Developments at Virginia Tech
The official Tumblr of Virginia Tech's Office of University Development, located at the Gateway Center on the corner of University City Blvd., and Prices Fork Rd., in Blacksburg, Va.
This website is maintained by the Development Communications team headed by Albert Raboteau, Gary Cope, and Chuck George.
Virginia Tech has renamed the headquarters building of its Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) in honor of Hugh and Ethel Kelly in recognition of his pioneering work in telecommunications and her extraordinary philanthropic support.
What is now the Hugh and Ethel Kelly building opened in 2009 and is on Stanger Street.
The institute, which is known by its initials ICTAS, supports and promotes cutting edge research at the intersection of engineering, the sciences (physical, life, and social), and the humanities.
Click on the photo above to learn more about the renaming.
Kelsey Mellen earned her bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management from Virginia Tech in 2012. Even before she graduated summa cum laude, Mellen accepted a position with JW Marriott in Washington, D.C.
While attending Virginia Tech, she received a scholarship endowed by alumnae Starlette Johnson, who so valued her experiences at her alma mater that she wanted to give back and help future Hokies get the most out of their college experiences.
Read more about Starlette Johnson and why she’s made giving back to Virginia Tech a priority.
The Signature Engineering Building on 18 January 2013, a day after the first year’s winterstorm gave Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech campus 6 inches of snow. The SEB is expected to be open this time next year, in 2014. Its progress can be followed here, live, at our webcam from atop Whittemore Hall: http://www.eng.vt.edu/signaturebuilding/livecam
An anonymous donor committed $25 million toward the Signature Engineering Building currently under construction at Virginia Tech.
The largest single donation ever given to the 140-year-old institution was one of three multimillion-dollar contributions to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering highlighted April 28, 2011 by university President Charles W. Steger.
Generous support from Delta Dental of Virginia helps make it possible for students at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine to participate in a program on oral health that is so groundbreaking it was profiled in ADA News, the magazine of the American Dental Association.
In the photo above, Dr. Charles “Bud” Conklin, an associate professor in the medical school’s Department of Surgery, instructs students as part of the oral-health program.
From the Facebook page of the Commandant of Virginia Tech’s Corps of Cadets:
Congratulations to Cadet Brett Romig on his selection as the recipient of the Wallace Easter Emerging Leader Scholarship. Easter was the director of the Highty Tighties, the corps’ marching band, from 1982-1992 and now serves on the faculty of the Virginia Tech Music Department. The certificate was presented by Easter at the Highty Tighties dinner following Saturday’s homecoming game.
In 1992, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets saw its enrollment drop to about 400, the lowest since 1980. In 1995, the corps introduced the Emerging Leader Scholarship program, and enrollment has been on the rise ever since. And this fall, the corps reached its enrollment goal of 1,000 cadets.
Click on the photo to learn more.
In March, Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business hosted the first talk in the Wells Fargo Distinguished Lecture series, formerly the Wachovia Distinguished Lecture series.
Wells Fargo continued its generous support of Virginia Tech and its mission through a gift to the university’s Summer Academy program, a new opportunity for incoming freshmen to launch their academic career in a small classroom environment.
The Virginia Tech Summer Academy is designed to ease a student’s transition from high school to college by coupling required course work with opportunities to become familiar with university expectations, make new friends, and learn the way around campus and the Blacksburg community.
Learn more about Summer Academy at http://bit.ly/VQyZhS.
The Fralin Life Sciences Institute was yesterday’s “Photo of the Day” on the official Virginia Tech Facebook page. The institute was named after Horace G. Fralin, a member of Virginia Tech’s Class of 1948.
Fralin capped a lifetime of generosity to his alma mater by making an $8.9 million bequest benefiting Virginia Tech. At the time, it was one of the largest philanthropic commitments in the university’s history. A major portion of his legacy was earmarked for the biotechnology center.
The Fralin Life Sciences Institute is home to faculty researchers from the departments of entomology, fish and wildlife conservation, food science, and biochemistry, as well as other endeavors.
Click on the photo and scroll down to the second story on the linked Web page to learn more about Fralin and his support of Virginia Tech.
Congratulations to the students in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering on being chosen as the most philanthropic in the country in 2012. They were also cited as having the nation’s best student engineers’ council, according to the results of the recent annual competition hosted by the National Association of Engineering Student Councils (NAESC) at Purdue University.
In the Winter 2012 issue of Impact Magazine (p. 13) we highlighted the philanthropic efforts of the engineering students at Virginia Tech. Since establishing the Paul E. Torgersen Leadership Scholarship in 1986, the Student Engineers’ Council has donated more than $1 million to the college’s students and faculty.
This money was used for various engineering projects, including partially funding more than 30 engineering organizations such as the internationally award-winning hybrid electric vehicle team, the outdoor-terrain motorsport team, and the Baja and Formula Society of Automotive Engineers’ teams.
Click on the photo to learn more about how the engineering students are raising money, and how they are using it to support the college.
The 2011-12 Virginia Tech club ice hockey team celebrates following its 5-3 win over Liberty University. The victory propelled the Hokies into the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s national tournament, held March 16-20, in Fort Meyers, Fla. (Photo courtesy of David Standley)
Virginia Tech’s club ice hockey team, one of 29 sport clubs within the Department of Recreational Sports, opens play in its first national tournament on Friday, March 16, 2012, in Fort Myers, Fla.
The Hokies will face the William Paterson University Pioneers in the opening round of the 2012 American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division 2 National Tournament. The puck drops at 9 a.m., and the game is available online.
Click on the photo to read more.
Do you know a student at Virginia Tech who has made a significant impact on the well being of the community or individuals within the community? Here’s your chance to nominate her or him for the Gwin Parker-Gwin Student Award.
Nominations will be accepted through April 5. The Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships at Virginia Tech will host the first Awarding Engagement Ceremony on April 19, 2012.
For more information about nominating a student, click on the photo above.
The award stems from the Service-Learning Student Success Fund established by Rachel Parker-Gwin and her husband, Louis Gwin Jr., in 2000 through the Virginia Tech Foundation.
