the university opened a Language and Culture Institute location in Fairfax. [109] The institute offers intensive English language programs for college-age students, professionals, and diplomats. [110]

International campuses

Caribbean Center for Education and Research (CCER)

Located on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean Center for Education and Research (CCER) in Punta Cana provides a base for Virginia Tech faculty to conduct research as well as instruct students on biodiversity, environmental and social sustainability, global issues in natural resources, and hotel and tourism management. The center is the product of a partnership between Virginia Tech and the PUNTACANA Ecological Foundation (PCEF) and the PUNTACANA Resort and Club. PCEF maintains a 2,000-acre (810 ha) natural forest reserve, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) of protected coral reef, freshwater lagoons and coastal mangroves. [111]

Center for European Studies and Architecture (CESA)

Renamed the Steger Center for International Scholarship in 2014, [112] the Center for European Studies and Architecture (CESA) is the university's European campus center and base for operations and support of its programs in the region. The center's location in Riva San Vitale, Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland, is also close to major northern Italian cities such as Milan. [111]

Agricultural Research and Extension Centers

Virginia Tech has several agricultural research and extension centers located throughout the Commonwealth dedicated to improving agricultural practices and the quality of life of Virginia citizens. The Virginia Tech Agricultural Research and Extension Centers are: Alson H. Smith, Jr., Eastern Shore, Eastern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Middleburg, Reynolds Homestead, Shenandoah Valley, Southern Piedmont, Southwest Virginia, Tidewater, and Virginia Seafood.

Power plant

Distinguished by a towering 180-foot-high radial brick smokestack, the university's coal fired Central Steam Power Plant generates an annual steam output greater than 943 billion BTUs and provides campus buildings with a portion of their heat, hot water, and electricity needs. Nearly 90 percent of campus buildings are connected to the plant through an extensive network of tunnels—the main access point is on the Drillfield—and more than six miles (9.7 km) of steam lines and piping provide heat to more than 6.8 million square feet of campus buildings. Only personnel with confined-space training are permitted to enter the tunnel system, comprising 2.76 miles (4.44 km) of inaccessible tunnel and 11.07 miles (17.82 km) of piping; 3.78 miles (6.08 km) of direct-bury piping in the ground; and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) of accessible tunnel and 12.27 miles (19.75 km) of piping. [113]

Student life

Student body composition as of May 2, 2023
Race and ethnicity [114] Total
White 60%60
 
Asian 12%12
 
Hispanic 10%10
 
Other [lower-alpha 1] 8%8
 
Foreign national 4%4
 
Black 6%6
 
Economic diversity
Low-income [lower-alpha 2] 15%15
 
Affluent [lower-alpha 3] 85%85
 
Main Eggleston Hall Virginia Tech Main Eggleston Hall.jpg
Main Eggleston Hall

There are more than 700 student organizations on campus. Some of these organizations include Bolt at Virginia Tech which builds electric racing motorcycles; PRISM a student-run ad agency; BASIS at Virginia Tech the largest student-run fixed income portfolio group in the nation managing $5 million; the Chocolate Milk Club; and a Young Life Chapter. Over 9,300 Virginia Tech students reside on campus. [115]

Campus residence halls

Corps of Cadets

Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets marching Virginia Tech Corps marching.jpg
Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets marching

Until 1923, every able-bodied male was required to participate for four years in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. The requirement was changed to two years until 1964, when participation became voluntary. Members of the ROTC program are required to participate in the Corps of Cadets. Virginia Tech remains one of three public universities in the United States with both an active corps of cadets and regular civilian students on its campus (Texas A&M University and the University of North Georgia are the other two).

More than 1,000 cadets reside on the campus of Virginia Tech. The Corps of Cadets Community is located in the Upper Quad, which features some of the oldest buildings on campus. Cadet dorms are also known as "cadet barracks". Two new dormitories were constructed on the Upper Quad to house all of the cadets. Pearson Hall replaced Rasche Hall in November 2015, and in August 2017, Brodie Hall was replaced by the New Cadet Dorm (a.k.a. "New Brodie"). [116] Former cadet dorms, Thomas Hall and Monteith Hall were demolished in 2017. Their sites are planned to be used as green space for the foreseeable future.

Greek life

Virginia Tech hosts a number of fraternities and sororities across four governing councils. There are 23 IFC fraternities and 13 National Panhellenic Conference sororities recognized at Virginia Tech. The fraternity and sorority community currently encompasses more than 5,500 students which represents just about 20 percent of the undergraduate population. [117] The Oak Lane Community [118] houses those sororities and fraternities which have houses chartered on campus. A number of fraternities have chartered off-campus housing. There are also numerous other academic and service-related sororities and fraternities at the school, as well as various historically Black and cultural interest organizations. [117]

There are also a number of fraternities at Virginia Tech that are not officially recognized by the university.

Clubs and student activities

Alongside fraternity and sorority life, Virginia Tech offers a variety of clubs and activities officially endorsed by the university. The university claims 800 official clubs as part of its student life and the Student Engagement and Campus Life office as a hub for information on said clubs. A website titled Gobblerconnect is often used by students to find clubs to take part in, while every year the campus holds a "Gobblerfest" where clubs showcase their activities to potential freshmen members. [119]

Notable among these are student-lead production oriented clubs, such as radio station WUVT-FM, newspaper The Collegiate Times , and literary magazine Silhouette. [120] [121]

Athletics

Stylized "VT" logo Virginia Tech Hokies logo.svg
Stylized "VT" logo
Virginia Tech Athletic Font VirginiaTechWordmark.png
Virginia Tech Athletic Font

Virginia Tech teams are known as the Hokies. The HokieBird is a turkey-like creature whose form has evolved from the original school mascot of the Fighting Gobbler. While the modern HokieBird still resembles a Fighting Gobbler, the word "Hokie" has all but replaced Fighting Gobbler in terms of colloquial use. The term originated from the Old Hokie yell.

They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sub-level for football), primarily competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 2004–05 season. The Hokies previously competed in the Big East Conference from 2000–01 to 2003–04 (football program from 1991–92 to 1999–2000); the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) from 1995–96 to 1999–2000; and the Metro Conference from 1978–79 to 1994–95.

Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and wrestling. Women's sports include basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and volleyball.

Virginia Tech's fight song, "Tech Triumph", was written in 1919 and remains in use today. The song is played at sporting events by both the Virginia Tech student band, The Marching Virginians, and the regimental Corps of Cadets' band, the Highty Tighties.

The most prominent athletic facilities are Lane Stadium, Cassell Coliseum, English Field, Thompson Field, Tech Softball Park, Rector Field House, the Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility, and the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

2016 Lane Stadium Panoramic.jpg
Lane Stadium

People

Faculty

Notable current and former faculty at Virginia Tech include Romesh Batra (biomedical engineering), Patricia Dove (geosciences), Marc Edwards (civil and environmental engineering), Roger Ekirch (history), Nikki Giovanni (English), Michael Hochella (geosciences), Liviu Librescu (engineering science and mechanics), Tim Luke (political science), Linsey Marr (civil and environmental engineering), Xiang-Jin Meng (virology), Arun Phadke (electrical engineering), Sanjay Raman (electrical engineering), James Robertson (history), Arthur Squires (chemical engineering), James Thorp (electrical engineering), John Tyson (biology), and Gary Wamsley (public administration).

There have been 17 university heads for Virginia Tech since its founding in 1872. The current president is Timothy Sands (previously provost of Purdue University), who has held the post since 2014.

Virginia Tech presidents [122]
Charles Landon Carter Minor 1872–1879
Charles Robert Scott Ship 1880
John Lee Buchanan 1880–1881
Thomas Nelson Conrad 1882–1886
Lunsford Lindsay Lomax 1886–1891
John McLaren McBryde 1891–1907
Paul Brandon Barringer 1907–1913
Joseph Dupuy Eggleston 1913–1919
Julian Ashby Burruss 1919–1945
John Redd Hutcheson 1945–1947
Walter Stephenson Newman 1947–1962
Thomas Marshall Hahn Jr. 1962–1974
William Edward Lavery 1975–1987
James Douglas McComas 1988–1994
Paul Ernest Torgersen 1993–2000
Charles William Steger 2000–2014
Timothy David Sands 2014–present

Alumni

Virginia Tech has over 240,000 alumni internationally and from all 50 states. The Virginia Tech Alumni Association has over 100 chapters and has been consistently regarded as one of the best in the nation. [84] [123] VT alumni include 2 Rhodes Scholars, 4 Marshall Scholars, 38 Goldwater Scholars, and 131 Fulbright Scholars. [lower-alpha 4] [125] [126] [127] Among its alumni are 8 Medal of Honor recipients, 97 generals and admirals, governors of two U.S. states, 2 astronauts, and a billionaire. [128] [129] Three Nobel laureates and two MacArthur Fellows have received a degree or served as faculty members at the university.

One of six senior military colleges in the United States, Virginia Tech has produced numerous military leaders, among them 97 generals and admirals, including Carlton D. Everhart II, Commander, Air Mobility Command; Thomas C. Richards, Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe; Lance L. Smith, Commander, United States Joint Forces Command; Jody A. Breckenridge, Commander, Coast Guard Pacific Area; William G. Boykin, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Commander, John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center; and Wallace H. Robinson, Director, Defense Supply Agency.

Eight alumni have been awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award bestowed by the United States armed forces: Antoine August Michel Gaujot, Julien Edmund Victor Gaujot, Earle Davis Gregory, Herbert Joseph Thomas, Jimmie W. Monteith, Robert Edward Femoyer, Richard Thomas Shea, Jr., Gary Lee Miller; their names are inscribed on a marble cenotaph at the center of War Memorial Court on the Blacksburg campus. [130]

Many VT alumni have also served in civilian leadership roles: Chet Culver, 41st governor of Iowa; William Dodd, ambassador to Germany; Linda Swartz Taglialatela, ambassador to Barbados; Rob Wittman, member of the House of Representatives; Tony McNulty, member of Parliament for Harrow East; Deborah Hersman, 12th chairperson of the National Transportation Safety Board; Regina Dugan, 19th director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; John H. Thompson, Director of the United States Census Bureau; Lawrence Koontz, Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and William K. Barlow and Matt Lohr, members of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Outside of public service, Virginia Tech alumni have made notable contributions in the fields of business, literature, music and journalism. These include children's book author and Newbery Medal recipient Kwame Alexander; author and former NASA engineer Homer Hickham; jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd; business executive Donaldson Brown; Boeing president and CEO Dave Calhoun; Norfolk Southern president and CEO Alan Shaw and television news anchor Hoda Kotb.

Notable Virginia Tech athletes include Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Frank Beamer, Allan Bristow, Kam Chancellor, Bimbo Coles, Dell Curry, Ace Custis, Renee Dennis, Jim Druckenmiller, Terrell Edmunds, Tremaine Edmunds, Bud Foster, Kendall Fuller, Kyle Fuller, Chuck Hartman, Sally Miles, Charles Moir, Johnny Oates, Bruce Smith, Tyrod Taylor, DeAngelo Hall, Isaiah Ford, Angela Tincher, and Michael Vick. [131]

See also

Notes

  1. Other consists of Multiracial Americans & those who prefer to not say.
  2. The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students.
  3. The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.
  4. Virginia Tech students have received 66 Fulbright student awards, [124] for a total of 197.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets</span> Military unit

The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets (VTCC) is the military component of the student body at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Cadets live together in residence halls, attend morning formation, wear a distinctive uniform, and receive an intensive military and leadership educational experience similar to that available at the United States service academies. The Corps of Cadets has existed from the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872 to the present-day institution of Virginia Tech, which is designated a senior military college by federal law. As of August 2021, about 1,200 cadets are currently enrolled in the program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HokieBird</span> Mascot of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

The HokieBird is the official mascot of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine</span> Osteopathic medical school in Virginia, USA

The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is a private osteopathic medical school on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, with branch campuses in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, and Monroe, Louisiana. VCOM also recently added Bluefield University to its list of campuses. Founded in 2002, VCOM graduated its first class of 139 students in June 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Henry Lane (Confederate general)</span> A university professor and Confederate general in the American Civil War.

James Henry Lane was a university professor and Confederate general in the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lane Stadium</span> American football stadium on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA, US

Lane Stadium is a college football stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. The playing surface of the stadium is named Worsham Field. The home field of the Virginia Tech Hokies of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), it was rated the number one home field advantage in all of college football in 2005 by Rivals.com. In 2007, it was ranked #2 on ESPN.com's "Top 10 Scariest Places To Play." The stadium is named for Edward Hudson Lane, a former student, local businessman, and Virginia Tech booster, while the playing surface is named for Wes Worsham, a university donor and booster.

"Tech Triumph" is the fight song of Virginia Tech. It was composed in 1919 by Wilfred Pete Maddux and Mattie Eppes (Boggs).

The main campus of Virginia Tech is located in Blacksburg, Virginia; the central campus is roughly bordered by Prices Fork Road to the northwest, Plantation Road to the west, Main Street to the east, and U.S. Route 460 bypass to the south, although it also has several thousand acres beyond the central campus. The Virginia Tech campus consists of 130 buildings on approximately 2,600 acres (11 km2). It was the site of the Draper's Meadow massacre in 1755 during the French and Indian War.

Thomas Marshall Hahn Jr. was an American educator. He served as President of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University from 1962 to 1974 and CEO of Georgia-Pacific Corporation from 1983 to 1993.

The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at Virginia Tech offers graduate and undergraduate education in the fields of public administration, public policy, international affairs, urban affairs, and urban & regional planning. It has three campuses throughout Virginia: Arlington; Blacksburg and Richmond.

In the United States, a senior military college (SMC) is one of six colleges that offer military Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs under 10 U.S.C. § 2111a(f), though many other schools offer military Reserve Officers' Training Corps under other sections of the law. The six senior military colleges are:

James Douglas McComas was 14th President of Mississippi State University from 1975-1985, the 12th President of the University of Toledo from 1985 to 1988, and the 13th President of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, from 1988 to 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies</span>

The College of Architecture, Arts, and Design formerly the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech consists of four schools, including the School of Architecture, which consistently ranks among the best in the country. Headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, the college also has sites in Alexandria, Virginia, and Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. Spread out among these three locations, the college consists of nearly 2,200 students, making it one of the largest schools of architecture in the nation.

The College of Science at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in eight departments: biology, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics, as well as programs in the School of Neuroscience, the Academy of Integrated Science, and founded in 2020, an Academy of Data Science. For the 2018-209 academic year, the College of Science consisted of 419 faculty members, and 4,305 students, and 600 graduate students. The college was established in July 2003 after university restructuring split the College of Arts and Sciences, established in 1963, into two distinct colleges, the other half becoming the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Lay Nam Chang served as founding dean of the College of Science from 2003 until 2016. In 2016, Sally C. Morton was named dean of the College of Science. Morton served in that role until January 2021, when she departed for Arizona State University and Ronald D. Fricker—senior associate dean and professor in the Department of Statistics—was named interim dean of the College. In February 2022, Kevin T. Pitts was named the third official dean of the College of Science.

The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech comprises two schools, 12 departments, and three ROTC programs. The college also has connections to research facilities and local community service organizations through which students can earn experience in major related fields and has many study abroad programs. In 2010–11, the college had 4,386 students taking courses on the Blacksburg campus. The college's dean, Rosemary Blieszner, was appointed in 2017.

The College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in forestry, fisheries, wildlife sciences, geography, and wood science. The college contains four departments as well as a graduate program in the National Capital Region and a leadership institute for undergraduates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Tech College of Engineering</span>

The Virginia Tech College of Engineering is the academic unit that manages engineering research and education at Virginia Tech. The College can trace its origins to 1872, and was formally established in 1903. Today, The College of Engineering is the largest academic unit of Virginia Tech and has 14 departments of study. Its undergraduate program was ranked 4th and its graduate program was ranked 30th among doctoral-granting universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2018. In 2014–15, the College of Engineering consisted of 10,059 students. The current dean is Dr. Julia Ross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute</span> Medical school at Virginia Tech University

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is a public medical school of Virginia Tech and located in Roanoke, Virginia. The medical school is associated with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. Formed as a public–private partnership with the Carilion Clinic, the medical school grants the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree to its graduates. Initially a private institution from 2008 to 2018, the medical school became an official college of Virginia Tech in 2018.

The R.B. Pamplin College of Business, is Virginia Tech's business school. Founded in 1965, it has more than 41,000 alumni. The current Dean is Saonee Sarker. In 1986 the college was renamed following a donation from alumnus Robert B. Pamplin and his son Robert B. Pamplin Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skipper (cannon)</span> Virginia Tech game cannon

"Skipper" is the name of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets' cannon that is sounded at home football games and other events. The game cannon was created by a group of cadets in 1963 for Virginia Tech football games and special events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Addison Caldwell</span>

William Addison Caldwell (1856-1910) became the first student to enroll in the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (V.A.M.C.) in the school's inaugural year in 1872. V.A.M.C. was later named Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University. Caldwell hiked as much as 28 miles through today's Jefferson National Forest in the Allegheny Mountains from Sinking Creek, Craig County to Blacksburg, Va. to enroll as the school's first student on October 1, 1872.

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